What are Hashtags? A hashtag is the text in social media posts that appears after the octothorpe # (also known as a pound sign). Hashtags launched into the Twittersphere in 2007 and are now part of posts on Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn and more. Anyone can make one but you can’t own it. Essentially they connect social media content to a topic theme or conversation. This makes it easy to find or discover posts about the same topic. Using hashtags also builds your brand as people following the hashtags you use may not follow your account. Engagement with your post can grow as much as 12% when using hashtags
There are 3 main categories:
1. Community tags describe your product or service (#BusinessInsurance), name your niche (#BoatInsurance), connect to an event or season (#WinterFestival2020), name or associate a location (#Sydney), phrases relevant to your business (#BestAdvice)
2. Brand tags are specific to your company such as #AnotherBarkProduction or a slogan #JustDoIt or a key message #BeCoveredNotJustInsured
3. Campaign tags link content to your specific campaign such as #SummerSale
Hashtags can also be a witty side comment to the post but for corporate posts, especially on LinkedIn, use these wisely.
So a few #Pointers to keep in mind:
#ShortNSweet – don’t use too many, about 2 – 10 per post is enough , more than that is spam
#Relevant – keep hashtags relevant and appropriate for the content, context and audience
#Clarity – define each word with a capital letter for easy reading
#ProofRead – use the correct spelling
#DoubleEntendres – check what you think you are saying is what you are actually saying, could the words spell something you didn’t mean?
#Simplicity – no-one #likes #to #read a #stack of hashtags, use them strategically in the post text or save them for group on the last line
#BeYourself – original hashtags or brand specific hashtags are useful to identify and link content about your company or cause but check them first to make sure they are not already in use for something you don’t want to associate with (or worse have been banned)
#HumourSticks – you can be punny and humour is always memorable
#ResarchAndCheck – think once and check twice on your hashtags, you can check trending hashtags using a service Hashtagify.me or just do a quick search on the platform you are posting to.
While we are talking about tags – we’ll mention @tags too. An @tag names a specific account, useful if you want to name or speak directly to the account. Also that account will get a notification that they have been tagged.
If you’re looking to up your hashtag #game and social media marketing get in touch with Jason for a #chat and we’ll go from there.