HashTag Hijacking - New Concerns For Twitter Marketeers
In an exciting turn of events tweeters are hijacking Twitter hashtag discussions to redirect conversation and edge out annoying social media campaigns.
Twitter is well-known for its role in providing a solid platform for rioters to social good deeds, But what happens when the Twitter family doesn’t like what’s being said? Well, they change the subject.
Recently, a number of tweeters have hijacked some hashtag campaigns out of disgust; co-opting and rebranding the hashtag to create a new discussion.
McDonalds a very well known fast food chain last week begin a social media campaign in order to boost its image by using the hashtags #meetthefarmers and #McDstories. The first hashtag highlighted the company’s commitment to fresh produce and meat, while #McDstories was intended to encourage warm and fuzzy stories about Happy Meals.
The paid-for, Promoted Tweet campaign’s initial tweets were positive, but Eventually, the campaign backfired, as little tweeties turned #McDstories into something really frustrating for MacDonald's social media team. McDonald’s had the sense to quickly take down the campaign after only using the hashtag twice, though the anti-McDonalds legion had already latched on.
Perhaps its a good thing that the fast food chain learned a harsh lesson about the nature of social media by losing control of its discussion, it will force the Social Media Marketeers to really thing about the strategies for tackling such things in future. McDonalds’ social media director Rick Wion points out that social media blowback is unavoidable for a “lightning rod” like McDonalds.
The fast food chain has actually retaliated back into the action with a new campaign using #LittleThings, which hasn’t seemed to draw as much ire yet.
The question that remains is that twitter being an extremely popular social media network in US is becoming vital for Marketing purposes because of its reach and popularity, the revenue stream for twitter is it's promoted tweets only which is kind of organic marketing and due to which it is possible that if the customer of any particular brand doesnt like it may bash it in front of millions of users , now it only depends upon Social Media Strategist that how they can avoid such retaliation by planning hijack proof strategies.
[ via - DigitalTrends ]
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