Frequently Asked Questions
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS,
BEST PRACTICES, AND TIPS FOR TWEETS
From @BenSoloTags
(Scroll down to see Best Practices and Tips)
Frequently Asked Questions
How can I participate in a BenSoloTags Twitter hashtag campaign?
To participate in our hashtag campaigns, first, follow @BenSoloTags, our official twitter account to find out when they are planned. We suggest you turn on notifications for our account, so you can get notified whenever we tweet something official. You can do that by clicking the button with the alarm icon on it on our profile. We send out the official campaign notices from that account, including themes, time zones, best practices, and updates.
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Where can I suggest a hashtag idea for a future campaign?
Please send a tweet to @BenSoloTags if you have a campaign idea!
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How often do you do campaigns?
We try to do campaigns about once a month.
Why don’t we do more campaigns?
Disney and Lucasfilm Ltd. (LFL) see a LOT of tags, 24/7/365. We’re working to present unique monthly tags that are fun, positive, and creative. Disney and LFL will certainly notice when we trend a hashtag, even if it’s once a month.
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Are you the only people doing campaigns?
No. There are other groups out there working to bring Ben Solo back to Star Wars. We’ll try to share information about specific campaigns and the accounts/groups promoting them, along with our own monthly hashtag campaigns.
Twitter contacts for some of the other groups include:
@kiara_solo
@KarolV14070769
@solosaberx
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Why do you list different time zones on your campaign schedule?
The way to get attention for our cause is to “trend” on Twitter. The easiest and best way to trend is to have the most people possible tweet the same hashtag at once. Fans all over the world want to take part in the campaigns, so we try to accommodate as many of them as possible. So, for example, people in Los Angeles are tweeting at noon local time, which is 3:00 pm in New York, 8:00 pm in London, 11:00 pm in Germany, etc.
How do you decide which tag to use?
We have spoken with some social media experts who have experience with how corporations read social media. According to our sources, corporations like positive hashtags and public engagement. Companies tend to “tune out” what they consider “negative” hashtags, or even categorize them as spam so they remain unseen.
Therefore, using hashtags like #YouKilledMyFavoriteCharacter would not bring us closer to our goal of bringing Ben Solo back alive to the Star Wars universe.
Longer hashtags mean fewer characters to tweet with, so those would be limiting.
We try to make it fun as well as send a message to Disney/LFL. We had so much fun before TROS came out, and we’ve been so bummed since, that we want to promote enjoying each other’s content.
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Why do you list different time zones on your campaign schedule?
The way to get attention for our cause is to “trend” on Twitter. The easiest and best way to trend is to have the most people possible tweet the same hashtag at once. Fans all over the world want to take part in the campaigns, so we try to accommodate as many of them as possible. So, for example, people in Los Angeles are tweeting at noon local time, which is 3:00 pm in New York, 8:00 pm in London, 11:00 pm in Germany, etc.
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How do you decide which tag to use?
We have spoken with some social media experts who have experience with how corporations read social media. According to our sources, corporations like positive hashtags and public engagement. Companies tend to “tune out” what they consider “negative” hashtags, or even categorize them as spam so they remain unseen.
Therefore, using hashtags like #YouKilledMyFavoriteCharacter would not bring us closer to our goal of bringing Ben Solo back alive to the Star Wars universe.
Longer hashtags mean fewer characters to tweet with, so those would be limiting.
We try to make it fun as well as send a message to Disney/LFL. We had so much fun before TROS came out, and we’ve been so bummed since, that we want to promote enjoying each other’s content.
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Is every tag featured on the Ben Solo Tags twitter account sponsored by BST?
No. We try to let people know about campaigns hosted by other accounts, as well as the monthly BST tag. Anything that isn’t our campaign will have “FYI” at the beginning and links to find more information (where possible).
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Why don’t you use the same hashtag every time? One that everyone can remember?
According to “15 Shortcuts to Get Your Hashtag Trending on Twitter:” “...if a trend goes on too long, it ceases to be a trend. Twitter prefers trends to last for a day or two at a maximum, and trends that go on for too long are no longer spikes in traffic; they’re a new baseline. There are hashtags with 5,000 tweets in a day, while other tags are getting 50,000.
“If your tag hasn’t trended within the first day of using it, it’s probably not going to reach that spike without some exceptional circumstances. It’s better to abandon it and try to get something else trending than it is to try to get an old tag to trend again later.”
Source: https://follows.com/blog/2017/04/shortcuts-hashtag-trending-twitter
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Why don’t you campaign for other characters besides Ben? Rey (Rose, etc.) deserves some love too!
As much as we feel all the sequel trilogy characters were given a hard shake by TRoS, Ben is the only major sequel trilogy character that died. So even if Rey and other characters suffered, they still have a (hopefully better-written) future. However, unless we can garner support to bring Ben back to life, his story ends where TRoS ends.
In light of this, our campaigns focus exclusively on Ben, or Ben as a part of Reylo, but we would love to support and help spread information about campaigns to celebrate other characters. Just let us know how we can help at @BenSoloTags.
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Why aren’t we allowed to use any art we find? If it’s on Pinterest, it’s fair game, right?
Well, no. Most artists don’t appreciate your re-posting their work without permission. The best way to share an artist’s images in a way that acknowledges their work is to retweet the artist’s original tweet from their account whenever possible. A direct tweet is better than a quote tweet. If you can’t find the original tweet, you can try asking the artist to repost their work so you can share it, or ask them to grant you the permission to repost it.
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Where are you on social media?
Twitter: @BenSoloTags
Facebook: Ben Solo Tags
Instagram: @bensolotags
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Best Practices
Feel free to amplify the signal and RT the BenSoloTags tweet about the campaign with your own followers.
If possible, use ONE hashtag per tweet (two maximum), so the Twitter algorithm won’t filter out your tweet as “spam.”
Try to tweet during the time zone recommended for your country, but if that doesn’t work for you, participate when you can the day of the campaign. Do not use third-party services or bots to tweet for you.
Retweeting other hashtag tweets helps the tag trend, but don’t go crazy. If you retweet too fast, you will get put in Twitter retweet “jail” for up to 72 hours for “suspicious activity.”
Never tweet the hashtag alone. Made sure to add some text or a picture to your tweet. Otherwise, it will be filtered out as “spam.”
Tweets with a visual component work especially well and get retweeted more often. You can include your own artwork or semi-official/official photos from the movies or of the actors. Only share fan art from the artist’s original post or with their permission. Tips for Tweeting with the Current Hashtag.
Here are just a few ideas for creative, fun campaign hashtag posts:
Post photos of yourself with friends and family.
Fanfic writers - share a sample of your work or a URL of one of your stories.
Create memes and/or photo manipulations.
Create and share photos with appropriate quotes and/or poetry (your own or your favorite poet’s).
Share pictures of your own Ben Solo/Star Wars cosplay.
Express what you love about Ben Solo or how you feel about him.
If you’ve written a letter to an actor or one of the filmmakers, you could share it or a sample of it.
Edit your favorite Ben Solo film scene, or create a Ben Solo-themed music video; post it or a link to it.
Take a photo of yourself or a friend with a Rey-inspired hairstyle or a Kylo inspired pose...or vice-versa!
Please Do NOT tag official Disney or Lucas Film accounts or those of their employees.
PLEASE - DO NOT FEED THE TROLLS! Do not engage with them. Your replies count as negative discourse and may be used to invalidate the tag by the algorithms.
Please be respectful of others.
And most importantly, have fun sharing your love and enthusiasm for Ben Solo.
