hashtags

How often do you see hashtags on social media?  Do you want to use them but are unsure of how?

What is a hashtag?

People use the hashtag symbol # before a relevant keyword or phrase (no spaces) in their social media posts to categorize those posts and help them show more easily in a social media search. Clicking on a hashtagged word in any message shows you all other social media posts marked with that keyword.  It is used to draw attention, organize, and promote.

fb-hashtag-conversations

Why should I use them?

Hashtags connect users with one another. If you are posting on a particular subject and use a hashtag, all other people who use that same hashtag will be linked together.

Hashtags help you get found by your target audience.

Hashtags improve your clickthrough rates and even your reach!

Individuals can see a 100 percent increase in engagement by using hashtags

Tweets with one or more hashtag are 55 percent more likely to be retweeted.

Hashtags have only been around on Facebook since June 2013, and three months later, research from EdgeRank Checker found that using hashtags on Facebook has zero positive effect on reach. Posts without hashtags outperform those with hashtags.

hashtag-statistics1

Hashtag Rules:

  • no spaces
  • no special characters (!@#$@&*$)
  • no punctuation (.?!)
  • capitalization only matters for readability
  • Rule of thumb: 1 – 3 tags is best over all platforms.
  • make them easy to understand
    • spell out the words don’t use vague letters
  • keep it short
  • You can use the hashtag in a sentence

What the purpose of hashtags are on each social media platform:

Advice from The Next Web:

  • Twitter: to categorize
  • Pinterest: to brand, and be specific (tags are only clickable in pin descriptions)
  • Instagram: to build community, and be unique/detailed
  • Google+: to categorize; autogenerates tags based on what it thinks your post is most relevant to
  • Tumblr: to categorize interests, can be specific and general (has a “track your tags” feature)
  • Facebook: sort of a hashtag fail – if your audience is very business-minded, follow Twitter rules; if it is community-oriented, follow Pinterest/Instagram rules

Commonly used hashtags for business:

  • #tutorial
  • #networking
  • #entrepreneur
  • #innovation
  • #biztip
  • #business
  • #success
  • #mindset
  • #inspire
  • #smallbusiness

 

We hope you will use #hashtags in the future to help promote your business!

 

[cait-kinslow]