Using Hashtags for Marketing

The evolution of Hashtags in marketing and examples of using hashtags in campaigns

No major campaign today is complete without a hashtag, but where did the trend start?

A timeline of the evolution of the hashtag:

• August 2007 – Hashtags first proposed for use on Twitter
• July 2009 – Twitter officially embraces the hashtag linking to a list of all tweets for anything proceeded by #
• January 2011 – Instagram add hashtag support
• Spring 2011 – Twitter plays a role in the Civil unrest of the Arab Spring. #Bahrain becomes one of the most used hashtags of all time
• October 2011 – Google+ begins automatically linking all hashtags in posts
• January 2013 – Half of Superbowl ads include a hashtag
• June 2013 – Facebook begins supporting hashtags
• October 2013 – The Advertising Standards Authority (UK) and the FTC (USA) state that adverts made via a celebrities Twitter page should incorporate the hashtag “#ad

The purpose of Hashtags

Hashtags can help make the connection in the consumer's mind between a social media concept and a brand and its campaigns such as an offer or regular content. Some social media users follow specialist hashtags so they can help a little in increasing visibility. Let's look at some examples.

ASOS use of Hashtags:

Which are your favourite or memorable hashtags? A good way to investigate them is through searching on a brand in Twitter. We think @ASOS make good use of them to feature regular offers and events. For example #OOTD and #UNiDAYSXASOS. Here’s some examples of how they work them into their copy:

There’s £500 up for grabs, whoop! RT & follow for your chance to win. #ASOSMidseasonsale. http://asos.to/SVWvYq

 

Countdown for #ASOSonXfactor. Free garms, just for seeing us on your fave TV show - sweet

 

HURRY, the #ASOSDailyEdit competition finishes real soon.

 

Fun #LookOfTheDay (and Halloween outfit inspiration: http://goo.gl/xKqKm@DelevingnePoppy

 

Who wants to see a private screening of #DarkShadowsDVD? Tweet a pic of how you style the gothic trend using #ASOSLoves to win tickets.

Case Study: Evian uses uses Real-Time social media to create an impact in New York, London and Paris.

Evian began this Real-Time, local marketing campaign over three days in August under the hashtag #Evianbottleservice. In New York it targeted consumers in city parks like Bryant Park and Madison Square Park at hot times of day (http://youtu.be/4EscVUOoFTw). AdWeek (2014) explained how to participate in the programme, consumers had to use the hashtag to tweet a message to Evian describing their current location. Evian’s community managers, social media agency Team Epiphany and staffers from PR company Edelman then responded to the tweets, triggering a team of brand ambassadors on the streets to deliver a bottle of water within five to seven minutes to each participant. Evian also bought Promoted Tweets to target ZIP codes around the neighborhoods to amplify the real-time efforts.

A week after the Manhattan campaign ended, the initiative spread to the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Queens, N.Y. as part of Evian's sponsorship of the U.S. Open.

Before the campaign launched, Evian teased it via social media on Aug. 15 , earning 147 followers per day through Aug. 21. The number of new followers represents an 11X increase from the same time period in July. Evian has roughly 19,200 followers on Twitter.

The water company also claims that there were 3.5 times more daily mentions of the brand between Aug. 15 to 21 compared to competitors. And, the engagement on tweets passed the benchmark for CPG brands by 80 percent. Overall, 2.8 million impressions and 75,000 engagements were generated on Twitter.

When Hashtags go wrong

Clearly Hashtags can be an effective marketing tool when used right. But make sure to research your hashtags first, and remember that anyone can use the hashtag that you've made for your brand. There are two ways hashtags can backfire for brands. The first is when they try to use a hashtag to increase their reach but choose one that ends up making them look bad, and the other is when a hashtag is hijacked by angry customers.

Incorrect use of a hashtag:

Entemanns clearly hadn't researched why #NotGuilty was trending on Twitter. It was due to people expressing outrage at the outcome of the Casey Anthony trial, which concerned the death of a two-year-old girl. Their light-hearted Tweet seems incredibly insincere in the context. Needless to say there was a huge backlash and the Tweet was swiftly deleted.

Hashtag hijacked by customers:

McDonalds tried to promote its brand via the hashtag #McDStories, but people ended up hijacking the hashtag with the exact opposite stories McDonalds wanted.

So when using hashtags, make sure to research them first, and monitor them so you can respond if angry customers start to utilise them to diminish your brand. Knowing which hashtags to use for your marketing can be tricky, but luckily there are several tools which can help.

Download Expert Member resource – Smarter Twitter marketing guide

Our practical guide is structured around the Smart Insights PRACE framework which will help you think through how to make better use of Twitter. It will show you how to create a plan to manage communications with Twitter to support your marketing goals, and much more.

Access the Smarter Twitter marketing guide

image credit: Michael Coghlan

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