Twitter Shows #ShareaCokeNG, Smart Campaigns Secrets

A campaign is not a campaign if it does not use a Twitter hashtag.  Hashtags can bring deeper meaning and engagement to any story. To create an online and social media presence for any campaign, Twitter hashtags are essential to create more awareness and engagement.

Since January 2nd 2015, Coca-Cola Nigeria has been running strong with their Share A Coke campaign.

Billboards, bottles and cans can be seen everywhere, branded with “Share a Coke with [insert popular Nigerian name]”, which can be bought ready-made if you’re lucky enough to find your name or can be custom ordered through the Coca Cola Nigeria site.

The #ShareaCokeNG Twitter campaign has been steadily gaining momentum in Nigeria with active involvement from celebrities such as Nollywood actress Funke Akindele @funkeakindele and multimedia personality Toke Makinwa @tokstarr.

They also leveraged on an international event, Valentine’s Day, with the hashtag “#ShareaCokeWithLove” which they used to share funny tweets on pick-up lines.  Additionally they are using Twitter as a platform to direct people back to their main website and highlight the campaign activities on the Share a Coke Tour, which started on February 3rd at the Unilag campus.

“Share a Coke transforms the global Coca-Cola brand into a special, personal experience for our consumers.” said Patricia Jemibewon, marketing director, Coca-Cola Nigeria Limited. “By swapping our iconic Coca-Cola logo with personal names, we give all our consumers a unique opportunity to connect and share their personalized Coke with the people who matter the most to them- friends, family and loved ones, either in person, or virtually”, she said.

The grass-root momentum that can be achieved with hashtags can be used by business large and small, the Twitter said in a statement to Nigeria CommunicationsWeek.

When creating a Twitter campaign, it is important to consider a few things:

-Choose your hashtag carefully –short, catchy and unique;

-Be responsive –retweet and answer questions;

-Ignite positivity –your campaign should be centred on something fun or meaningful for maximum engagement and

-Encourage participation –base your campaign around something that people will want to tweet about e.g. Coke consumers tweeted pictures of their customized Coke products

Twitter is a global platform for public self-expression and conversation in real time.

By developing a fundamentally new way for people to consume, create, distribute and discover content, Twitter enables any voice to echo around the world instantly and unfiltered.

The service can be accessed at Twitter.com, via Twitter mobile applications for a variety of devices, and by text message.

Available in more than 35 languages, Twitter has more than 288 million monthly active users.