Now, let's clear the air before you dismiss this entry as one of my anti-hashtag rants.
For any of you who may not know, I am a long-time hashtag protester. If you aren't familiar with the battle against hashtags, go here to quickly catch up. We fought the good fight, however, we lost the war. Enough of the core community latched on to hashtags and the Twitter community grew so rapidly that many knew no other way. For the growing nation of Twitter n00bs, hashtags were a way of life within the platform. Last week, twitter made hashtags legit by hotlinking them, like @ replies.
Ya can't win 'em all.
Lately, adding a Branded hashtag to a tweet is the new SM "viral" campaign. A couple of start up's (and I'm sure there's more than the 2 I'm thinking of) have launched "promotions" (and I use that term loosely) offering to give away iPhones and/or macbook Pro's to randomly selected people who hashtag a tweet with their Brand name.
This is non-strategic marketing for a number of reasons:
- This is not a contest to promote or benefit Apple/mac or affiliate programs/services, although you may think it is it, because they are giving away that company's products. Wouldn't it make more sense to give away something specific to the product or service you are offering?
- Call entry just requires the branded hashtag on any tweet. So basically, I could negatively tweet about the brand "Yo XYZ company, your service totally blows. #XYZ" and still qualify to win the prize. Or, I could tweet about something unrelated "Checking out the monkey exhibit at the zoo today. #XYZ." How does that shape or improve people's opinion of the brand using word of mouth? Not all word of mouth is positive word of mouth.
- I still have no idea who this company is and what they do. Why should I use them? What can they do for me other than win free electronics? What is their VALUE Proposition?
Wouldn't it make more sense to make the call to action a creative reply TO: the brand? Having them follow the Brand in order to receive a DM alerting you to winning? Requiring the tweet to say something positive about the brand and/or service? Customizing the prize to tie back to the product or service that awarded it?
It's great to play with shiny new tools and see your name echo online. However, echoing for the sake of echoing, isn't strategic. It doesn't add value. It doesn't educate people on your brand. It doesn't build loyalists. It's just a blip.
And that's why, since it's not quite spam and not bacn either, I'm calling the branded hashtag promotions/hashtag meme's, Twofu. Not quite spam or bacn. Just a flavored imitator I'll forget tomorrow.
3 comments:
hmm, the shouter of starbucks analogy is pretty spot on. i don't have any idea what the two co.s you referenced are about, what they sell...who they are. in fact i don't even remember the name of the iPhone giveaway-er. so, yep, that is a marketing fail. you should want to be remember specifically...not as the company that gave away iPhones on twitter...what were they called?
this is notrachel by the way, had awaited the twofu post with bated breath. the term is genius. i have more screen names than you could shake a stick at. ok, i have no clue what that saying even means.
I assume you're talking about squarespace and moonfruit. Before those two campaigns, I knew nothing of either brand, and now I know something and have visited their websites--where, incidentally, both effectively delivered their value proposition. They didn't make a sale, but they could have. These kinds of efforts are the equivalent of cryptic sticker campaigns, interesting enough to Google for more information, and like billboards, shouldn't be held to the higher narrative standards of direct mail or a more expensive multi-channel campaign. For developing name-recognition on the cheap, it's hard to imagine a better deal.
Hey Andrew:
I'm interested to see how those 2 companies you mentioned net out from these campaigns.
Will the attention of people like you move the needle en masse or even as a longtail? Or, will this approach end like the ambient noise approach of Paris Hilton; I know of her, I follow her, but I won't buy what she's selling.
Her ambience worked. We became aware. We were compelled. We bought for a time. Too much ambient noise led to our disfranchisement, it became a repellent. Her value proposition landed close to 0 and she doesn't translate to transaction anymore.
Post a Comment