#Hashtag

The hashtag was born on Twitter to ease the organizing of the massive amounts of information that was being tweeted by the millions of users. It then escaladed into an actual marketing strategy that all social media platforms have adopted either to promote a brand, a product or a movement.

Provided it’s used right, a hashtag campaign can bring you unexpected followers and buyers, however you really have to make sure your strategy is very well thought through or you might run the risk of being sanctioned by your followers for inappropriate use of hashtags or for being irrelevant.

There are really two ways of using a hashtag campaign to promote a product or a service; one is by using a trending hashtag to describe something you want to promote, to create movement or awareness, and the other is by creating a hashtag yourself, and try to engage with users in an appealing way to make them want to use your hashtag in their posts. Creating a hashtag of your own can be quite a strong move, however it relies heavily on you having a relatively big database of followers, or counting on influential users that engage in your campaign so that their tribe of followers jumps right in.

But how do you make it work, you might ask. There are quite a few strategies you can use to make your hashtag campaign go viral. You can organise competitions or give away products to the users that have made best the best use of your hashtag. This usually involves making users follow you, even recommend a friend to jump in the competition, use your hashtag to share the contest and await for the winners day. This can be a very effective way of getting people to get involved because they get motivated by the idea of getting something for free. You can also partner up with other companies that already have a big number of followers. You also need to use your hashtag in any communication you send to your prospects and followers, be it through email, website, landing pages or ads.

A well thought through campaign also deserves good graphics and imagery, a budget for paid advertising, a posting calendar and a tracking system. And then you’re all set. It might sound complicated, and in some instances it can really get complicated, but provided you have a good team of people assisting you and helping you in getting creative and efficient, you’re in for an online treat!

In the meantime, keep up the good work!

Originally published at Ezy VA Blog — #Hashtag.