Why Every Company Needs A #AlexFromTarget

I’m sure you are all well aware of topic that was trending on twitter, #alexfromtarget.  I mean who isn’t? The internet is a strange place. The topics the internet makes popular not the topics you would think.  PR professionals are forever trying to find that “thing” that the internet is going to take and run with.  The hashtag Alex from Target was the most random hashtag but somehow everyone on the internet love it. 

The New York Times did a study trying to figure out why #alexfromtarget was so popular.  There were many speculations that this was a marketing stunt from Target.  There was also talk about this just being some random girl, posting on Twitter a Target employee.  Trying to figure out just how this happened.  Andrew Lih, a journalism professor from American University cannot find anything.   He said “the internet is more like your local high school where inexplicably the crowd picks something that is not that interesting and elevates it to popularity status.”

As future PR professionals and working with social media, staying up to date with trend topics on Twitter and Facebook.  There is always a new topic or new hashtag that people are using throughout the country and the world.  Companies all over try time and time again to find a topic that people will hashtag on Twitter.  There is no certainty about the internet and what becomes popular becomes popular for now reason at all. 

Target used Alex, their staff member, to their advantage.  They knew just how to capitalize on the hashtag.  One part of knowing how to have a trend take off is knowing your public.  By knowing your public, it is way easier to figure out what your followers are going to respond to.  The better you know your audience when creating a content plan the more activity your company’s account will receive and also the more followers a company will gain.  What do you think about the hashtag Alex from Target?  

This guest blog post was written by PRowl staff member Kristen Hallahan.