How Digital Marketers Can Use Facebook Hashtags

We have been hearing rumors that Facebook would launch hashtag functionality for quite some time and on Wednesday, Greg Lindley announced the integration of clickable hashtag on the conversation stream. The feature is currently in roll out stage.

The hashtags at Facebook similar to other services such as Pinterest, Instagram,Twitter & tumblr which allows users to add context to their discussions to indicate that they are part of a large discussion or topic. With Facebook on its mission to improve search results to move users from using Google, it would help users discover and engage even more. As the announcement  reads :

“During primetime television alone, there are between 88 and 100 million Americans engaged on Facebook – roughly a Super Bowl-sized audience every single night. The recent “Red Wedding” episode of Game of Thrones, received over 1.5 million mentions on Facebook, representing a significant portion of the 5.2 million people who watched the show. And this year’s Oscars buzz reached an all-time high on Facebook with over 66.5 million interactions, including likes, comments, and posts.”

Definitely couldn’t agree no more that : “To date, there has not been a simple way to see the larger view of what’s happening or what people are talking about.”

Some “Awesome” functionality of hashtag include:

• Search for specific hashtags via the Facebook search bar
• Click on hashtags that originate from other services, like Instagram
• Create new posts from within the hashtag feed and search results
• Add hashtags to Facebook ads you’re running

Such new functionality brings in new adrenalin into digital marketers trying to increase reach and engagement with their target audience.

Monitor Conversations : Brands can research what are the topics their target audience is talking

about with the function of hashtag . Based on the feed of the conversations the posts can be tailored to contribute and participate in the discussions. Yeah you could do the same on Twitter, but transferring the same practices on Facebook wouldn’t do any harm I believe.

Consider the #WWDC that took place on Monday. Apple was able to get feed about the people reactions about the various new products launched and the updates to iOS7 in a single interface with an addition of filters and keywords searches.

Customer Service: With great power, comes great responsibility!! Consumers would voice their experiences using the brand hashtag and that can be discovered easily by the brands. Servicing and addressing those complains can create brand ambassadors providing great stories which can help brands gain even more customers. By using topic related hashtag or even problem related hashtag brands can invite people to contact them for assistance.

Organize Hashtag Contests: Ask your audiences to share their story related to a certain topic related to your brand. It can be as simple as #MyDadIsBest or #DadSays, the best comments or stories win and the brand wins a large number of audiences.

Hashtags on Facebook campaigns : Advertising campaigns on Facebook can be amplified with the use of hashtags, provide the same hashtag is used on other digital media channels as well. A new functionality is like a new asset for a company such as Facebook and . I am sure the geeks at Facebook are coding the  “Hashtag Ads “functionality as I write. It would help brands reach out to relevant audiences who are talking about a relevant topic or hashtag.

CAUTION:

Hashtag Hijacking :  Before jump starting on a hashtag campaign, please conduct a detailed analysis of the consumer sentiment. Remember the great McDonald’s fiasco of #McDStories ?McDonald’s launched #McDStories as a way to share fun stories about people’s experience at McDonald’s. What McDonald’s didn’t foresee was people sharing negative stories about the McDonald’s brand, and that’s exactly what happened. Anyone who searched for “McDStories” immediately saw thousands of tweets similar to the one below, which described awful experiences users had with McDonald’s.

Best wishes on your digital media marketing ventures!!

Sagar Mandal

Get Ready for Next Level of Social Media Marketing

The exit of General Motors from social media advertising must have sent ripples across the industry.On the same breath brands like Ford and Dell are increasing customer acquisitions through social media networks by the way of paid and earned content. The two factors have prompted social media marketing to be taken to the next level where advertisers and brands can understand the potential of this wide media network.

Efforts are concentrated towards explaining social media as a tool to increase bottom lines and a platform to manage entire marketing strategy. Some of the online marketing goals to look into are enhance search results, email marketing , paid advertising and other measures to impact online buying behavior. Advertisers today are looking into doing innovative ways to attract and convert online sales beyond Twitter,Linked In and Facebook advertising.

The shopping spree of technology big boys like Oracle, Microsoft,SAP, Salesforce and lately Google acquiring social media marketing smart boys namely Wildfire,Buddymedia, Ariba and Virtue is making way for such efforts. Social media experts are continuing efforts at refining and expanding tools.For instance, the industry is looking at strengthening its impression-level measurement capabilities when it comes to ads on social networking sites. Plus, there are platforms that are getting better and better in engaging your fans and also monetizing your audience.

The new acquisitions and strategic alliances are looking at creating enhanced one stop media platforms to manage a gamut of digital marketing campaigns.

As Wildfire puts it in a press release “For now, we remain focused on helping brands run and measure their social engagement and ad campaigns across the entire web and across all social services — Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Google+, Pinterest, LinkedIn and more…”

PS: I am looking for job opportunities to contribute my passion and skills in digital marketing and technology. Please help me by referring me to or communicating to me about job opportunities in your enterprise. You can download my updated resume here: http://bit.ly/VrM9hr check out my visual resume here: http://slidesha.re/UhLvIr and get in touch with me on sagarsea@gmail.com

 

CAN’T BRANDS BE FRIENDS?

Many have referred to this era as the “social age.” And with Facebook’s IPO this year, one can’t argue that the advent of social media networks has revolutionized both our culture and the media landscape.

Social media has undoubtedly influenced marketing budgets as well. A recent CMO study echoed the growing favor of social – unveiling that CMOs expect to increase their current levels of 7.1% of marketing budget to 10.1% over the next year and to 17.5% in the next five years. But any specific reasons why? Is it because marketers are compelled to use a new media channel? Or are brands investing more on the evolution of how people behave? Is your brand truly sociable? Sociability creates bonds between people. But, does being in social media make you sociable.

In any online social group, we have two kinds of people: contributors and followers. The contributors are able to seamlessly attract people with amazing content. The followers are those who follow such content contribution by spreading the news to his network or community.

Coming back to the amazing world of brands each of them are like election candidates. Calling out to people to vote for them and keeping a count on the number of votes received. But how many brands really know the people who are in their circle (buying their product) or in their communities? As old as it may seem, many brands still define their audiences by demographics – for example, 21 to 44-year-old women. It’s not how you’d describe your aunt -a friend on your social network. Who is that person? What do you really know about them? You’ve gained fans. Do you know who they are? Are they people you want as fans? What’s their role in your social group? What’s their value within your community?

Ford has evolved their blog “the Ford story” into a new program called Ford Social, an experience that encourages people to submit their stories and ideas to Ford – and with the community at large. Not only putting customers first, but through this, they can really get to know their community of fans. They don’t know just what cars they bought – they know why they’re significant to them and they know every car and its owner have a story to tell. Such strategies help earn content through the crowd and inspire others to be a part of the community.

Being sociable not only helps to understand your fans – but spreads the message for free and inspires others to join.

Think about that person in your social circle whom you really like being around, that CONTRIBUTOR. He’s INTERESTING – right?  He has interesting things to share, provokes good conversations among the group. That’s no surprise. But importantly, they don’t just flaunt the things they know. They are truly interested in YOU as well. They are outstanding listeners. They don’t just listen blindly.  Rather, they ask questions and take a productive part in interactions with friends. They want to know about you. Because they are active listeners, they’re able to constantly adapt to the conversation, incorporating new information and building deeper connections with their friends. It’s all about feedback and interaction with people.

Again, think of brands. Are they interesting? Or more important, interested?

We talk a lot about creating a dialogue, but being interesting doesn’t mean just talking back and forth, it means that you’re adding value in some way. Interesting people give you something to think about, or something to do, check out, share. As a brand, what value are you adding to people in your community? What’s making you interesting through their eyes?

Red Bull actually does a great job of being interesting. Red Bull provides fans exclusive content about the things their drinkers care about – not the product itself. Tory Burch shares her experiences and influences, building a more personal connection with those that buy – or aspire to buy her clothes.

There are small ways of being interested too. One of today’s social media best practices says to ask questions in your wall posts. How many brands pay attention to the answers and respond?  Expedia recently posted “What is your favorite souvenir from your travels?” More than 200 people commented. But Expedia didn’t acknowledge any of the answers. What if they had showed interest in why that was your favorite? Imagine asking a question of someone in the real world and just walking away before they answer. Brands have the opportunity to truly have a conversation, demonstrate interest and learn more about you in the process. Yes, that takes time and effort. But isn’t that the effort that pays off in friendship?

Brands have the opportunity to push beyond the ROI of gaining a fan, building a capability or mastering a process. Social media isn’t just a channel, it’s a call to marketers and brands to change their behavior. To think and act more like people.  To focus on emotion, not promotion.  To be truly sociable, not just active in social.

PS: I am looking for job opportunities to contribute my passion and skills in digital marketing and technology. Please help me by referring me to or communicating to me about job opportunities in your enterprise. You can download my updated resume here: http://bit.ly/VrM9hr check out my visual resume here: http://slidesha.re/UhLvIr and get in touch with me on sagarsea@gmail.com