Hashtags have been one of the most successful ways to spread a message with social media as the primary function is to make the content more visible to other users.
The challenge in using hashtags is to get effective and positive results for your business. Here are some tips to help you use hashtags more effectively.
Conduct Your Own Research
Make a study of the hashtags that you are going to use. You may search for a specific topic, abbreviations and take note of how others are already creating conversations with a particular hashtag; look for existing content. You may also check the words that your competitors are using for their hashtags. Protect your brand by being sure that it is not being used for wrong reasons.
Check Hashtags on Different Social Media Platforms
Trending hashtags may differ from one platform to another, so it’s worth checking out the different platform-specific practices to help increase performance results. Just because a hashtag is on trend doesn’t mean that this is the proper hashtag to use. Using it may get you followers but is it the right audience for your business, Those are the wrong kind of followers; people who are just interested in being followed back.
Think Wisely
The goal is to locate and connect with a high-quality, brand appropriate audience. Drive them to your account, and engage with your brand. For example, generic hashtags such as #clothes, #food, or #shoes, then think again. Your post will be lumped in with many hundreds of thousands of posts of the same hashtags. Focus on words that will fit your brand content; this can be your product or an event, for example. Look for the right idea, and for a realistic audience size that suits your business.
Harnessing Trending Hashtags
Trending hashtags allow you see the latest issues or events in the world. These are constantly changing every day so it is just wise to keep an eye on those trending topics. There are some trends which may be related to your business, so you might want to seize these hashtags and incorporate them into your own posts. This will help your business reach a more organic audience rather than just followers. Using trending hashtags may also increase the number of shares and likes that can help boost brand awareness.
Think About Customer Engagement
A campaign is said to be successful if it was able to interact, influence and establish a strong connection with its audience. Think of better ways on how people can interact with your business.
For example, selfies have been a huge part of social media. Selfies can be used as an opportunity to create engagement with your target market. You can ask them to take a photo or a selfie of them together with your product, and then create a hashtag specifically for this event. Give away prizes or freebies to make it more engaging.
Being Unique
You may build a hashtag of your own but remember to keep it short, sweet, easy to remember and type. The keywords that you were able to search will serve as key terms so your audience can find your content. Including hashtags in between your message will save you some space or clean up the caption of your post. Avoid using too many hashtags in one post, as it can kill your message. In fact, 1 to 3 creative hashtags is way better than using a lot of generic hashtags.
Don’t Break Your Hashtags
Lastly, don’t break your hashtag by using symbols like”&” or “/”. This will never work; it will literally change the meaning of your hashtag. Just use numbers and letters instead.
Hashtags don’t work just because you want them too, it’s not like magic. It is a combination of creativity, consistency and hard work to put in all efforts. To be able to succeed there should be less about a message and pitch more as a call to action. This will lead to greater brand engagement.
Need some help? Get in touch with us at RD.