THE POWER OF HASHTAGS ON SOCIAL MEDIA

#FEESMUSTFALL

students marching 

Just a brief summary, the fees must fall campaign is one of the students protest that started at the University of the Witwatersrand after students have heard that fees for the next academic year will increase by 10.5%. But why because some of us cannot even afford to pay for our studies? Anyway that is a story for another day. So basically the protest started as #Witsfeesmustfall, then after a while other universities joined the protest and it led to #feesmustfall Background summary.
Without the social media, this could not have gone this far to a point whereby all universities shut down for the same reasons.

ADVANTAGES OF SOCIAL MEDIA ON #FEESMUSTFALL

• As a thought leader on the strategic use of social media, #FEESMUSTFALL social media campaign went viral within a waste of time. 
•           The hashtag got to reach a vast audience which includes all students across the world and the government. Students from other varsities became aware of what is happening in this side of town through #FEESMUSTFALL. 
• Other hashtags were established after #FEESMUSTFALL. Some of the hashtags were #RAINMUSTFALL, #RHODESMUSTFALL, #ZUMAMUSTFALL, UCTSHUTDOWN, #PARLIAMENTMUSTFALL in fact everything in south had to fall. How ironic is that? 

DISADVANTAGES OF SOCIAL MEDIA ON #FEESMUSTFALL

• Once the hashtag goes viral it becomes difficult to control the matter. Hashtags usually result with a negative impact, in way that a campaign has influenced a lot of people. #feesmustfall caused violence between students and the police officers because students tried to keep the momentum of the campaign in wrong ways and it became difficult for the state to control this matter. 
• Usually it result as a negative impact as they (audience) always have something bad to say about the brand.
• Once your phrase has a hashtag on it, it is no longer private because your profile will most likely to appear when people search for stories about that hashtag.
•            People end up including other hashtags after the main content, this is to promote or sell themselves as brands. And most of the time whatever they include is irrelevant to the content. “#feesmustfall, #callmewhatever, #weedingvibes”, etc. (^_^)

HOW THE INFLUENTIAL PEOPLE RESPONDED TO #FEESMUSTFALL.

Cassper and Ifani donates to #AccessCampaign run by wits students.  

AKA joins the protest to support students.

The president had to release a statement after a meeting with the university chancellors  and student leaders which announced that there will be no fee increment for the next academic year, Thank you so much Mr President. Other celebrities like Mzayifani Boltina, who is known as "IFANI" joined the campaign by donating R50 000 to help those students at wits who had outstanding debts. Ifani started a challenge which aimed at encouraging other South African celebrities to help raise 10 million that is needed to cover student’s debts at Wits University. Cassper Nyovest also played a role by accepting Ifani's challenge to match his 50k, he also donated to help students settle their outstanding debts so they can be able to register for the next academic year.  This campaign also got some of the celebrities involved in the movement as they were supporting students. Just like a South African hip hop artist Kiernan Forbes known as AKA and Ashley Raphala (DJ shimza). 

RECOMMENDATIONS FOR STRATEGIC USE OF SOCIAL MEDIA.

In conclusion, I would  recommend that the campaign should be ran on all social networks like Instagram, Pinterest, Google+, Twitter and Facebook as to be able to target all students.

The public relations practitioners for big companies must act first by making students aware of how they can assist through #feesmustfall, probably by expanding the number of applications made available for bursaries. This will maintain the good image of the company as students will be spreading the word to other students on campus.Tips for using social media as a marketing strategy