Hashtags are no secret anymore. Everywhere you go you see them being used and even hear people saying things like “hashtag preseason.” They have become the way to get your idea, product, company or event out there and to see how many people are paying attention. Hashtags are even becoming common at weddings, it’s almost strange if a wedding doesn’t have a designated hashtag so people can share pictures.

Hashtags have a huge advantage for companies because it gives them a direct way to communicate with their consumers. Companies can use hashtags as a way to connect with their consumers directly. When a company puts out a hashtag giving consumers a way to feel important and connect on a personal level and share their stories. For example Coca-Cola #shareacoke turned into something bigger as people started using it to show kindness to each other and took it into a kind of movement that played into something very beneficial for the company in Public Relations standpoint. IN a marketing and advertising standpoint it was free advertising. People were putting it on snapchat, twitter, Instagram and more. People started seeing a coke bottle with their friends name or a song lyric that brought up a memory and buy it for that person even if there’s no reason to actually buy it.

On the flip side hashtags are risky. If you don’t look into them and use them blindly it can get you into quite a bit of trouble. DiGiorno ran into this issue two years ago with the hashtag #whyIstayed. The hashtag was created for domestic abuse victims to share their story when DiGiorno tweeted, without looking into the meaning behind the hashtag, “#whyIstayed you had pizza.” Needless to say Twitter blew up. They handled it and took a three week silence on Twitter and by then the issue had blown over. However, it is issues like this that can often catch companies on their toes and in a tough situation.

Even though hashtags can be annoying, especially when people hashtag every single word, but they truly are affective when it comes to companies and tracking the amount of activity surrounding their company or product. “Twitter’s release of their new activity dashboardmakes this more true than ever. Hashtag clicks on the network can now be factored into engagement on the social network, giving a new depth to reporting on this earned media,” (Shivley, Simply Measured). As hashtags become more popular researchers begin to adjust their techniques and systems to track contact and reaction through hashtags. They have become a key source of seeing how many people a company can meet without directly finding out the sales.

For as long as people tried to hide from the use of hashtags it is no longer possible. Hashtags are everywhere. From bottles to posters and anything you can imagine. Some people are beginning to get over it, but they have worked and are doing an incredible job at a good Public Relations view, free advertising, good marketing and its increasing sales all because of something that came from putting a few words behind a pound sign.

Reference:

Shively, K. (2014, July 14). #Hashtags: Why They’re More Useful to Marketers Than Ever | Simply Measured. Retrieved September 08, 2016, from http://simplymeasured.com/blog/hashtags-why-theyre...