Did you know that hashtags came into being as a social media writing style in 2010? Did you also know that it was not until mid-2014 that the word hashtag was officially added to the Oxford Dictionary?
Chances are that you never thought of hashtags much before this post.
However, hashtags have become such a prominent and integral part of the tech culture today that a world without them seems unfathomable. If you still do not know much about these, the following lines will provide you with all the guidance you need.
Hashtags: A Brief Overview
You might not be aware of this, but hashtags were originally a user innovation that was officially adopted by Twitter later on as a feature to hyperlink its search results. From there on, hashtag usage evolved as more and more social channels embraced them as they sought to organize their social networks and make it easier for users to search. (More on this a little later)
Hashtags incorporate the pound symbol, which precedes a word or phrase written together without any space between the words. On social media, the purpose of hashtags is to direct users to a page which contains all the posts mentioning the particular hashtag the user clicked on. In essence, it is a means to categorize content on social media and make it more organized and easily discoverable.
Since more and more social media channels (first Twitter, followed by Facebook, Google+, Instagram, Vine, Pinterest and many more) adopted it, hashtag usage has also progressed as it is no longer restricted to social media. In fact, it has infiltrated contemporary culture as many brands and businesses have embraced it as part of their marketing campaign.
Hashtags: Reasons Why You Should Use Them on Social Media
Even though people all around have started using hashtags beyond their originally intended purpose in texts, chats, songs and even advertisements, they remain an indispensable feature on social media. Whether used to track the content on search results, convey irony or sarcasm, deliver humor or wit, or even suggest another emotion on social media, hashtags tend to be really effective in accomplishing the intended goal of the user via a simple post.
In fact, almost every single social network member uses hashtags as they would use a punctuation symbol. As such, it is extremely important for online businesses that would like to leave their footprints on social channels to understand this linguistic marvel and have the ability to use it fluently.
If you need a little further convincing, here are a few reasons why you would want to use hashtags on social media.
- Improving Your Click Through Rates (CTRs): Studies show that tweets which contain hashtags tend to receive two times as much engagement as those that do not. Because your engagement doubles, your CTRs are bound to increase to some extent as well.
- Helping Your Target Audience Discover Your Presence: The most important purpose hashtags serve is that they enable your potential customers to find you by searching specific hashtags. As long as you use hashtags that captivate users or interest them on any level, your chances of being found will double.
- Assisting You with Research: Just like search specific hashtags help prospects find your posts on social media, they also help you find great and relevant content. A majority of social media sites (Twitter, especially) tend to contain posts that include hashtags related to a topic rather being random phrases. You can skim through these to learn more about your prospects and even your competitors.
- Categorizing Your Content with Others’ by Hashtag: Users do not only search using major search engine platforms like Google, Bing, and Yahoo. They constantly hunt for interesting content by either entering a hashtag they have in mind or clicking the ones they see included in social media posts. Both scenarios direct them to numerous posts that share the same hashtag, in which your own post will also be added.
- Ensuring Your Visibility on Search Engine Results: After introducing hashtags to Google+, Google has gone a step further to allow users to search the very same hashtags via their search engine. The amplified visibility of hashtags is all the more reason why you should use this symbol.
- Building Your Brand’s Personality and Boosting Engagement: As hashtags can be used to share your emotions or indicate a certain event, they can effectively establish your reputation with your prospects and clients. By using hashtags that involve humor, wit and sarcasm, you effectively build the personality of your brand and urge your audience to take some kind of action.
So, if your marketing strategy involves social media content, it is imperative that you use hashtags on social media.
Hashtags: A Marketing Tactic on Social Media
After this quick overview of the reasons why you should be using hashtags on social media, it is time to discuss the ‘how to’ aspects of this symbol. Whatever marketing tactics you adopt, they should be able to help you with three main goals: to create a brand name for your business, get involved in real time trending topics, and expand the reach of your social media updates.
The following are some of the most effective ways you can use hashtags on social media:
Create Your Own Hashtags
If you do not have your own business hashtag already, create one pronto! Having your own hashtag can be really powerful and effective when you are trying to connect and interact with your audience, especially once it starts trending among your followers. As your followers embrace the hashtag and start including it in their posts, you get to have tons of follower-generated content to share.
However, businesses seem to face trouble when trying to come up with their own hashtags. While this is not a complex task, it can still get a little tricky. Just remember to keep it casual and short; the rest will follow. Also, your hashtags should not mention your brand name. Instead, create them to reflect your brand’s personality and what it stands for.
Use Hashtags to Boost Engagement
As you know by now, hashtags help drive engagement on social media. After all, when used properly, they are a great way to get people to talk. You can create a hashtag that facilitates discussions like #SEOChat and get your circle of followers to contribute their two cents. If your hashtag goes viral, it gets to ‘trend’ in Twitter or show up as a ‘hot topic’ on Google+.
Advertise Your Brand Using Hashtags of Trending Topics
If you are having trouble coming up with your own hashtags, you can take advantage of the ones already trending. While doing so, though, you need to select relevant ones. Often, brands tend to force themselves on users through trending topics even though their offerings are not related. For instance, a French restaurant will only alienate others if it uses the hashtag of Comic Con, especially since it does not target those attending it. However, by selecting the right hashtags according to your niche, your engagement levels are bound to increase.
Extend Hashtag Activity to Other Channels
To reach more followers and, ultimately, engage them, you should extend your hashtag activity to other social channels which support its use. Ever since more social media platforms embraced hashtags, businesses have been able to run cross channel campaigns while using one common identifier. Therefore, they enjoy the perks of being globally connected with audiences regardless of whether they use Twitter or Pinterest.
Promote an Event with a Unique Hashtag
Another way you can use hashtags as a social media marketing strategy is by promoting a live event and keeping your followers connected even if they are not present. The use of hashtags to promote events has the power to expand your audience greatly as people from all over the globe can participate.
Track Results Using Hashtags
After creating your own business hashtags, you should track the results. Assess which hashtag delivered the most engagement, which one led to more followers, or which one was not received well by your fans. Do not worry about the extra work. There are many tools available that can help you generate powerful hashtags and monitor their performance on social networks.
Hashtags: The Do’s and Don’ts
As nice and easy as hashtags may seem, there are a few things you should know and others to avoid while using them. Here are a few quick do’s and don’ts you need to remember.
What You Should Do?
- Keep them Short. Do not string too many words into a single hashtag. Though it is not always practical, experts recommend limiting your hashtag to six characters or less. However, this does not mean that you should sacrifice the right hashtag for a shorter one.
- Be specific with your hashtags. The more specific they are, the better your chances of reaching your targeted audience.
- Always include a blank space before as well as after the hashtag.
- Incorporate your hashtags into the words of your posts so as not to run out of space (some social networks have character limits to their posts). Incorporating words into hashtags also makes your post more fluent.
- Though not necessary, capitalizing the first letter of a multi-word hashtag makes it easier for users to read.
- Make sure that you are aware of social networks where hashtags are used. Not all social channels have embraced them. Even if they have, the use of hashtag tends to vary from network to network.
What You Shouldn’t Do?
- Do not ever use hashtags if you do not know what they are trending for. They may be addressing sensitive issues. This practice has landed many a brands into serious trouble with users.
- Never use hashtags that lie outside the context of your posts. It may lead to serious trouble and a PR crisis.
- Do not opt for broad It will only get your post lost in the bulk.
- Do not While having two hashtags in a single post can boost engagement levels, too many are just plain annoying and spammy. As proven by studies, tweets with three or more hashtags tend to have 21% lesser engagement than the ones with one or two. So, make sure that the hashtags in your posts do not exceed the words in the posts.
- You do not have to hashtag every post. Often, a hashtag does not fit into the post or comment you write. In such a case, you should leave it as it is rather than trying to force a hashtag in it.
Social Networks That Support Hashtags
As the role of hashtags grows, more social networks are opening up to them. The following four are well-known for supporting #everything #hashtag:
- Twitter: Basically, it is the network that made hashtag what it is today. You can search the site by clicking on the trending topics (most of them are hashtags) to find relevant results.
- Facebook: Facebook takes a rather vague route with hashtags. While clicking on the hashtags will indeed direct you to a page containing all the posts with that particular hashtag, the system is not as organized as that of Twitter.
- Instagram: A picture-oriented site, Instagram allows users to generate and use hashtags to identify their images. Clicking on hashtag links under the pictures will lead you to a page with other pictures sharing the same hashtags.
- Pinterest: Unlike other social platforms, hashtags on Pinterest are not searchable. However, you can click them if they are mentioned in a Pin description.
Apart from these four, Google+, Tumblr, YouTube, Kickstarter and Vine actively support hashtag use.
Hop on the Hashtag Bandwagon Now
Judging by the way its usage has been adopted by marketers and integrated in social media, it is safe to say that the hashtag has indeed taken over people’s lives. And seeing how it made its way into pop culture, the hashtag is definitely here to stay. So, start integrating them into your marketing campaign. If you need help, seek it from a reputable digital agency like ours to quickly reap its benefits.
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