To hashtag or not?

The hashtag is a wonderful tool, and it is now prolific across social media sites. Many businesses have taken to using them in campaigns. From the clever, to the pointless, let’s take a look at what a hashtag is and whether you should be using them in your campaigns.

Origins

Hashtags hark back to the days of regular ol’ tags in forums. You know the ones, you read a post and there are a select few ‘keywords’ at the bottom of the post. Clicking on one of those will take you to a list of other posts along the same topic.

For example, I’m a member of the Jaguar Owner’s Club and often check in on that forum for advice on maintenance. A quick click on a tag reading ‘tyres’ and I can view all the threads on that topic. Handy stuff.

Similarly, a hashtag on a site like Twitter allows us to find similar content. I can either click on a hashtag in someone’s tweet, or search for it and I will be presented with relevant content. Or, at least that’s the idea of it. But more on that later.

Curation

Hashtags were for content curation and this is something that you can use to your advantage.

A ‘curation tag’ could, for example, be the name of your conference #DaveCon21. If I put that on materials, and then search for it in Twitter, I’ll know that any uses of it are in relation to the conference I am hosting.

I’ve seen some good uses of this. Some conferences have set up a Twitter Wall. Using simple software, such as Tweetdeck, they display a feed of all the tweets using their conference hashtag. It became a place for people to meet, as they watched comments come in.

Similarly, a conference hashtag could allow people to submit questions from the audience. You can then reply to these on both social (to a wider audience) as well as in person.

These hashtags need to be very specific to your event or business, however. Otherwise you are going to have your curation interrupted by everyday noise.

Don’t use something like #BetterTogether. It sounds nice, but 99% of those using it will be nothing to do with your event.

Curation tags give people a way to join in the conversation. Which brands can do. Using the hashtag of a Netflix drama to sell your pizza is a smart move, people will link the too. #Paralympics is great, if you are commenting on the games or sponsoring it.

Campaign reach

Hashtags can also be used to increase the reach of your campaign. These hashtags are different to the ‘curation tags’, as they are not there to simply create conversation about a specific moment in time such as your event. They are there to create a wider conversation and to get the audience familiar with hearing your message.

Obama’s #YesWeCan served as both a neat slogan, but also as a highly effective hashtag. #LikeAGirl was another effective campaign, launched by hygiene brand Always. They both reached a much wider audience than usual and acted as a gateway into their campaign. Coupled with poster and TV ads.

Both of these hashtags excel because of a few characteristics

They are catchy. This is an obvious need in an effective hashtag, but you’ll be surprised how often brands come up with complex hashtags that are not memorable
They are not too specific. #YesWeCan is a great motivational phrase. It can be used in a whole range of content, inspiring people that odds can be overcome. This means that it can easily enter every day language, warming people up to the campaign. #LikeAGirl turned an insult in to something powerful. It can be used in millions of situations.
They are relevant to the campaigns. #YesWeCan was about inspiring people that things can be different. Which was a key part of Obama’s campaign. Yes, we can elect a Black President. #LikeAGirl reminded women that their biology needn’t be something to hold them back, but could be something they are proud of.

Measuring success

PR can be hard to measure, but it’s vital to do so.

A good hashtag, that you are responsible for creating, makes tracking the reach of your campaign easier than ever before. Simple PR software allows you to measure how many times a hashtag is used.

Take a look at this handy list of software.

Putting up a poster on a site that claims x number of people walk by doesn’t tell you how many people took notice. Opportunities to view don’t tell you who actually viewed or whether they took any notice. But the use of a hashtag tells you that somehow the user has become familiar with your language. And people using your language is a good win for any PR campaign. They’ll look twice when they see your ads, using the hashtag.

Pointless hashtags?

Can a hashtag ever be pointless? I’m unsure, but I’ve certainly seen some that really seem a wasted effort. These are often what I describe as ‘commentary tags’.

Take the TV show ‘Married At First Sight’ as an example. If you’ve never watched it then that’s OK, the title tells you all you need to know. The current series if sponsored by a skin moisturiser, I can’t recall which one (good campaign eh?).

In between each break they use a different hashtag, related to the action that’s just taken place. #NoDrama, #WeddingNight, #Honeymoon and so on.

These are fine on their own, but they are far too vague to mean anything and they are not unique. Anyone tracking these will get a million unrelated tweets, so the campaign curator can’t take credit for the reach.

#BeBrave, #LondonLife, #Motivation. They are simply making a noise. I feel that brands using these are trying to imitate Nike's #JustDoIt. Except that people were not really using that before Nike and it's not synonymous with them.

Don’t use a hashtag if you are just trying to look relevant. Remember in the late 90’s when every brand was something.com? It got dated fast.

Hashtags are a great tool, for curation and amplification, for measuring success. But they must be used carefully.