You’ve seen them in commercials. You’ve heard them on the radio. You’ve noticed them on printed in magazines and on signs. And now, you will begin to see them spray-painted on football fields!

We predict players will tag their helmets with individual hashtags next.

The Super Bowl was a hashtag bonanza for advertisers, with 66k fans commenting on Coco-Cola’s polar bear ad and tens of thousands more commenting on the other ads. You can check out the ads and corresponding tweets on this compilation from Hotspots.io, the social media analytics provider recently aquired by Twitter.

This response is far from surprising though, considering the effort advertisers put in to driving folks to their online campaigns in the weeks and months preceding the football extravaganza. Who wouldn’t want to try their hand at winning a brand new Mercedes Benz just for tweeting?

Although there were lots of car ads, the best ad was probably this one promoting the G.I. Joe movie:

But we digress.

Regardless of which ad was your favorite, one thing should be clear: Advertisers recognize the value of Twitter. And now football teams do too, with the University of Arkansas joining Mississippi State and Michigan in demonstrating its social media marketing savvy:

Fans attending Arkansas’ spring football game on Saturday will notice something a little different and something you don’t see every day.

A Twitter hashtag has been painted on the field at Donald W. Reynolds Razorback Stadium. It reads, “#GOHOGS”.

UA athletics director Jeff Long said the unorthodox decision is an example of the athletics department’s commitment to interact with fans through social media websites.

Some fans are less than pleased.

So where will we see hashtags next? Any predictions? And is this going to far – or is it just about right?

(Hashtag image from Shutterstock)