Ericka Lewis
Social media marketing campaigns come in all shapes and sizes. From corny to insightful, funny to emotionally moving, a social media marketing campaign should be designed to appeal to a specific audience of consumers and/or businesses. As companies seek to improve their marketing efforts, they aim to create the most influential social media campaigns.
Twitter and the use of hashtags can do wonders to improve your social media engagement levels, and consequently your search engine social signals. That's right with the a carefully chosen hashtag your social media marketing campaign can be launched towards a whole new level of success. The following five hashtags represent some of the most brilliant hashtag campaigns of 2015.
1.) Nike #BetterForIt Campaign
Many people know about the Nike #JustDoIt campaign, however in 2015 Nike also launched the #BetterForIt campaign across social media platforms. This campaign was used to drive brand awareness and encourage users to download and actively use the Nike app. Often times the hashtag was paired with a photo of an athlete who was clearly giving it there all. Edgy motivational quotes were also used to encourage users to share and favorite the content. In just a few short weeks the hashtag began to go viral with users tagging workout photos and examples of extreme athleticism, all while successfully helping Nike to increase its global brand awareness.
2.) Harley Davidson #RollYourOwn Campaign
Harley Davidson is known for being an edgier motorcycle company. The #RollYourOwn hashtag was used to spread brand awareness and direct users towards a specific landing page. The sophisticated campaign was also used to capture new customer information, while simultaneously providing additional sales lead generation.
3.) Red Bull #PutACanOnIt Campaign
In 2014 Red Bull launched the #PutACanOnIt campaign. The hashtag was based on a user-generated photo of a Red Bull can that appeared to be perched on top of a mini-cooper. In 2015 the campaign reached new heights as users continued to discover creative ways to take photographs with the Red Bull cans. This hashtag campaign is a prime example of a brand successfully using user-generated content to promote brand awareness on social media.
4.) Coca Cola #ShareACoke Campaign
The Share a Coke initiative has swept across the nation and globe. However, in 2015 Coca Cola took the campaign to an entirely new level when it encouraged drinkers to tweet their own stories with the hashtag #ShareACoke. Hundreds of thousands of tweets have been generated and new sub-campaigns have been launched. For example, on July 1, 2015 Coca Cola created a contest where users could enter to win a chance to #ShareACoke with Ryan Seacrest by submitting a photograph with a "Ryan" coke bottle label.
5) Denny's #CollegeIn5Words
In 2015 the popular trend of seeing phrases, such as CollegeIn5Words, emerged. Never one to be left out of a trending hashtag campaign, Denny's decided to take advantage of the #CollegeIn5Words campaign. Their May 6th tweet is the perfect example of a brand using an established hashtag trend and turning it into a relevant brand development opportunity.
The Bottom Line
Hashtags are not only here to stay, but as the above five brands show, they can easily be used during a social media marketing campaign to promote brand awareness to a larger audience. When used successfully, hashtags can give users the incentive they need to interact with a brand and share user-generated content.
A brilliant hashtag campaign will also encourage users to distribute popular news and trends to an interested group of social users, who will then share it to another interested group of users, and so-on. This trend of sharing content is the driving factor behind a successful hashtag campaign. In 2016 expect to see even more creative hashtag campaigns on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram as brands continue to seek new, innovative ways to promote brand awareness and engage with users.
