#LearnerExperience
This morning I was listening to the radio and heard a commercial for Florida's official tourism planning source, VisitFlorida.com. They were talking about generating interest in the state by using #visitflorida when you post anything interesting about Florida.
That's genius! This company promotes tourism and discovery using people who adventure and vacation here in order to attract others to come and share their experiences online too.
The fact that this business is tapping into the community of REAL people (many of them bloggers) to share pictures of the natural beauty of the state, chamber of commerce that share links about local events, and travel agents that will gladly help you book excursions in a heartbeat is so simple, yet effective.
Essentially the hashtag is a way to search for content that could create awareness, interest, or curiosity.
What if this information sharing could lead to informal learning or more?
Could learning and development companies use hashtags to promote learning resources or development opportunities?
Ideally the consumers who attend these events would post on social media (Twitter, Instagram, or Facebook) using the hashtags. Don't even get me started on Geofilters and Snapchat... maybe we'll dive into that topic another time.
If attendees are posting themselves this gives "street cred" to the sponsoring companies because it showcases a worth while #learnerexperience that people won't want to miss out on. And I'm not talking about just tweeting or updating your status but use engaging post such as videos and pictures. The majority of the public are visual learners and there are studies that say stronger (emotional) connections are made when images are combined with words.
Companies would need to create a hashtag or two, create consumer buy-in to use it (promote it prior to events, print it on handouts at the event, or even make an announcement during the kickoff), host functions in order to use them, finally monitor the activity on social media, and analyze the feedback and responses. If more learning and development companies utilized the power of consumers as producers for marketing the #learnerexperience, could there be a shift in attitudes when it comes to professional development?
Check out this video for Hashtag Strategies on Instagram.
PS: The hashtag for this post was created using the tips from the video.
That's genius! This company promotes tourism and discovery using people who adventure and vacation here in order to attract others to come and share their experiences online too.
The fact that this business is tapping into the community of REAL people (many of them bloggers) to share pictures of the natural beauty of the state, chamber of commerce that share links about local events, and travel agents that will gladly help you book excursions in a heartbeat is so simple, yet effective.
Essentially the hashtag is a way to search for content that could create awareness, interest, or curiosity.
What if this information sharing could lead to informal learning or more?
Could learning and development companies use hashtags to promote learning resources or development opportunities?
Ideally the consumers who attend these events would post on social media (Twitter, Instagram, or Facebook) using the hashtags. Don't even get me started on Geofilters and Snapchat... maybe we'll dive into that topic another time.
If attendees are posting themselves this gives "street cred" to the sponsoring companies because it showcases a worth while #learnerexperience that people won't want to miss out on. And I'm not talking about just tweeting or updating your status but use engaging post such as videos and pictures. The majority of the public are visual learners and there are studies that say stronger (emotional) connections are made when images are combined with words.
Companies would need to create a hashtag or two, create consumer buy-in to use it (promote it prior to events, print it on handouts at the event, or even make an announcement during the kickoff), host functions in order to use them, finally monitor the activity on social media, and analyze the feedback and responses. If more learning and development companies utilized the power of consumers as producers for marketing the #learnerexperience, could there be a shift in attitudes when it comes to professional development?
Check out this video for Hashtag Strategies on Instagram.
PS: The hashtag for this post was created using the tips from the video.
Hey Rebecca,
ReplyDeleteFirst, please allow me to say your blog space is very visually appealing:).
Secondly, I have attended conferences that were large enough to not only have intentional, thoughtful videos / resources released via twitter throughout the conference as well as the short blurbs of attendees on the go. Now, granted, this particular conference is HUGE, and is full of great content, so personally, I am always a bit overwhelmed. One of the other things they did, was to keep the twitter feed up during the breaks on the large room screens, encouraging collaboration and thought-share... You might see quick posts about the volunteer activity, or the 5K, or someone who really got a lot out of a particular presentation on a topic of interest.
I see tremendous opportunity if there is thoughtful consideration about the intent. In the instance where there was a post on a great presentation on a topic I was interested in, I was able to write down the session # and after the recording/.ppt were posted, was able to listen to presenter and view their presentation materials. It would be great, obviously, had the session presentation and .ppt already been uploaded so the tweeter (is that what we call them? sounds weird) could provide a link, but the technology resources aren't yet quite that savvy.
I absolutely think that hashtags could cue people into learning. With your example of #visitflorida, people may learn something they previously hadn't--i.e., there are caverns in Marianna, Tallahassee is the capital, etc. I've underestimated hashtags!
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