What Companies Don’t Understand About Hashtags
During his first show subbing in for Jon Stewart last night on “The Daily Show,” John Oliver was welcomed by his colleagues with an absurd and offensive hashtag supposedly trending on his behalf, which the episode then caused to actually trend. Hashtags, no matter what you might hear about them, are best used as a punchline these days. Many of us have gotten wise of this, in much the same way that “The Daily Show” staffers have. But for some the hashtags remain an opportunity to promote and organize conversation on one topic, to reeel in and recruit people to share in our interests and pastimes.
In recent years, no one has misunderstood the role of hashtags in our conversation, or fallen so far behind the curve, than brands looking to create an unnatural conversation on Twitter related to a brand, product, or, worst of all, advertising campaign. During the Super Bowl, I noticed in past years that pretty much every ad was accompanied by a hashtag at the bottom or at the end that welcomed people to discuss, well, anything they wished. How that helps the company sell more of its products is beyond us, but if there is a “Tweet Reach” that satisfies them, then a job well done for all. Who cares if the ad was actually “sticky” or not? Where these commercials particularly irritate me is how they don’t encourage a hashtag related to the brand itself, but to the name of the campaign. One of those turned up during tonight’s NBA Finals.
Adidas asks people to tweet about “#QuickAintFair.” For starters, that’s not English. Secondly, that’s too long to expect people to write it and still have room for their full comments. Thirdly, that has nothing to do with Adidas, and nobody will remember it’s an Adidas ad. Why can’t the sneaker company just list “#Adidas” in its ad instead? Too hard to parse out the conversation about its ad instead of its sneaker? Well, which one is more important in the long run? In this era of big data, we want more research and analytics than ever. To the point, I’d argue, where we’re overlooking the real goals with our campaigns — to drive awareness and sales. If the advertisement pays off, you can expect those, right? Why not achieve both at once, rather than separating the ad from the brand at the start? It seems to be that tweets about #Adidas sparking up more during the NBA Finals would be good for the brand, particularly for consumers who aren’t watching the games live and seeing these ads. For them, #QuickAintFair is meaningless. You’ve limited the viral spread of your ad by forcing people to discuss it under the specific hashtag. That is to say if anyone is clicking that hashtag to see what’s happening there at all.
Oh, and for those checking, #DailyShow rests briefly at the bottom of the screen as that show begins.
