What are hashtags? How can consumers use them? What are the implications for brands?

1. Confidential © iris 2012
#Facebook
Hashtags
iris POV
June 2013

2. Confidential © iris 2012
Contents…
What are they?
How can consumers use them?
Implications for brands

3. Confidential © iris 2012
What are #Hashtags?
#Hashtags aren’t new
Born in Twitter in 2007, hashtags are commonly used on Instagram,
Tumblr, Pinterest and Vine. Users create hashtags to tag or categorize
their content. Hashtags are discoverable, allowing users to find new
content and brands/people to follow by searching relevant hashtags
such as #tips, #recipes or television shows.
So what is new?
On June 12th, Facebook announced that it will begin to roll out clickable
hashtags on its platform, allowing people to see and discover what other
folks and brand pages are saying about events or topics that include a
hashtag.

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How can people use Hashtags on
Facebook?
Users can now:
 Search for specific hashtags/topics from their search bar. For
example, #laundrytips, #coupons, etc.—Users can search for
hashtags in Graph Search
 Click on hashtags that originate on other services, such as
Instagram
 Create clickable hashtags within their statuses

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Implications for Brands
Immediate:
• Brands can listen to what consumers are organically saying about certain topics
and strategically insert brand messages into conversations when appropriate
– Consideration: This is dependent on users’ privacy settings as only public
updates are searchable
• Consider what/if hashtags make sense based on how brands’ target audience
currently uses hashtags
– Consideration: Is their target active on Twitter/Instagram and already familiar
with them?
• Hashtags from other platforms such as Instagram, that a user has synced with
Facebook, will be discoverable and clickable on Facebook
– Consideration: It’s now more important than ever to monitor relevant
conversations about and related to the brand, as conversations can be more
discoverable. Additionally, there is added importance to create presences on
social channels outside of Facebook, like Instagram, to encourage positive
conversation and content creation.
• Include topic-relevant hashtags as an organic tactic to become discoverable by
people interested in the category and build fans. Additionally, by using hashtags, a
brand post could garner more reach based on Facebook’s Edgerank algorithm.

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Implications for Brands
Long term:
• Brands should consider creating hashtag strategies, that can be branded, for
holistic campaigns across multiple platforms/media channels or post series.
Integrating a hashtag strategy for campaigns promotes participation—it
encourages people to incorporate the hashtag into their conversations and content
creation, which will increase buzz and scale.
• Examples of hashtag strategies include:
– Create a specific hashtag for events (e.g. #KitchenAidCookOff). Promote the
hashtag leading up to the event in social platforms, encourage folks to take
pictures at the event with the hashtag on Instagram or Facebook, and share
fan’s content during or after the event.
– Host contests that invite people to create content—image, videos,
messages—with a selected hashtag. Content can be pulled into a feed that is
pulling in mentions with the selected hashtag.
– Invite fans to participate in livestreams or real time events by encouraging
them to ask questions, commenting or giving feedback on Facebook (or
other social platforms) by including the select hashtag. Monitor these
responses and respond, or integrate into the livestream experience, in real
time.

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Final Notes & Outstanding Details
How Could Hashtags Effect Facebook’s Edgerank?
• Edgerank is already in effect when determining which hashtag statuses are
being displayed when clicking on a hashtag as the posts are not simply in
chronological order. As Facebook’s Edgerank historically has favored brands
and people using new Facebook functionalities, we can assume that posts
using hashtags will receive slightly increased Reach than posts without
hashtags.
Outstanding Details
• Insights: Facebook announced that there will be Insights for hashtags, but
details beyond this have not yet been revealed.
• Media: Facebook has not (yet!) announced how hashtags will be rolled into
their media offerings. We can assume there will be advertising opportunities to
target users who have used relevant hashtags, as well as opportunities to
highlight brand’s posts at the top of the clicked hashtag stream.

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Thanks!
For any questions, please contact:
Emily Canan
Emily.canan@iris-worldwide.com
Amy Brown
amy.brown@iris-worldwide.com
Esty Gorman
esty.gorman@iris-worldwide.com