What Hashtag Should You Use For Your Live Wall?

Social media managers spend days, months and even years making sure that their brand or organisation are doing the right thing to get 'trending' on Twitter or Instagram. However, often they have missed out on one of the key variables - the actual hashtag.

We at Eventstagram spend a lot of time working with brands, large events and venues to ensure they can amplify the Instagram photos that their crowd are taking. Our software has proven results in generating more content, but for the event to make the most use of this extra content we always advise them to take special care with the hashtag they are selecting.

Here are our top tips:

1. Be specific 
If you're displaying live photos from your event you want to make sure that the photos are actually related to your event rather than another brand. Perhaps include the year, or the event number, but always check no one is using your hashtag before you advertise it.

2. Be visible 
If you're a brand of crisps and you want to be get your name noticed by new crisp customers, don't just make your hashtag your brand name. If they don't know your name they are unlikely to search for it so going to find it impossible to find it. Try attaching a more common phrase like 'crisps' or a location like 'london' to the brands hashtag so it becomes more discoverable with people searching for the other terms.

3. Be Interesting 
Often it is more interesting on social media for users to discover the meaning behind Hashtags rather than being told by a brand what is best. Continuing the crisp brand example you could use the 'crunchy london' which is discoverable but not obvious. So when users find the tag and see the photos of of the crisp brand they are more engaged than an obviously manufactured hashtag.

4. Be Memorable 
Finally if you want to encourage crowds to take photos on your hashtag then you should make sure users can remember, spell and type the hashtag with ease!

When using Instagram at an event an Eventstagram live feed is a fantastic way to drive Instagram photos to be taken around your selected hashtag. 

But make sure that before you're sitting on thousands of user generated photographs you have fully analysed the best hashtag for those photos to be amplified and discovered. 

The Eventstagram Wedding

Let’s call it wedding perfection

Who wants to get married in the dead of winter? Well, Stephanie and Brian thought it was the perfect time to say I do and got married this past January in the heart of downtown Boston at the historic Park Plaza Hotel.  Their ceremony featured a 200-person candle-lighting and a ring-bearer on a tricycle, and their reception featured food stations and Eventstagr.am. Read about their advice and experience using Eventstagram at their wedding:

In addition to Gangnam style, I'm pretty sure the other clear marker that I got married in the year twenty thirteen will be Instagram. I'm sure 20 years down the road it will seem like the most antiquated invention on the planet. But for now, three cheers for Instagram…AND eventstagr.am.

Lisa, fabulous Lisa, (my maid of honor) gets all the credit for this awesome addition to my wedding.  I was verbally processing all of my wedding plans to her, which included my conundrum about a wedding photo booth. Wedding photo booths are also quintessential I-got-married-in-the-year-2013, don’t you agree?.  They seemed so fun, but also kind of pricey. Lisa had reminded me of a few friends who had DIY photo booths, but that seemed like a lot of work and my DIY projects only seem to have a 2 out of 10 success rate (turns out I’m not the domestic DIY goddess that exists on pinterest).  

THEN, she had this brilliant idea that there must be some way to stream live photos that guests took throughout the night.  This seemed like a fun alternative. I agreed that in theory this technology should exist,  but where and how--it was all too much for my brain.  She volunteered herself to do some research and with the help of hubby Jerry, voila: hello eventstagr.am, my new best friend.

Here’s how it works – you sign up, create a hashtag, decide when you want the live stream to run, set up a laptop and projector (oh, make sure there is wireless!), pull up the Eventstagr.am url and….that’s all! How easy is that? All pictures with your hashtag appearing in a live stream right before your eyes. See again, Eventstagram, my new best friend.

For starters, what bride doesn't want to have her own wedding hashtag? Secondly, we had the pictures streaming right behind the dance floor.   I couldn’t think of a better backdrop to the dance floor.  Let’s be honest everyone is a slight narcissist, so busting a move while seeing photos of yourself appear on a screen, well it’s a good ego boost for all of your lovely guests.   Not only was it so fun to instantly see pics from around the room that people were taking, but for days (weeks) after it was the best invention ever for my nostalgic and egocentric self to look through picture after picture and remember the wonderful day.

Lisa still gets the credit for believing that somewhere in the world this technology must exist.  And Eventstagram gets all the credit for being the place where it does.  If you ask me—and I’m entirely unbiased—I’d say my wedding was pretty stellar.  And Eventstagram, definitely helped to make that way.  Cheers.

To see all the Eventstagram photos click here

Stephanie blogs here at Tortoise in the Hair and spends the rest of her time here working in Cambridge with her neighbors from around the world.