Author Archive
Using Hashtags in your Digital Strategy!
#hashtags are being used across all social media platforms. So what’s the deal with hashtags anyway? Is it imperative to use them for your digital strategy? Do they help optimize your social media presence? If used effectively, yes, they can help your digital presence.
A hashtag is used to mark keywords in order to facilitate an unmoderated ad-hoc forum type discussion. Hashtags are words, or strings of words and characters stuck together with no spaces and marked with the # symbol, like this #hashtags. If a hashtag is promoted and used by enough individuals on one social network, this can result in a “topic” or keyword to start “trending,” inviting more people to join the discussion.
Although hashtags first appeared on IRC (Internet Relay Chat) networks in the late 80s, it wasn’t until Twitter rose to popularity that hashtags gained mainstream appeal. Hashtags are now being used on Google+, Instagram, Tumblr, YouTube, Orkut, Twitter, and several other micro news websites such as Gawker, Gizmodo, and Jezebel. Most people don’t understand the purpose and effectiveness of hashtags. Other people over use them. Below are 5 examples of how you can use hashtags effectively to help optimize your digital presence.
- Engage customers in a poll or questionnaire. Ask your followers on Twitter or Google+ to participate in a poll or questionnaire for a new product launch. For example, for clothing retailers, asking consumers what they think of a new color or collection #summercollection2012.
- Run a contest. Using hashtags to run contests on Twitter and Instagram are very popular. When running a contest, ask your followers to share or RT by including your company’s hashtag #magnifygiveaway.
- Create real-time dialogue. This technique is a fantastic way for events, conferences, and festivals to create dialogue online and build a larger audience outside of attendees. By promoting the hashtag on all marketing materials, including speaker schedules, and program brochures, attendees will know how to share the content as it is presented. Television shows that are broadcast live also utilize this method to engage with fans watching at home, for example, #americanidol2012.
- Run a promotion. Offer a discount by asking followers to share your promotion. For example, users can save 10% by retweeting your brand’s promotion using the hashtag #magnifysavebig.
- Use photos or images. With Instagram gaining popularity, businesses can engage followers on this network by asking them to upload a photo for a contest, or giveaway, including a hashtag to enter. For example, LEVI’s ran a campaign looking for their next model, and asked users to upload a photo of themselves on Instagram with the hashtag #iamlevis. They received millions of submissions.
My prediction is that we will see hashtags being used more and more across digital platforms. Hopefully these examples will help you understand how hashtags can be an effective way of promoting your business online!
Maryam Mehrtash
@socialmaryam
Tags: digital, facebook, google, hashtags, instagram, strategy, Twitter
Bringing Humor to Digital Advertising
Everyone enjoys a great laugh once in a while, especially when it comes from a place you least expect. Usually businesses focus on promoting the unique selling points of their products and services, and forget to add a human element that keeps them real. Consumers love it when businesses make fun of themselves. It makes a brand more likable, more human. There is no formula for adding humor to advertising, and it can be done in various ways depending on your product or service. Here are some examples of my favorite digital ads that have gone outside the box of conventional marketing messaging and added humor to their marketing efforts:
- Dollar Shave Club – This startup created a witty video ad, similar in tone to the Old Spice campaign, that went viral earning over 4 million video views on YouTube and helping raise over $1 million in funding.
- LG Ultra Slim LED TV – LG created a video ad showcasing how easy it is to steal one of their ultra thin TVs. The campaign became viral, generating over 4 million views.
- Thor - the Marvel blockbuster film created a video campaign to promote the release of the new film by mimicking Volkswagen’s highly successful viral video The Force. The original video by Volkswagen garnered over 48 million video views, while Little Thor only reached 3 million views; however, in the viral video world that is still considered a significant success.
Hopefully these videos inspire you to consider using humor in your digital marketing! Which video was your favorite? Do you have other examples? We would love to hear about them.
Maryam Mehrtash
@socialmaryam
Tags: comedy, digital marketing, funny, humor, Social Media, Twitter, youtube
Is Facebook Monopolizing Every Sector? With Groups for Schools it Enters Education!
On April 11, 2012 Facebook launched a new platform called Groups for Schools focusing on the education sector. The service is only available for people with email addresses ending with a .edu from educational institutions. This new platform will allow students and teachers to share documents and comments amongst themselves, competing with software schools currently use. Some of these companies are already worried they may lose market share due to this new initiative. This was a great move for Facebook since the social media giant really wanted to make its mark into the education sector. This roll out will be pretty seamless since Facebook has already saturated most of the market for college students, and pretty much every other target market in the world; people from every sector and industry are on Facebook!
For digital marketers this new platform can only really benefit you if you are working strictly in the education sector. With limited access to the platform, it will be difficult to use it to market directly to this demographic. For students and teachers, this might actually be heaven; file sharing and engagement will be taken to you a whole new level. Students can also use this platform to create sub-groups for various activities on campus, and leave campus tips on the group page.
It is no doubt that Facebook is taking over the world, one sector at a time! What are your thoughts about Groups for Schools? Is Facebook monopolizing the web space?
Maryam Mehrtash
@socialmaryam
Tags: digital marketers, education, facebook, groups, Social Media, Twitter
The Importance of Integrating Visuals in Your Social Strategy
Whether it’s uploading mobile pictures on Facebook, posting images to Instagram, or pinning visuals on Pinterest, one thing is for sure, users love sharing imagery of their life, interests, and hobbies. The numbers do not lie, more than 3,000 photos are uploaded every second to Facebook, that is 250 million per day, and over 5 million photos are shared to Instagram on a daily basis. Pinterest also boasts an approximate 11 million registered users who pin or re-pin visual imagery. Although, these statistics may seem staggering, it should come as no surprise that we humans love sharing pictures. Our brain can process visuals in a much simpler form than text.
It is important for businesses to realize the power of pics, and ensure images figure prominently in social strategies. Here are 5 steps to get you started:
- Think about your brand in pictures. If your brand could speak in images what would it say? Have a team brainstorming session. If you have an in-house graphic designer create some visuals that reflect your brand. If you don’t, take some pictures!
- Create and update your Instagram profile at least twice a week. Up until recently Instagram was only available on iOS devices boasting more than 30 million downloads, but now you can download it on Android as well. Within the first 24 hour of its Android version launch, Instagram sold over 1 million downloads. Use this application to share your office environment, your people, and your business.
- Find quotes that reflect your brand and post them on Pinterest. Users on this platform love sharing quotes, and words of wisdom and inspiration. Create an “Inspiration” board and pin your favorite quotes once a week.
- Leverage your Facebook profile, by sharing your Instagram pictures and Pinterest images on your Facebook Page. This way your fans will know they can find you on other social media sites, and will thus, start following and engaging with your brand on various platforms.
- Have a sense of humor! Everyone loves a good laugh. Not everything you post has to be business oriented. If the image is funny, and in line with your brand, post it. It’ll show your followers that at the end of the day behind every brand we are all human.
Hope this has inspired you to connect your brand through visuals and utilize the social platforms that allow you to show your company’s not so serious side…
Maryam Mehrtash
@socialmaryam
Tags: android, facebook, images, instagram, iPhone, photos, pinterest, Social Media, social strategy, statistics
5 Tips to a Spam Free Life!
- Say no! When making a purchase on a website you will almost always be asked to receive newsletters, or promotions and sometimes it isn’t that obvious or the checkbox is already pre-selected. Make sure to uncheck “YES, I would like to receive….” to avoid signing up for unnecessary junk.
- Beat them at their own game. Have a dedicated spam account. Create an email account to utilize only when you are making online purchases or want to subscribe to enewsletters without really wanting to get bombarded with information on a daily basis.
- Block the application. On social media sites like Facebook you can block applications from which you receive spam.
- Install a filter. For most blog sites, you can install a filter that will decrease the amount of spam your comment box receives. Comment box spam usually includes a link to another website.
- Proceed with caution. Be aware of what information you allow web applications to access when creating accounts on various networks and sites.
Hope these few tips help you to be spam free… or at least spam lite!
Maryam Mehrtash
@socialmaryam
