Dive Brief:
- In a weird social media phenomenon, a teenager from Frisco, TX has gathered national attention through a photo shared on Twitter on Oct. 26.
- The accompanying hashtag #AlexFromTarget was trending all of Monday on Twitter with over 46,000 mentions.
- Target jumped in on the conversation with support of #AlexFromTarget, but no further moves have been made to capitalize on the social media fame. Experts are speculating on how a campaign with Alex could look and whether it would be worth it.
@alannapage12 I JUST NEEDED A GOOD PIC TO SHOW ALANNA pic.twitter.com/bruPxQ5GsZ
— b (@brooklynjreiff) November 3, 2014
We heart Alex, too! #alexfromtarget pic.twitter.com/LvA7qc5RfS
— Target (@Target) November 3, 2014
Dive Insight:
Alex's transition from obscurity into Internet fandom was so quick—it's hard to say whether it will stick around. If approached correctly, Target could capitalize on the attention, but it would need to be fast and smart. As social media phenomena come and go so quickly, it raises a broader question of how much brands should jump in on an Internet frenzy that surrounds it.
