Comments on: Thriving in a hashtag economy

By: Jeff Larche

Jeff Larche — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 16:43:14 +0000

That’s wonderful, Scott. It’s a great lesson that the best marketing springs up organically

By: Scott Baitinger

Scott Baitinger — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 16:31:08 +0000

What is cool is that we really didn’t set out to market to a hashtag community, we just wanted to be a part of it. Sampling pizza all summer resulted in adding about 25lbs to my waistline. I want to lose that 25 lbs though #fitmke activities and weigh-ins. The #fitmke community is an inspirational and supportive one.

We figured out a way to make a lo-cal healthy pizza and offer it to both the community and the community at large. It will certainly help with my new diet as well.

By: Jeff Larche

Jeff Larche — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 16:10:26 +0000

Thanks, Tracey.

Yeah, I’m sure the last thing on your mind was creating a virtual community. But it turns out others (like Joe from Streetza Pizza) who understand the “hashtag economy” can use your ad hoc group to introduce a brand and many even make a buck. Interesting indeed!

Good luck, by the way. I too have to crack the whip and get back into a fitness regimen. I used to be a loyal YMCA-goer. Where did that self-discipline disappear to? LOL

By: tracey

tracey — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 15:40:04 +0000

You know, when we started the #fitmke hashtag we thought it was just a good way to connect with and encourage people around town who had similar goals and interests. I didn’t realize at the time the other ways it could be used. Interesting!

By: Jeff Larche

Jeff Larche — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 13:03:51 +0000

That shouldn’t surprise me about you, Tom. Well done.

And thanks yesterday for being willing to “grab an instrument and joining our combo,” in Sue Spaight’s absence.

By: Tom Snyder

Tom Snyder — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 12:57:42 +0000

We actually did a lengthy post-event survey about almost every aspect of SMUM. Goes back to my days in radio when we researched EVERYTHING. But those results are really helping us make sure we knock SMUM2 out of the park.

By: Jeff Larche

Jeff Larche — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 04:52:48 +0000

Thanks, Matt. And yes, I can get a little metaphysical when talking about digital marketing.

Tom, that’s an excellent example. I also am impressed that you somehow surveyed those 400 attendees to see that 60% dined nearby.

I suspect that savvy restaurants around last night’s Acrobash event. Here’s what two restaurants tweeted:

“It’s #ACROBASH – stop by @water_buffalo or @swigmilwaukee before or after for a free glass of wine with any entree with this tweet”

By: Tom Snyder

Tom Snyder — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 22:59:35 +0000

When we produced our Social Media University Milwaukee event last summer, we created the #SMUM hashtag.

During the event, we projected a live tweet-stream with the hashtag, and were amazed at the chatter the event was generating inside and outside the building.

But leading up to the event, it helped us disseminate valuable information about the event…not the least important being that we were intentionally NOT serving lunch as part of the program. Local “twitter-savvy” restaurant owners took the hint and used the hashtag to tweet lunch specials for SMU-M attendees. 240 of the 400 in attendance patronized a restaurant that tweeted a lunch special.

Not quite a life changer, but a real world example of creative use of Social media.

By: Matt Mason

Matt Mason — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 19:27:21 +0000

Hey Jeff,

Great article. This topic makes me think about the increasing desire for the small group in the midst of the large group. It reminds me the mega church dilemma. Churches got so large they realized they needed a way for people to connect more on a one to one basis. The result was “small groups.”

The “hashtag economy” shows our desire as human’s to connect with like minded topics. A recent, if not first, I followed on my TweetDeck was #21daysNLCC. I decided to participate in a 21 day fast called a Daniel Fast and noticed my good friends in Chicago had stated this hashtag. It allowed for some commiserating and encouragement to stay the course for the three weeks.

For business I haven’t yet used it but I am also curious to see what others are doing.

My favorite quote from you today was, “Things don’t exist until we describe them.”

Thanks again for sharing!!!

Matt