Abstract

Brands ubiquitously use hashtags in their online and offline marketing communications. The use of hashtags can bring attention to brands and facilitate an online conversation around a brand-related topic. Despite the widespread use of hashtags, a scarcity of research specifically explores consumers’ reactions to brands’ campaign hashtags. Hence, this study aims to demonstrate an evaluation of a brand’s hashtag by relying on online brand search and user-generated online content. More precisely, the author examines the #OptOutside campaign from outdoor retailer Recreational Equipment, Inc. (REI), by analyzing online brand search with Google Trends data and user-generated textual content (i.e., 276,049 tweets) that contains REI’s #OptOutside, which is an official campaign hashtag. These method and findings add to social media research and practice by offering a practical approach to leverage online brand search and user-generated online content to examine the effectiveness of a hashtag campaign.

摘要

品牌在其在线和离线营销传播中普遍使用标签。主题标签的使用可以引起品牌关注，并促进围绕品牌相关主题的在线对话。尽管主题标签的使用广泛，但缺乏研究专门研究了消费者对品牌活动主题标签的反应。因此，本研究旨在通过依赖在线品牌搜索和用户生成的在线内容来展示对品牌主题标签的评估。更准确地说，作者通过分析Google品牌趋势数据和包含REI的#OptOutside的用户生成的文字内容（即276,049条推文）来分析在线品牌搜索，从而研究了户外零售商Recreational Equipment，Inc.（REI）的#OptOutside广告活动，是官方的广告活动标签。