Following the
announcement that Facebook will be introducing ‘hashtags’(#) to the social
networking site, Waseem Saddique Marketing reveals how businesses can
capitalise in terms of enhancing their online marketing efforts.
Waseem Saddique Marketing provides a 3 step guide that will pave the way for increased
communication with current and potential customers.
Step One
Increase Advertising Efforts on Facebook – Waseem Saddique states: “The new
Facebook ‘hashtags’ will allow advertisers to identify ‘hot-spots’ of activity
relevant to their business. Therefore, an online marketing campaign
incorporating Facebook and the new ‘hashtag’ system will allow businesses to be
even more target specific.”
Step Two
Be Proactive – Maintenance of a Facebook page will
be vital following the introduction of the ‘hashtag’ system. Potential
customers will be entering into online conversation topics in real time
providing an immediate way for businesses to promote themselves to a particular
audience, live!
Many
organisations now employ social media specialists to administrate and monitor
the day-to-day running of social media activity with hugely successful results.
Waseem Saddique states: “The implementation of ‘hashtags’ on Facebook will only
increase the need to be posting regularly on Facebook. To stay ahead of rivals
it’s highly recommended to update Facebook profiles and pages consistently.”
Step Three
Engage the Audience –
Consumers recognise, and are attracted to, Facebook pages that are updated
regularly. Hashtags will enhance the ability to attract an audience and by
drawing in the consumer audience it presents businesses with the perfect
opportunity to instigate a hashtag conversation that’s relevant to both
business and consumer.
The ‘hashtag’
system will be an ideal platform to initiate a fact finding exercise. Waseem
Saddique recommends the following:
·
Conduct
a poll using the hashtag system
·
Promote
offers and competitions
·
Provide
‘Did You Know?’ data such as statistical information relevant to your business
·
Ask
questions that generate debate, but subtly glean information i.e. Is Chanel’s
new perfume slightly overpriced? – If you’re a perfume supplier you’re creating
debate, yet subtly establishing whether your audience uses Chanel or another
brand of perfume
The Facebook
‘hashtag’ system will reveal all this information in real time and allow
businesses to react instantly to the information that’s supplied. In terms of
enhancing online marketing the Facebook ‘hashtag’ system hopes to emulate the
‘hashtag’ system of Twitter, the social media site from which the # (hashtag)
originates.
As a
supplementary incentive for businesses, ease of access to target audiences will
be made simplistic as companies will be able to click hashtagged words and
instantly view discussion feeds related to a particular topic.
In a
statement from Facebook executives, they said: “The online marketing potential
for businesses worldwide will be taken to a whole new level. At present we have
plans to roll out hashtags to 20% of our users, with a global roll out planned
shortly afterwards.”
