Are Your Hashtags #Effective?

What do Budweiser, Calvin Klein, and Audi have in common? According to Twitter, they were three of the twenty-six brands that aired commercials containing hashtags during the Super Bowl this year. Those twenty-six brands made up 50% of the spots that aired during the game, and Twitter hashtags were shown over 300% more frequently than they were the previous year.

Clearly hashtags have become a prevalent marketing strategy, but how effective they are at generating conversation and building brand engagement depends on the brand’s approach. Following a few best practices can mean the difference between a hashtag making it to the mecca of trending nationally on Twitter and being a key component in a brand’s social media strategy, to leaving loyal brand followers confused and unwilling to part with any of their coveted 140 characters.

An event hashtag should be viewed as the common thread between user-generated conversations about a branded event, and one of the easiest ways users can find relevant conversation about the brand. Therefore, in order to build brand recognition and ensure that users are associating the conversation appropriately, a clearly branded hashtag should include the brand name, or a recognizable modification of it.

One of the most successful examples we’ve seen was with eBay’s chat parties that centered on pinnacle holidays to promote eBay items for gift giving. Leveraging their hundreds of thousands of followers, they strategically promoted hashtags such as #eBayWithLove for Valentines Day and #eBayMom for their Mother’s Day event. After hosting a number of these events using the hashtag as their main marketing tool, their followers recognized the branded hashtags as a chance to converse with like-minded shoppers about holiday-specific gifts found on eBay, and the return rate of their visitors increased with each event. Had these hashtags focused solely on the holiday, eBay would have missed a perfect opportunity to associate the brand with holiday gift-giving, leverage an audience that was already interested in shopping on their site, and gain new and engaged followers.

If the brand chooses to associate the hashtag with an influencer or icon rather than their brand name, it’s critical that the brand promote the hashtag from the branded account and actively communicate with it. ESPN used this strategy during a recent Mock NFL Draft hosted by Mel Kiper Jr. and Todd McShay. They used the hashtag #KiperMcShay, but promoted it through ESPN’s Twitter accounts, and were regularly conversing with fans who were tweeting with the hashtag during the mock draft. This gave ESPN the chance to promote their hosts, while allowing fans to associate the hashtag with their brand.

In addition to the brand name, brands also have to be clear about the specific event they’re trying to endorse. Simply stating the brand name casts too wide of a net if the hashtag is meant to garner conversation around a particular event or series of events. For instance, fashion brands track conversation with their branded hashtag all year long, but during New York Fashion Week, when the goal is to create buzz around their runway show and newest line, the most successful hashtags are those that customize theirs accordingly.

Kenneth Cole and Marc Jacobs International are two brands that did this well last Fashion Week using #KCRunway and #MarcJacobsLive, respectively. Their hashtags differentiated the every day conversation about one’s need for new dress shoes from the relevant conversation that centered around next fall’s hottest color and who wore it best on the catwalk. More targeted hashtags also allow the brand to promote contests or limited time engagements by encouraging users to tweet with the unique hashtag to enter. This gives the hashtag a concrete purpose rather than it leading to a dead-end, makes it easier for brands to track submissions, and gives excited fans a different way to engage.

Just as important as a brand promoting their hashtag is making it easy for others to use it as well. With that in mind, hashtags should be easy to read, easy to remember, and easy to tweet using the constraint of 140 characters. Combining both upper and lower case letters is a simple way to break up words that may run together, and keeping keywords succinct helps to ensure that even the laziest of tweeters goes to the effort of tagging their tweets. While event hashtags can’t do the heavy lifting of making the event itself successful, they can add value by increasing exposure, targeted conversation, fan engagement, and a shot at being part of the next big wave with trending hashtags suiting up to take center stage.