9/23/14 11:37 PMPower Marketing: How To Make A Hashtag Go Viral

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Power Marketing: How To Make AHashtag Go Viral

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Today I heard from my PR and social media friendJanet Thaeler (http://www.newspapergrl.com), ofOgden Utah, the Salt Lake region’s talented andsometimes notorious @Newspapergrl. We have nobusiness relationship together, but I am alwaysinterested to follow her tips.

So I was excited when Janet offered to share heradventures in tracking the social media campaign thatsurrounded Provo, Utah’s recent announcement that itis the third U.S. location to receive Google Fiber.Granted, with news like this the city was sitting on asocial media goldmine. But to manage the risks and toensure an outcome of viral proportions, here’s what the city did, which youcould also achieve for your own future social media campaigns.

First off, the city administration was able to count its lucky stars that its MayorJohn Curtis is a great example of social media savvy. He blogs(http://provomayor.com/) regularly. He’s on Facebook(http://www.facebook.com/JCurtis). He Tweets (https://twitter.com/Curtisut)(And yes, the messages are really coming from him.) He shares pictures of thecity tagged with #ProvoRocks on Instagram(http://provomayor.com/2014/08/09/provo-instagram/). As a 54-year-oldmayor, he built not only a great city according to experts (including multipleacknowledgements from Forbes)(http://www.forbes.com/forbes/2012/0604/technology-software-qualtrics-ryan-smith-secret-in-utah.html) but he’s also built a veritable social mediamachine.

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Provo, Utah Mayor John Curtis is proving that Provo isn’t only about business, but is also a place that is fun (Imagecourtesy of Provo.org)

The way Curtis and team marketed the Google Fiber announcement on April 17,2013 has become one of the defining moments of his tenure as mayor,according to some observers. One of the notable keys to the success of the PRaround the Google announcement was the city’s hashtag campaign,#provoepicannouncement.

In a recent interview with Mayor Curtis and his Deputy Mayor Corey Norman,Janet listened to them reflect on how they built the enthusiasm and energy thatled up to the announcement heard round the globe and pressed them to tellwhat it was caused the announcement to go viral. Curtis says it started with theword “epic.” (Interesting—I’ve been known to use that terminology, too.)

Of course simply uttering the term “Google Fiber” wouldhave successfully created a storm. But Google,understandably, wanted the negotiations to stay secret.So the building up of the social media head of steamcould not begin until just a few weeks before the newswas released to the press.

But in summary, these are the steps that provided thesecret sauce in the creation of Provo’s viral campaign:

How to Make an Epic Announcement on SocialMedia

1. Have an active social media community before the announcement.(https://twitter.com/intent/tweet?url=http%3A%2F%2Fonforb.es%2F1lzcqwZ&text=To%20prepare%20for%20a%20viral%20social%20media%20campaign%2C%20have%20an%20active%20social%20media%20community%20before%20the%20announcement.)Provo already had a large social media presence before the Google Fibernegotiations began. For four years, they had regularly posted and engaged withpeople through the city’s blog and Facebook page. Social media is not anafterthought. The city management discusses what they will post in each of itsweekly meetings. It is a high priority.

2. Make sure the announcement is big enough. In Provo’s case, the teamtruly believed the announcement was important enough to the city andinteresting enough to the world that it would be considered big news, and thenthey put their muscle behind it.

9/23/14 11:37 PMPower Marketing: How To Make A Hashtag Go Viral

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Don't Be Indiscreet orIllegal -- #7 of The 10"Don'ts" of CorporateSocial Media(http://www.forbes.com/sites/daviatemin/2011/08/10/dont-be-indiscreet-or-illegal-7-of-the-10-donts-of-corporate-social-media/)

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3. Keep the announcement a secret and encourage observers toguess what it is. Only a few people knew the secret. Even the cityadministrators’ wives didn’t know. Curtis said that even his son-in-laws whowork for the CIA were impressed with the level of secrecy the city was able tohold. “Even people who were used to being ‘in the know,’ didn’t know,” herecalls. This dynamic made people insanely curious. People began to guess whatthe big announcement could possibly be, such as Provo was going to establish aDisneyland, or a pro sports team, or perhaps create a new beach at Utah Lake.The team wrote blog posts with clues and people made guesses in the commentsas well as guessing on Twitter.

4. Participate in the conversation and add to it. The mayor and his teamactively fanned the speculative fire. They built on the buzz that was happeningby posting and responding to the conversations around the announcement. Upuntil the very moment of the announcement the hashtag#epicProvoannouncement was trending on Twitter worldwide.

5. Use hashtags. Hashtags are a brilliant way to tieconversations together and they really do add to thechance that your entire announcement will go viral. InProvo’s case, the announcement and the guesses as towhat it might be began to take on a life of their own,which is the fundamental principal at play when a topicgoes viral. “We were losing control,” Curtis says. “Therewas nothing we could do. We genuinely worried wecould get into trouble for this,” he recalls.

Curtis said there were nights before the announcementthat he didn’t sleep well. He worried that peoplewouldn’t think it was anything special. Maybe peoplewouldn’t understand the announcement or its significance. If it got too big,would people be disappointed? What if people didn’t view it as epic?” In otherwords, would it live up to the hype?

It did.

Even those who wouldn’t understand the significance of the announcement onits own saw enough validation from others that they grasped its importance.Even Curtis’ critics saw and characterized the announcement as “epic.”

Since the news broke, the hashtag #epicprovoannouncement has taken on a lifeof its own that goes beyond the Google Fiber announcement. For example,several tweets from the local media who covered a more recent announcementof a recent $1.1M deal to keep mining out of Rock Canyon(http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/news/57879698-78/canyon-provo-rock-davis.html.csp) now carry the hashtag. Another hashtag has trended on Twitterrelated to the Rock Canyon news, #ProvoRocks (https://twitter.com/search?q=%23provorocks&src=tyah). With the Google Fiber experience, the mayor’steam has been perfecting the build up. This time, before the Rock Canyonannouncement, the city created a video about the news to show legislatures that

“ Daniel Burton @PubliusDB (https://twitter.com/PubliusDB) 17 Apr 2013(https://twitter.com/PubliusDB/status/324618016551739392) Whether you think the#provoepicannouncement(https://twitter.com/hashtag/provoepicannouncement?src=hash) was epic or not, itaccomplished what it intended: it earned attention and went viral.

9/23/14 11:37 PMPower Marketing: How To Make A Hashtag Go Viral

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Photos: In Pictures:21 Top Twitter Tips(http://www.forbes.com/2009/07/31/top-twitter-tips-entrepreneurs-technology-twitter_slide.html)

offered small clues as to what was about to transpire.

Salt Lake Tribune @sltrib (https://twitter.com/sltrib) Apr 29(https://twitter.com/sltrib/status/461254379988062208) #Provo(https://twitter.com/hashtag/Provo?src=hash) announces $1.1M deal tokeep mining out of Rock Canyon(http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/news/57879698-78/canyon-provo-rock-davis.html.csp%20%E2%80%A6%20#ProvoEpicAnnouncement%20pic.twitter.com/BjDqhpGaEd).

“Other mayors are afraid of social media,” Curtisadmits, but despite the commitment involved and theexperience of at least a few sleepless nights he believesin social media as a powerful resource. He also believessocial media is key in his desire to be transparent and tohelp people get to know him as an individual as well as arepresentative of the mayoral office he holds.

Social media expert Janet Thaeler, AKA @Newspapergrl

Finally, here are four ideas Janet offers up as her own advice for how you canlearn to be epic at social media, too:

1. Be committed in time and resources. Great social media doesn’t justhappen, it’s planned for and part of your thoughts and everyday work.

2. Show your personality; be real. Other mayors have blogged, that isn’tnew, but according to Curtis, most of the time there isn’t a lot of personality.“The style is dry or boring,” he said. You have to be more fun, noting the recentpost showing a goofie selfie (http://provomayor.com/2014/08/11/provo-selfie-contest/).

3. Hold contests. On Instagram you can tag the city for a chance to get yourimage featured on the city’s blog. They also have a Provo Selfie Contest(http://provomayor.com/2014/08/11/provo-selfie-contest). Winners get a t-shirt and lunch with the mayor.

4. Be a participant, not just a broadcaster. Remember it’s not all aboutyou. Recognize others and their accomplishments. On Facebook, Curtis postedthis invitation (https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10203236772173890&set=a.1151017609402.2022873.1046475507&type=1&theater)for citizens to share great things happening in the city. Anyone else can submitideas through the city’s blog, too. A mutual friend told me Curtis attends andspeaks at every Rooftop summer concert series they’ve held.

Janet now suggests that instead of Welcome Home, the city’s new slogan could

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be Welcome to Provo, home of epic mountains. Or, asMayor Curtis has suggested, the city could simply voteto rename itself #epicville.

Seven Tips To Get More Social Media Followers1 of 8

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How To Build A Social FollowingAmy Jo Martin, founder of social media consultancy Digital Royalty and author of RenegadesWrite The Rules, says the best way to build a social media following is through sharing. Sheprovides the following tips on how to provide quality content and build out your network.

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