Month: January 2016

I’m sure we all know what a ‘hashtag’ is, but what are the real benefits to your business of using and creating hashtags? To put it simply, an increased reach equals increased click rates; which means an inevitable increase in conversion rates. Studies show that tweets receive a significant increase in click rates when using 2-3 hashtags (RiteTag, 2016), if we look at a very generic hashtag, #Travel, you can see below just how much greater reach it offers than simply posting a tweet.

(Source: RiteTag)

The numbers speak for themselves, people are searching for and reading tweets with #Travel; imagine this is linked to your homepage. The possibilities are endless. Want to play around and see a huge variety of analytic for different hashtags? Then click here.

But what happens when you create your own unique hashtag? Knapp et al (2015) found that it offers 3 key benefits:

1. Tracking performance and engagement
2. Reaching out to users
3. Making your business seem more human

Tracking performance and engagement

By creating your own unique hashtag, you can track exactly how well users are interacting with your brand or product. It also allows for all of the related tweets to be stored under that tag, and therefore easily conduct a search and analyse the latest feedback. The practical implications of this are unlimited, but are specifically useful for marketing strategies such as promoting a contest or requesting responses for a question posted.

Reach out to users

The internet is a big place, and its easy to get lost in it especially non-specific marketing. Having a unique hashtag, places all responses into one single place but also creates a direction for user interaction with a product and brand. Thus creating a two way dialogue. This offers a fantastic opportunity to create a rapport with followers rather than just being a faceless corporate entity.

Making your business seem more human

A unique hashtag makes your company seem like more than just a faceless business. Adding this unique personality will inevitably create a relationship with loyal customers and entice new customers. People do business with people, not with a logo; and this is reflected in social media, which are all about interacting with people. Adding this creative edge shows a reflection of your business’s personality and users will engage with it; creating a trust element and a brand image.

(Source: Jeffbullas)

So the importance and benefits of unique hashtags are pretty big. What we need to know now is how to make an effective unique hashtag. Here are some simple tips for creating your own hashtag (Quin, 2014):

• Don’t use punctuation or symbols (other than the # sign obviously)
• Numbers are okay, but only if they’re combined with letters as well (E.g. #alex21)
• If you create a hashtag that is a combination of words, then capitalise each word. It makes it easier to read!
• Keep them short and direct. Tweets are only 140 characters, don’t ruin the rest of your followers tweet.
• Make sure that the hashtag being used is relevant.
• Finally, make sure that the unique hashtag is actually unique. Do your research, search for it on twitter first!

(Source: Saumyaomer)

Lets look at examples of how hashtags have gone horribly wrong, because that’s always fun, right? (Waldram, 2012)

1.  #McDstories – In 2012, McDonalds decided to launch this hashtag, designed to be used to show the produce supply chain. However it ended up with a backlash of negative tweets with people tweeting about finding horrible things in their food. Not ideal.
2. #QantasLuxury this mistake was all about timing. As this unique hashtag was brought out, Qantas’s entire fleet was grounded. This led to the hashtag being used for rants and complaints and certainly nothing luxurious.
3. #Susanalbumparty was created to promote the release of Susan Boyle’s new Album. I don’t think this one really needs explaining as to why it went horribly, horribly wrong. Safe to say it was swiftly changed, becoming #SusanBoyleAlbumParty.

The list goes on, to see more unique hashtags gone wrong, click here.

The most important rule to remember when using your unique hashtag, is to complement it with general hashtags so as to include users who are unaware of your current unique hashtag. Get it right, and a unique hashtag is a fantastic digital marketing tool.

 

References:

Knapp, L et al. (2015). Hashtags and How to Use Them on Social Media. The Journal of Medical Practice Management : MPM. 31 (2), p131-133.

Ritetag. (2016). Popular Twitter hashtags for travel. Available: https://ritetag.com/best-hashtags-for/travel. Last accessed 13th Jan 2016.

Quin, R. (2014). How To Use Hashtags Effectively In Your Social Media Marketing. Available: http://www.socialbro.com/use-hashtags-effectively/. Last accessed 13th Jan 2016.

Waldrum, H. (2012). #Susanalbumparty: Top five Twitter hashtag PR disasters. Available: http://www.theguardian.com/technology/shortcuts/2012/nov/22/twitter-susan-boyle-susanalbumparty. Last accessed 13th Jan 2016.

What are Infographics? To put it simply, Infographics are visual representations of information which uses images and data to simplify otherwise complex ideas or information. But why explain it rather than use an Infographic?!

(Source: customer magnetism)

When it comes to Social Media Marketing (SMM), the use of Infographics can help any organisation be more effective and efficient with their marketing. According to research by Smiciklas (2012), the benefits of Infographics for SMM can be broken down into three key areas:

1. Grabbing Users Attention
2. User Comprehension of Information
3. Retaining and Sharing the Information

Click here to read the full journal by Smiciklas.

Grabbing Users Attention

A fact of modern day life is that we are all constantly on the move, which inevitably impacts how we use social media; we simply flick through and check for updates throughout the day when we have an opportunity.

Therefore, it is important to gauge the user’s attention immediately, and maintain that attention to deliver the desired information. And we’ve seen this trend with newspapers, for example the ‘Google Newsstand’ app (Click here to see) has changed the way news articles are offered; from long articles to sharp and concise paragraphs of information.

What are the implications of this for SMM and the use of Infographics? Well, its all about how we understand information; the human brain processes visual information 60,000 times quicker than text information (Sibley, 2012). This means that by using Infographics, an organisation can stand out to its followers and engage them much faster than by simply using data and text; allowing the user to gain the maximum information from a minimal amount of time.

User Comprehension of Information

When it comes to comprehension, I think we can all be honest and say that when we’re faced with page upon page of information, we all switch off a bit.

The principal of data retention is, that on their own, data and visual information are both imperfect forms of communicating information. Written information allows a deep analysis of unlimited information. However, images are easier for the individual to read but obviously offer a lot less information (Gutierrez, 2014).

The combination of both visual and text information that Infographics allows for the advantages of each while minimizing the negatives. By offering the option of accessing further more detailed information through an attached link users who want a more in depth comprehension are able to do so.

Compatibility also falls under comprehension, I don’t know if any of you have had the nightmare of receiving an important document on your phone only to realise that every time you open it, it comes out in gibberish. The same happens with large PDFs on some mobile devices, the great thing about Infographics is that they are compatible across all social media platforms and all internet enabled devices.

User Retention and Sharing of Information

A study by Paul Lester (2006) shows that we remember 80% of what we see, 20% of what we read and only 10% of what we hear.

Infographics utilise several forms of sensory information. Therefore, because individuals have understood it further, and engaged with the information more, they are more likely to retain this information.

But the real opportunity is the way these images often get shared, becoming viral. Sharing this information, when branded with an organisations logo, would produce a snowball effect of respondents; potentially producing huge level of reach for a minimal cost. An example of this is the Infographic below developed by ‘Thrillist’, which shows London rent prices for a one bedroom flat by each tube stop; this image got shared over 500,000 times on twitter alone.

(Source: Thrillist)

Too good to be true?!

Infographics are pretty great, but they’re not perfect. To keep it effective and efficient, it is important to follow these points (Easelly, 2015):

• Make it directional and relevant
• Make sure that the images reflect the data (i.e don’t use images of planes if you’re business is talking about cars)
• It is most efficient when part of a broad SMM strategy
• Most importantly don’t include too much (it makes it very difficult to even look at)

Here’s an example of an Infographic that got it very very wrong.

(Source: Telegraph)

Can you make any sense of it? Because I couldn’t. If you look at the tiny key in the bottom left it turns out that it represents an overlay of the three maps in the left hand column. This is a classic example of an Infographic that is just trying to do to much.

In conclusion, Infographics offer a fantastic opportunity to make SMM more effective and efficient, however they’re also pretty easy to get wrong. If you want to learn how to make your Infographic as effective as possible, then click here for a fantastic article.

References:

Easelly. (2015). Top Tips from Experts on What Makes a Great Infographic. Available: https://www.easel.ly/blog/top-tips-from-experts-on-what-makes-a-great-infographic/. Last accessed 13th Jan 2016.

Gutierrez, K. (2014). Studies Confirm the Power of Visuals in eLearning. Available: http://info.shiftelearning.com/blog/bid/350326/Studies-Confirm-the-Power-of-Visuals-in-eLearning. Last accessed 13th Jan 2016.

Lester, P. (2006). Syntactic Theory of Visual Communication.Available: http://paulmartinlester.info/writings/viscomtheory.html. Last accessed 13th Jan 2016.

Sibley, A. (2012). 19 Reasons You Should Include Visual Content in Your Marketing . Available: http://blog.hubspot.com/blog/tabid/6307/bid/33423/19-Reasons-You-Should-Include-Visual-Content-in-Your-Marketing-Data.aspx. Last accessed 13th Jan 2016.

Smiciklas, M (2012). The Power of Infographics. United States: Pearson Education. p6-98.