When Twitter Hashtag Promotion Marketing Goes Bad

I see a lot of these hashtag promotions on Twitter these days where some company or person paid to promote their specific hashtag.

Today I saw that Wendy's was promoting their #HerestheBeef hashtag. Now I remember these commercials from growing up. If you were living in the 80's, then you most likely remember that cute little old lady, Clara crying out “Where's the Beef?”

I loved those commercials so I naturally wanted to see what the Tweets were about. Although I had a sneaking suspicion (as I channeled my inner Steve Carrell from the Office) of exactly what I would find, imagine my surprise when I see that it has actually turned into to so much more:

Some of these made me laugh out loud. Others made me think that people can make an issue out of anything. But they all made me think that perhaps Wendy's didn't do their homework before jumping into this hashtag promotion thing (#MeatlessMonday anyone?). And others just made me wonder why promote a hashtag, anyway?

The new promotion that Wendy's has going on is a perfect compliment to those 80's commercials. They are answering the question that they asked all of those years ago.

But what is the point of promoting this hashtag especially when something like this happens or is even destined to happen? How could they have not known or predicted? Is there value for a company? In my view, it actually looks like this promotion is hurting Wendy's today.

I love seeing when hashtags trend. Often times the topics are relevant and interesting. But mostly, they are organic. Many times they are hilarious (RuthBourdain) or promote a good cause or some form of entertainment. The hashtags trend because they were used over and over in Tweets. They are not paid / promoted hashtags.

Perhaps @Petabites said it best:

There are always going to be haters or people vehemently opposed to everything that you are about, especially when it comes to fast food. It can't sit well with Wendy's that they just paid for the pleasure of being mocked.

Looks like Wendy's might have an actual beef with this Twitter promotion. Sorry, I couldn't resist.