-By Sonam Saini
The hashtag wave appears to have gripped logo marketing plans. Whether one talks of making attention, increasing visibility, showcasing content, or encouraging target market participation, manufacturers increasingly consider that creating a hashtag or even latching onto trending consumer-generated ones works wonders.
Looking lower back, the #IceBucketChallenge in 2014, the longest jogging social media venture, is a high-quality example of the prowess of a hashtag. The hashtag was created to promote attention to approximately the amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) disorder. Over 17 million humans participated in it. Closer domestic, #HumFitTohIndiaFit, initiated via Union Minister Rajyavardhan Rathore, could be credited for stirring a fitness motion in India — celebrities, brands, and commoners participated with a good deal of gusto.
Tagging alongside
Brands were speedy to piggyback on trending hashtags. The cutting-edge #10YearChallenge has seen brands which include McDonald’s, Durex, Acer, Oppo Mobile, Airtel, Amul, and Fevicol, among others, put up their respective ‘earlier than and after’ updates on social media.
Treating the #10YearChallenge in another way, McDonald’s slashed its menu fees to what they were 10 years back, for 10 days, in an try and go beyond just posting a photograph. “We desired to enhance that at the same time as we’ve developed over the past decade, we maintain to supply remarkable price,” stocks Akshay Jatia, GM, logo extensions, Hardcastle Restaurants.
Or keep in mind how, in September 2018, Bajaj Allianz Life Insurance started a customer engagement initiative known as #36SecPlankChallenge, to sell its 36 crucial ailments coverage. The viral campaign garnered 1.23 lakh mentions.
Examples of thrilling hashtag campaigns using manufacturers are aplenty: from Coca-Cola’s a success #ShareACoke to Lay’s’ #DoUsAFlavor, L’Oreal Paris’#WorthSharing, and Disney’s #ShareYourEars. Then, there may also be a hard and fast of brands that openly include their names in a hashtag. Cases in point? Calvin Klein’s #MyCalvins and Audi’s #WantAnR8.
Clearly, constructing engagement is one of the top reasons for manufacturers to apply hashtags. Chandramohan Mehra, CMO, Bajaj Allianz Life Insurance, says, “The content material has to apply to the medium and for the target market. An offline strategy will now not work on social media.”
Cost, or the dearth of it, is some other draw for marketers. “Hashtags generate interest and types are benefitted without investing an enormous amount of cash,” provides Mehra. But the advantage can be final only as long as brands hold the verbal exchange going.
Latching directly to a trending hashtag has it deserves, says Harish Bijoor, Founder, Harish Bijoor Consults Inc. “By doing so, the brand gives itself the very width of that hashtag in terms of viewership. It is essential nowadays to be visible first after which probed and heard,” he adds. However, a hashtag may want to do a good deal more than help manufacturers stay applicable within customers’ minds. “When you’re continuously within the consideration set of ability and present purchasers, that during itself is a part of a protracted-time period strategy,” Bijoor says.
Experts consider that a hashtag makes feel for all manufacturers, as long as it’s timely, suitable, and relevant. “A hashtag isn’t a printed; it’s a narrowcast to an audience and, consequently, far greater efficiency,” says Jagdeep Kapoor, chairman, and MD, Samsika Marketing Consultants.
There is a concentrated effort to promote, and subsequently, they don’t forget will become very robust. “A hashtag is a tactic, but a sequence of hashtags may be a strategy. It builds attention, popularity, keep in mind, and income for an emblem,” Kapoor provides.
A word of warning
Crafting a hashtag in a way that it doesn’t get misinterpreted or ruffle feathers is key. Recently, Gillette launched a powerful marketing campaign titled ‘Boys might be Boys? Isn’t it time we stopped excusing terrible conduct?’ that has garnered 29? Eight million perspectives thus far. The campaign, driven with the aid of #TheBestMenCanBe, turned into Gillette’s enchantment to ‘shave off toxic masculinity’ and dissuade guys and the next generation from harassing, mistreating, and bullying humans. While many favored the thought in the back of the campaign, it also received backlash from men who conceived it promoted stereotypes and maligned masculinity.
“The well-known tendency of an emblem is to be seen, but what if it’s visible within the wrong experience? Brands ought to be cautious approximately which fashion they pick out up. While it seems very regular for a logo like Gillette to comment on this trouble, especially after the #MeToo motion, it can additionally be seen as insensitive,” points out N Chandramouli, CEO, TRA.
Striking the proper balance is vital. As Chandramouli says, “You can’t just tag yourself to the entirety. People will note, and you will in all likelihood locate extra naysayers than appreciators.”
