Win 50 Gold Unicorns! Follow Our Handle and Tweet Using #IAmASpammyHashtag

Arrrrgh... the bane of unimaginative hashtag campaign has still not left the Indian social media industry. And here I thought 2013 will bring new things to the table.

Guess I was wrong.

There are still brands (BIG BRANDS!!) on twitter with the primary objective of trending! I can't for the love of Beer figure out why every brand wants to get its lame hashtag on the trending charts.

IT IS NOT THE HOLY GRAIL OF TWITTER MY FRIENDS!

Case in point: Star Plus and Nach Baliye.

The Twitter contest asks users to Tweet using #NachFinale, follow the Star Plus handle (I am not linking to that disappointing handle) and get maximum RTs. Tweeting once or twice is good. But asking people to tweet the maximum should be a criminal offence.

#NachFinale Contest Rules:STEP 1: Follow @starplus | STEP 2: Make maximumtweets using #NachFinale | STEP 3: Get maximum RTs for ur tweets.

— STAR Plus (@StarPlus) March 23, 2013

It's pure lack of imagination when you have to resort to offering 10 fricking iPhones only because you want to trend on Twitter.

It is as good as asking people to go on roads and shout about you and the one who shouts a lot wins an iPhone 5.

Worst is the participation by people. Yes. Along with the brand, even the people who tweet are to be blamed here. For just an iPhone 5 you are willing to pimp out your entire Twitter community that you might have built painstakingly. This is the same community that might lead you to your next awesome job or the great business opportunity. But you are happy being one of those thousands who are trying to get that one iPhone 5.

Good Luck!

And when you run a shitty contest, even the Twitterverse conspires to give you blatant hints. Like this:

I see that the Twitter marketing is handled in-house and is not outsourced. I have for long been an ambassador of in-house social media but this just makes me hide my face in shame. How can a brand be this dumb?

And going through all the past tweets of Star Plus, I see they hardly communicate with their followers. Rarely will you come across any @mention.

Why can't you just come up with an interesting way to trend? And why would you want to spam the interwebs with multiple tweeting?

Somebody please consult such brands ASAP!