What Kind of Damage Comes From Switching "Official" Hashtag?

[HDI]

Last year we had a problem with other conferences / companies using a hashtag we had started using for our conference.

We stuck with a very similar hashtag for this year's event and are, of course, having the same problem. The event we're using it for isn't until October and already has a decent amount of buzz.

How much damage would we be causing by switching the "official" hashtag? And how do we get people to start using the new one and abandoning the old? Does anyone have a case study on this or a similar experience with this issue?

[HDI]

Thanks, Kane.

[KaneJamison]

You're not going to see any damage in terms of SEO. I can hardly imagine a case where hashtag consistency directly or indirectly contributes to anything search-related. The decision should be made on what's best for the conference attendees. If they're seeing tons of junk in their hashtag stream, especially within 7 days before or after the event, then it's probably best to switch (and make sure your new choice doesn't have the same problem).

As far as buy-in, just make it very obvious to everyone what the new hashtag is - if it was really that much of an annoyance last time, the vets will do it and the new people won't know the difference. You can also have someone start sending @replies with the correct hashtag in a friendly manner if you really want to enforce the change.