Creating and Managing an Instagram/Twitter Hashtag Feed

Overview

This article outlines:

• How to set up an Instagram/Twitter hashtag feed
• How to use ShortStack's rights management tool

Both of these are features included in our Custom Design Services; click here to learn more. 

Introduction

A hashtag Campaign is a great way to harness the engagement of Instagram and Twitter. Set a designated hashtag, and display a feed of posts (images and videos) using that hashtag. Participants will be able to vote and share on these entries. 

Creating an Instagram/Twitter hashtag feed

When running a hashtag Campaign, ShortStack's Voting Widget is used to display and manage the entries. The Voting Widget is connected to a Form Widget, where the posts from the feed are stored.

Setting up your feed

1. Navigate to the Feeds page from your Dashboard. (You can also get there from your Forms/Entries, Media, Campaigns, or Templates pages.)
2. Select the New button.
3. This will open the Create Feed menu. Click on the Instagram or Twitter icon, depending on what type of feed you want to set up.
4. Selecting either one will trigger the Authorization screen. Log in with your Instagram or Twitter account, and click Authorize to proceed. 
5. The Create Feed setup is the same for both Instagram and Twitter. It contains the following settings:
   1. Choose your feed name: This is for internal use only, so give your feed a name (such as "cutedogs feed").
   2. Choose your hashtags: This is where you put the hashtags you want the feed to track. You can add more than one hashtag by separating hashtags with a comma. NOTE: You do not have to use the hashtag # symbol in front of the hashtags.
   3. Choose your start/end date: This is the date range for posts that will be pulled into the feed. Set a date or a time, or both.
   4. Choose a form to store your entries: This is the database that will store the posts that appear in the feed using your specified hashtags. If you do not have one already made for this purpose, you can choose to automatically create one when the feed is created. 
   5. Select a Company Profile: If you make ShortStack Campaigns for multiple businesses or groups, you can create Company Profiles to organize the content you use for each one. If you've already made a Company Profile, select it from the list. If you'd like to make one, select Add New Profile.
   6. Entry restrictions: This setting lets you choose if you want only videos or only photos included in your feed. If you prefer both, leave it at "None."
   7. Automatically approve entries into your form: If you don't want to screen the posts that appear in the feed, you can select this checkbox so all posts are automatically stored in your database. 
6. When you've filled out this field, click Create, and the feed will appear in your list of Feeds. 

Managing your feed

• If you want to remove posts that appear in the feed, go to the Forms/Entries page, and select the number below Live Entries. Delete entries by clicking on the X to the far right of the entry. 
• If you only want to display entries that have been approved by you and your team, enable the Only Show Approved Entries setting within the Voting Widget. To approve an entry, select the checkbox under the Approved column within the database. 

Using ShortStack's rights management tool

If you or your brand would like to use content posted on Instagram, you can use ShortStack's rights management feature to streamline this process.

How it works

If you are tracking posts on Instagram or Twitter using a specific hashtag — for example, #mycutecat — and you see a post you would like to use for marketing purposes, you can ask the poster for permission. The rights management setting places a comment on the post, asking the poster to respond with a hashtag you've set. ShortStack will automatically detect that rights have been granted, and that post will have a "granted" status in your database.

Requesting rights

When you're ready to request the rights to a post in your feed, proceed through the following:

1. Navigate to Forms/Entries.
2. Click on the number of entries that appears below Live Entries.
3. To the far right of the entry, select the Request Rights icon.
4. This will open the Request Rights message, which is fully customizable. Customize the message that you want to comment on the user's post.
5. Click Send Request. 
6. While the request is pending, the post will have a "Requested" status in the post details.
7. When the user replies to your comment using the hashtag you specified in your message, this indicates that rights have been granted. You will see a green checkmark to the far right of the entry in the database.