By now it’s probably safe to assume that the vast majority of people know what a hashtag is. That doesn’t necessarily mean everyone knows how to properly use one. Below we look at five ways on how you can apply them to your social media posts.
– Hashtags main purpose is to categorize or help you discover new profiles. If you use one in a public account anyone who does a search for it can find your post with the most popular ones from your network coming up on top. Use them only when you deem relevant. Jumping in on a trend solely for promotional purposes without having something constructive to say is not advised. Don’t try to selflessly promote or sell by wrongfully pairing your tweet with a hashtag, it will only annoy other users.
– Create a branded hashtag that is specific to your profile and start using it. You can use your company name, your motto, a product or even a campaign you are running. Just make sure it’s not too many words right next to each other and something easy to remember or even catchy. Avoid spaces, the @ symbol, improper punctuation and make sure you know what it means. Some prime examples would be #ShareaCoke or #MyCalvins. Both campaigns were memorable and successful. Tweets with hashtags like these have twice the engagement and people tend to share them more.
– Since there are so many hashtags out there today you can use a number of tools to do some research before you start posting. We suggest Hashtagify.me, RiteTag, Trends Map and Tweet archivist to name but a few. You can also look at similar accounts and see what hashtags they are using just to get some inspiration.
– Avoid using too many hashtags in a post. Insert only one or two to grow your engagement and don’t go over three. It might make your tweet or photo more visible but it also looks like spam. In other words, don’t have more hashtags than words.
– It’s our belief that hashtags are mostly for twitter and Instagram. We won’t stop you from using them on other platforms but it kind of defeats the purpose. We see them almost on every social media channel but since they are not always clickable or search friendly it’s kind of pointless.
Finally, hashtags when used properly can boost your brand and create more traffic to your page. Potential clients end up spending more time on your social media profile than on your website. This presents an easy way to stay in touch and see content created by your followers. That is what positive influence and outreach are all about.
