How To Use Hashtags
FREE DOWNLOAD: How To Hashtag Handbook
If you use Instagram or Twitter, you should be familiar with hashtags. They first became popular on Twitter, when they were initially used for tweet chats that revolve around a particular topic or idea. The hashtag is a word or group of words after the hashtag, or pound sign, that allows marketers to tag content together into one common pool.
For marketers and businesses, hashtags are great to organize your brand’s message around a central theme. They extend the reach of your social posts and allow users to discuss and talk about you. They present an opportunity for brands to showcase their creativity and identity. The best and popular hashtags are usually the ones trending on your social platforms. Regardless of the platform, hashtag marketing presents an opportunity for a marketer to engage their target audience. If you want to learn more about how to succeed on social, with hashtags, you can download my free How To Hashtag Handbook, for all the best practices and tips.
Here are three tips to help you create and effective hashtag marketing strategy.
Create branded hashtags. These signature hashtags are unique to your business and identity. Ensure that your branded hashtags are concise, relevant and consistent to your brand. Use them when sharing original content on your social media pages. Encourage your followers to start using it as well, when they associate themselves with your brand. With this you can have an easy way of grouping and consolidating your customers’ mentions. This will also make it easier for other people to discover your brand. Using your very own hashtag will help you build a discussion around your brand. This will inspire your users to know more about your products and services, and potentially make a purchase.
Ride on trending hashtags. When lots of users post the same hashtag over and over on Twitter, it becomes the trending topic. These can last for days or even weeks, depending on the velocity of the conversations around it. Constantly monitor the trending topics and look at opportunities that relate with your business. Don’t hesitate to engage your audience by creating themed content around the trending topics. Riding on the trending hashtags allows you to be relevant at the scene. Get involved in the usual theme days, like #motivationmonday or #throwbackthursday. It creates chatter and raises awareness for your business.
Write call to action hashtags. One way of making effective use of hashtags is to create CTA ones. These encourage your followers to perform a specific action that you want them to do. Call to action is nothing new. It’s been used for a variety of marketing techniques. What makes it unique for hashtags is because it inspires users to create their very own content. Most users would feel like they are part of a bigger community. It helps build loyalty and develops brand advocates out of your followers. CTA hashtags are usually started with verbs and followed by some sort of words that gives a very specific instruction. These should be doable and easy for a user to do.
For example, #BellLetsTalk is a widely popular hashtag during Bell’s campaign to raise awareness for mental health. On top of their promise to donate money for every tweet including that hashtag, it’s encouraging others to tweet about their experience and their thoughts on mental health.
Using hashtags are an effective marketing tool on Instagram and Twitter. If you want learn more, download my How to Hashtag Handbook, it will show you the dos and don’ts of hashtagging, how you can come up with hashtags to use and how you can use them on each social media platform.