What Are #HashtagClouds and How Can They Work for You?

What Are #HashtagClouds and How Can They Work for You?

 

#Hashtags took over the early 2010s, but their purpose for professionals became higher in relevance in the significant usage of #hashtagclouds — a group of relevant or strategic hashtags which can greatly increase your current and future exposure on Instagram. Since Instagram turned into one of the most popular marketing platform today, businesses large and small carefully craft a specific, targeted group of hashtags to garner more interaction. Understanding the intricacies of clouds and creating a viable set of hashtags gives many agencies a competitive social edge. So, what’s their purpose and how can #hashtagclouds could help you expand your reach socially?

What Are Hashtag Clouds?

Instagram hashtag clouds are a different way to label and categorize your reels, posts, and stories. This method of organization helps Instagram better serve your posts to relevant audiences that are more likely to interact with posts through commenting or sharing, based on their algorithm. In their most simple function, the hashtags you use help make up the search results on the Instagram Explore page, which are different for every user and are based on what the user is interacting with.

How Do Businesses Use Clouds?

From local businesses to giant media corporations, many are implementing the usage of hashtags into their social media as a way to drive engagement. Businesses typically use anywhere from three to five targeted hashtags such as location-based (#Youngstown), branded (#McConnellMarketing), and descriptive (#WeeklyGroceryStoreAd) These help narrowly define the target market and ensure posts are showing up. Cloud sets can be as custom-tailored to posts as your time and budget allocate for creation.

How Do Hashtag Clouds Affect Reach?

McDonald’s hashtags clouds have a proven track record of success with a recent study comparing the number of hashtags used per post with average reach rates of over 18 million Instagram feed posts in late 2021. In the study, reach rate increases by 11% (from 24% to 35%) as the number of hashtags grows from one to 30. Start with a small number of targeted hashtags and slowly increase the number over time.

Interested in testing #hashtagclouds out, but don’t know where to start? Contact us today to set up a consultation with one of our content specialists!

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Kudos to the Creative Geniuses of these 4 Viral Campaigns

 

Viral marketing allows companies to better market their products by reaching consumers that ordinarily would not be targeted by its traditional marketing campaigns. This expanded reach allows the company to enter new markets and potentially expand its customer base. This approach can help in creating a lot of positive impact during promotional product launches or campaigns. It helps to get tremendous visibility, exposure, and better traffic which results in increased sales revenue. Creating successful viral campaigns is no easy feat; read more to learn about their excellent execution and what you can take from them.

Hyundai Collabs with BTS

Popular KPOP (Korean Pop) band BTS have exploded on social media within the last decade, easily having the largest fan base on every media platform imaginable. In an effort to share their message, Hyundai teamed up with BTS to produce a 60-second video ad that absolutely went viral with more than 105 million views on YouTube (one of the biggest counts of these recent viral marketing examples). Through this example of relationship marketing, BTS fans may now have a better awareness of the Hyundai brand in comparison to before the commercial aired, while Hyundai audiences may choose to listen to BTS’ songs or vote for them in award shows.

Zoom’s Background Contest

Zoom took off in popularity during the COVID-19 lockdown that made remote learning and working the norm. During that time, to capitalize on their popularity, Zoom started a virtual background contest in 2020 where they invited users to share the virtual backgrounds they made to use on Zoom calls on social media using the #MeetHappy hashtag. While it wasn’t the most viral campaign, it was done so to promote their hashtag, which is easily replicable for your business! Now Zoom uses #MeetHappy on many of its posts to help with brand awareness and announcements regarding the product and company.

Travis Scott Meal at McDonalds

McDonald’s is known for their meal deal specials and affordable prices, but in 2021, they branched out to try some influencer marketing featuring Travis Scott, who had just put out his new hit record. This meal took center stage on TikTok where users recorded themselves placing orders for the meal by playing the hit song “Sicko Mode” at drive-thru windows. As a direct result trend, many McDonald’s franchises couldn’t keep up with demand and McDonald’s quickly made the meal available only through the app. Months later, McDonald’s used all their new app members as the testers of their new rewards program.

Amazon Reposting User Generated Content

One of the best (and most cost-effective) ways to attempt virality is to share what your existing audience is saying about your business. Simply looking through your businesses reviews and comments could lead to anywhere from a weekly to monthly post about what exactly your audience is thinking about your business. Reposting reviews and comments on Instagram and other social networks can drive more traffic to your site and make people like your brand more. Plus, it increases interaction as more people will comment and review in hopes of being featured in the next social media post!

Are you trying out any of the above ideas? Let us know by following us on social media and staying up to date on our monthly newsletters, full of more helpful tips and tricks!

Pantone 2022 Color of the Year

 

Pantone Color of the Year Results Are In!

Pantone, the world-leading expert in color, has announced its Color of the Year 2022 is a new shade of blue. Known as Very Peri – officially PANTONE 17-3938 Very Peri – the shade fuses a what Pantone describes as a “dynamic periwinkle blue hue with a vivifying violet red undertone.”

The Selection Process

For over 20 years, fashion designers, home furnishing curators and everyone in between look to the Pantone Color of the Year for inspiration in the following year. That being said, a lot of time and thought goes into selecting just the right color. The Pantone Color Institute combs through a variety of industries looking for trends that could inspire the year’s color. Influences might come from socio-economic conditions, upcoming sporting events, art collections, you-name-it. Overall, the color sets the tone for the year to come.

All About Very Peri

Very Peri marks the first time the company has manufactured a color instead of delving into their pre-existing archive, a decision that was a vital element of this year’s selection process. “It was really important for us to come up with a new color, because we have a very new vision of the world now,” said Pantone Color Institute’s Executive Director, Leatrice Eiseman, in a video call. In 2021, the company was inspired by a new vertical: technology. From NFTs (non-fungible tokens) and space shuttle joyrides to Mark Zuckerberg’s promise of the metaverse, the year was characterized by our increasing reliance on automation and the digital realm. It’s a relationship that partly spurred on Pantone’s decision to work with Microsoft, among other partners, for its Color of the Year launch.

Use Very Peri in Your Sales Collateral

One of our favorite jobs as a hotel marketing agency is telling a brand’s story. How? Selecting the right colors and patterns are just one piece of the puzzle. If Very Peri fits into your brand, or might work for an upcoming event, let us help you incorporate it!

Staycation Ideas When You Can’t Travel

 

With work piling up, kids in the middle of the school year and the holiday season approaching quickly, traveling for a vacation seems nearly impossible. Thankfully, a staycation can be exactly what you need to curb that change in scenery. A staycation offers a refreshing break from monotony without straying far from home (or, in some cases, leaving home at all). Here is a list of the best staycation ideas to take a break and recharge from everyday life.

Stay at a Local Bed & Breakfast 

What better way to have a nice, relaxing night away than in your local bed and breakfast? Built from charming old houses, bed and breakfasts possess an atmosphere intended to make guests feel like they are truly staying in a home. Support local hospitality while enjoying all the perks, including complimentary breakfast, hot coffee and friendly staff there to meet your every need. It’s the perfect way to see your town through fresh eyes and play tourist for the weekend.

Go Camping

Camping provides an opportunity to disconnect from the digital world and reconnect with your closest friends and family. It’s affordable, fun and an easy way to get exercise. A gorgeous landscape and good night’s rest under the stars will leave you with lasting memories to look back on for years to come.

Take a Food Tour

We all have our go-to restaurants. Now is the time to try new things and explore a restaurant or two outside your comfort zone. Sign up for a professionally organized guided tour, or arrange your own trip featuring local cuisine. For some added adventure, stop at a different location for each meal course. Alternatively, theme your tour and sample various takes on the same dish, whether that’s a dessert, tacos, or appetizers.

Rent an Airbnb

Yes, rent an Airbnb – in your town or the next one over! Airbnb accommodations are low-cost, convenient and have household amenities that will make you feel right at home. Booking an Airbnb offers a new perspective on your own stomping grounds, and you might even meet a new friend while you’re at it.

Book a Spa Day

Everyone deserves a good pampering occasionally! Unwind and destress from everyday activities and work. Spa treatments stimulate blood circulation to optimize the delivery of oxygen and nutrients to your cells by increasing blood flow to your extremities. Pack reading material to peruse while you spend the day unwinding — it’s a vacation for the mind and body.

 

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6 Steps for Marketing Success in 2022

It’s officially budget season again, and the growing list of priorities and considerations for a successful 2022 is currently top of mind. Budgeting for the upcoming year can be a tedious process but is a crucial opportunity to reassess goals and look to the future. Contact us for project estimates and plan for a profitable 2022 with these six smart hotel sales and marketing strategies.

Develop a 2022 Sales & Marketing Budget 

Create a budget that works best for your company. A detailed and realistic budget is one of the most important tools for guiding your business. A budget provides essential information for operating within your means, managing unexpected challenges and turning a profit.

Create a Strong Database 

Creating a database for email promotion is incredibly helpful for future promotional events and will save your business time in the future when sending out material. Building an email list is crucial because it’s the best way to build a relationship with potential customers in an intimate way. It is also an excellent way to measure what is working and what isn’t, based on the data from each email promotion to evaluate what your audience likes.

Deliver Quality Content 

The saying quality over quantity has never been more accurate than in today’s current climate, where we digitally overwhelm ourselves with media from the moment we wake up. Social media rules the day with its potential to engage in meaningful conversations with a loyal fan base and potential clients alike. In a study done by Forbes, “Research reveals the average consumer may see as many as 5,000 or more ads daily, and of 590 total media minutes spent, they note 153 ads. What is the average number of ads that engage the consumer? The answer is 12.” Focus on making your messaging count over pushing out content for the sake of it.

Meet With General Managers of Completion

In an effort to learn more about your industry and what others are doing, simply check out your competitors. Take an on-site tour of each business, establish a referral program and coordinate a market review with your brand marketing manager. It is also an excellent way to see if you have any sort of leg up, competitively, with your competition.

Meet with Conventions and Visitor’s Bureau 

Meeting with your local conventions and visitor’s bureau or chamber of commerce will not only help you establish a relationship with community leaders but may help you gain insight into local business opportunities. Obtain a list of trade show opportunities for budgeting as they are putting their plans together now, if not already done. Also, you can qualify key companies and individuals to create or update your own emailing list.

Review Trend Reports 

Trend analysis can improve your business by helping you identify areas within your organization that are doing well and areas that are not doing well. In this way, it provides valuable evidence to help inform better decision making around your longer-term strategy as well as ways to futureproof your business. If done correctly, it can help show where and what your business should be doing and how much money it should be putting in those ideas.

 

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