Social media has allowed us to send messages to a world-wide audience in less than a minute. It also lets us receive messages from others around the world, down the street, or right next to us about the same topics that are currently trending.

The Increasing Use of Hashtag to Drive Engagement

Messages are now easily categorized by something called “hashtags.”

Yes that’s the one, the formally known symbol that represented the pound sign on your telephone now categorizes social conversations on broadcast, print, and digital platforms.

Hashtags can encourage interaction between companies and their audiences that allow them to create conversations or give feedback using one simple hashtag symbol in front of the topic.

Some ways hashtags are being used today are through broadcast and print media and also through creating social interaction through campaigns. As I mentioned earlier, you might have seen a hashtag at the bottom of your television screen during an episode of Mad Men or The Walking Dead.

Now, have you ever tuned into a show and after the climax you wondered what everyone else thought about that last scene or found yourself curious about what might happen next? Well this is where a hashtag in the Twitterverse can come in handy.

Most people will turn to social media during a commercial break to find out what the rest of the audience is saying. You might be already following your T.V. shows official account just to keep up with reminders maybe even some trivia about the show, this is also used for interaction between company and audience.

But for a broader conversation between a larger audience you can easily insert the hashtag followed by the name of the show and read all the comments, reactions, and thoughts people all around the world might have.

Just by reading other peoples questions or opinions, you can analyze past or future theories about the show. Social interaction like this can create a conversation about the characters, past events, or the show itself and allows a sufficient amount of buzz to build and can also encourage the non-viewers of these trendy shows to begin to search the concept of the them and possibly encourage them to add it to their queue on Netflix and start watching from starting with season one.

Hashtagging Used to Increase Sales

Not only television shows are used in broadcast hashtagging, but they are also used for breaking news, special events, and commercials. For example, television events such as The Super Bowl, The Grammy’s, or even Lebron James’ Decision are always going to be buzzworthy enough to trend on social media.

Another way hashtagging is relevant in television is through commercials. It’s almost like hashtags have become a huge part of communication that we actually depend on it to narrow down our social searches.

Companies tend to use hashtags in commercials for product and sales relevancy. When using a hashtag “name of brand” in a commercial it usually gets the audience talking either about the product or the commercial itself. According to Hashtags.org they are meant to keep the audience aware of new products and offers.

Also, hashtags can engage the audience to tweet, like, or follow the company’s brand and increase publicity for them. In return, the company will hopefully entertain the followers with their content and allow them to be persuaded to purchase and increase sales.

Getting the Audience to Follow

Social media has come along way whether it’s for publicity, sales, or even just to maintain your credibility. Another way social media has been seen in our everyday lives is in print media. Some of us have not noticed it, but social media is a huge way to increase public engagement.

Have you ever read through one of your favorite magazines and come upon an advertisement for a cute pair of shoes and notice a little Facebook or Twitter icon? Well I know it sounds irrelevant to have an icon available if you cannot click on a piece of paper; but it is a clever little way to create brand awareness.

Social media icons on print advertising allows the consumer to know that they are on certain social media networks and would like to invite the reader to follow for more interesting and similar content.

As I mentioned earlier, social media is a form of communication and everything we use it for is becoming more and more useful. For example, the more companies add their social media availability on their advertisements, the more people will be engaged to interact with them and allow the company to gain publicity.

Directing Traffic by Using Social Media

Even magazines themselves have turned to social media to interact with their audiences and gain audience feedback on previous magazine issues by creating conversation with them on social media.

Let’s keep in mind that the audience always stays connected with their favorite brands, companies, and products through digital media. I mean everyone carries their cellphones in their hands, tablets in their purses, or laptops in their backpacks, so companies should have no reason to think that their message will not be reached by their specific audience.

The only problem is going to be actually getting their audience to their page or website. Even if companies have to go back to traditional media to get their audience to their digital pages then that is a clear effective message in itself if you see the increase in views or followers.

Targeting Your Audience for Your Campaign

Which brings me to my next point in why social media is a great way to engage consumers. Every company or brand has a target audience they want to interact with during a campaign. Whether it is a certain age group, gender, or even ethnicity; every campaign has a certain type of demographics and psychographics aimed toward the audience that they want to gain attention from.

This is where something called media planning comes into play. Media planning is used when advertisements are specifically bought and placed in a certain medium at a certain time of the day, week, or month.

For example, if an advertisement for a lip-gloss wanted to be advertised to teenage girls specifically, a good idea would to purchase ad space in magazines such as Seventeen or Teen Vogue.

Why Social Media is a Good Campaign Medium

Social media has made engagement and interaction a little easier when it comes to engagement and interaction during a campaign. Whether it is a social media, television, or print ad campaign; social media is a smart way to get a quick and easy interaction from audiences.

Some campaigns require interaction by asking the audience to get involved with a contest using a specific hashtag and also creating a conversation on any or several social media platforms. For example, you’ve seen brands such as Doritos, Wendy\’s, or Coca Cola run campaigns that create an interaction between consumer and company.

Although each company has their different target audiences, social media campaigns are a fun way to gain audience attention by allowing them to show their creativity and help the company promote the product.

Why Social Media Campaigns Should Be Creative

Again using the hashtag symbol, a social media campaign is the simplest way to be categorized. One hashtag, thousands of ideas, used by a nation wide audience. If the campaign is has a large amount of users participating, it allows the unaware users to see what the product is and what is special about it.

Social media is the newest way of communication to send a message to your audience. It is probably the quicker than print or broadcast television. Also, now a days creating an audience conversation is better if made in a creative way to gain positive feedback and possibly gain more loyal customers.

So remember when trying to gain a little publicity for your company, remember to include where you can be found on social media along with a social call to action in your ad. For more interaction create a hashtag so customers can use when using the product or visiting your company.

Creating a hashtag campaign may be one of the best solutions in extending your company’s reach and building exposure. Have you used hashtags as part of your social media strategy before? If you have, we’d love to hear how they were used and the results were!

Feel free to drop us a comment.

Luis is the Chief Marketing Commander at Voyager. In his spare time he likes to explore his creative side by playing guitar, reading inspiring books, and also dabbles around the kitchen for fun. Visit his website for more information.

Luis is the Chief Marketing Commander at Voyager. In his spare time he likes to explore his creative side by playing guitar, reading inspiring books, and also dabbles around the kitchen for fun. http://www.voyager.io Visit his website for more information.

Author Bio: Luis is the Chief Marketing Commander at Voyager. In his spare time he likes to explore his creative side by playing guitar, reading inspiring books, and also dabbles around the kitchen for fun. Visit his website for more information.

Category: Marketing
Keywords: social media, marketing, advertising, business