Consider hashtag campaigns if you’re looking for a new strategy to increase interaction and brand visibility on social media. If done effectively and with regard to the platform and its audience, hashtag campaigns can help your brand’s message go viral.
A hashtag can be used to promote new campaigns and products, run contests and giveaways, collect feedback, or link your business to well-known news or event.
However, hashtag campaigns have the advantage of being incredibly cost-effective, and in some cases even free. In other words, the more money you carefully invest in a hashtag campaign, the greater the returns.
What is a hashtag?
The first use of the hashtag on the internet can be dated back to 1988. In those days, hashtags were used as a metadata tag for Internet Relay Chat (IRC). It helped them categorize channels which made it easier for users to find relevant content. But how did hashtags make it to social media?
how do you feel about using # (pound) for groups. As in #barcamp [msg]?
— ˗ˏˋ Chris Metassina ´ˎ˗ (@chrismessina) August 23, 2007
https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js
In the early days, social media users were having a hard time finding relevant content including Twitter. One of the avid Twitter users, Chris Messina, suggested the use of hashtags to categorize the content. Twitter as a social media has a history of implementing its communities’ suggestions. Even calling posts as tweets was a suggestion from the community. Similar to tweets, Twitter soon implemented the use of hashtags.
What is a hashtag campaign?
A hashtag campaign, as the name implies, is a social media marketing endeavor aimed to promote a specific hashtag generated by a firm. It is excellent for increasing brand awareness and marketing new items or events.
Head-to-toe. #MYCALVINS
Shop gifts for her: https://t.co/MDUX6WqL5X pic.twitter.com/NwQh9m6ADx
— calvinklein (@CalvinKlein) December 12, 2020
https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js
If you wish to run one of these campaigns, choose a hashtag that best represents the campaign and then publish content with that hashtag in it. To reach a bigger audience, you should encourage your consumers to use the hashtag on related items.
Successful hashtag campaigns enable you to reach significantly more users than a traditional ad or organic campaign could. You’ll gain greater interaction if your followers use and share your hashtag in their own posts.
Hashtag campaigns are an excellent method to broaden your brand’s reach and garner new followers, but they can also be used to show your support for a range of social causes that connect with your company’s objectives.
How to plan an effective hashtag campaign?
Now that you realize the advantages of hashtag campaigns, let’s talk about how you can increase the reach and engagement of your social campaigns.
Analyze your target audience
In order to execute a successful hashtag campaign, you must first determine where your audience is located and what kind of content resonates with them.
One aspect of this is being aware of social media demographics. You’ll also want to construct a customer profile for your intended audience so you can better understand their surfing habits and design a campaign that will pique their interest.
Outline your campaign goals
Is your main goal to increase sales, raise brand awareness, or simply get people to interact with your company? The final goal of the campaign will dictate the type of hashtag and campaign you conduct.
If you want to enhance engagement, consider creating a hashtag campaign to help your audience have fun with your brand or to gather information. You may also use this as an occasion to host a photo contest with a hashtag as the focal point. The most notable example is Apple’s #ShotOniPhone campaign.
London streets #shotoniphone pic.twitter.com/z5PlJUN9uC
— Mike 📸 (@MikeChudley) October 26, 2021
https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js
If you want to increase brand exposure, make sure the hashtag comprises at least a component of your brand’s name. Try to come up with a clever wordplay that you may utilize to amuse your fans on social media.
Choose the right platform
The final stage is to decide on a platform to launch your hashtag campaign. Twitter and Instagram are the best options considering the popularity of hashtags on these platforms.
Because of the stark differences between these two social media platforms, picking the right one should be a cinch. You’ll need Instagram if you’re planning a hashtag photo campaign. You’ll need Twitter if you’re going to run a text or conversation-based hashtag campaign. While a multi-channel hashtag campaign covers all the bases and reaches an even broader audience, you could always begin one yourself.
Make it easier for users to interact
If it’s tough for your target audience to interact with your hashtag campaign, they won’t. In other words, don’t impose too many restrictions on them. Make it as easy for users to interact and engage with your social media campaign as possible. The simplest is probably posting photos or tweeting with your campaign hashtag.
Yesterday, 2:01:39 seemed crazy. Today, it’s the marathon world record. #justdoit pic.twitter.com/dm7JeOCPqN
— Nike (@Nike) September 16, 2018
https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js
The more restrictions you impose on your followers, such as particular criteria for the types of posts they should make or requiring them to travel somewhere for a photo, the less interaction and reach you will obtain.
Partner with influencers to amplify the reach
Influencer marketing is one of the most utilized paid marketing channels in 2021. Brands have already increased their investment in influencer marketing by 30% compared to the year 2020. Find relevant influencers that are sought-after for their opinions regarding new developments in the industry. As they have a loyal and engaging follower base, they can help you amplify the reach and visibility of your hashtag campaigns.
Track campaign interactions and performance
While the above-mentioned steps are important, so is tracking how users interact with your hashtag campaigns. It can help you analyze how users interact with your campaign. Is the engagement positive or not? If not, tracking those interactions enables you to agile in your marketing approach. You can improvise strategies and try a different approach if needed. TrackMyHasgtag is a Twitter analytics tool that can help you track and analyze the performance of your hashtag campaigns in real-time. You can measure your success and improvise your marketing approach in real-time if needed.
Benefits of hashtag campaigns
Generate brand awareness
In order to reach a much larger audience, using hashtag campaigns is a terrific idea. If your brand is young or tiny, hashtag campaigns can be an effective approach to raise exposure. Coca-Cola’s #ShareACoke hashtag campaign serves as an excellent example of this type of advertising from a major corporation.
The starting nine. #WorldSeries | @CocaCola pic.twitter.com/WNVCsBmb6x
— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) October 26, 2018
https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js
An effective brand awareness hashtag campaign will incorporate your company name or a highly distinctive product/service name so that anybody who sees the hashtag will become familiar with your company and its offerings.
Increase user interactions (engagement)
You may get your followers to tweet or share about your hashtag by running a successful hashtag campaign. Because the main objective of a hashtag campaign is to get users to share the message, you need to ensure that they can maximize involvement by making it easy for them.
You should also conduct a thorough pre-search and pre-vetting of any hashtag suggestions you may have. Avoid utilizing phrases that aren’t already popular in everyday speech to avoid diluting the effect of your advertising. This is yet another reason to draw inspiration from the titles of your unique products, brands, and services.
Promote products and services
Additionally, as a marketing tool, you may use hashtag campaigns to promote your company’s product and service offerings, as well as upcoming or annual events.
Come to Wendy’s drive-thru this Friday and get FREE 4pc nuggets. No purchase necessary and not a single string attached. pic.twitter.com/tRx2bZQn2M
— Wendy’s (@Wendys) April 21, 2020
https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js
This strategy is also effective for brands, particularly when launching new products, services, or divisions of a firm.
Gather user-generated content
Encourage the use of your brand’s hashtag in images that your customers generate and post. As a result, your company can employ user-generated material on your own channels.
Closing Thoughts
Now that you know the benefits of hashtag campaigns, it’s time to start planning your own hashtag campaign and amplify your brand’s social media presence. Also, don’t forget to track the performance and interactions in real-time. TrackMyHashtag is the perfect tool that can help track and analyze engagement in real-time. It also provides analytical insights that can help you make data-driven decisions to increase your social media presence.
Until next time!
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