How To Use Hashtags Effectively In Social Media Marketing

Posted October 12, 2017

Hashtags are a crucial part of social media marketing. It is a great way of labeling and finding social media updates. It makes your own content discoverable and allows you to find relevant content from other people and businesses. The hashtag allows you to connect with and engage other social media users based on a common theme or interest.

Hashtags can increase awareness, getting your content seen by more people than just followers and increase your social shares. By simply incorporating #hashtags into your social content, you can expand your reach and increase your audience. Knowing how to use a hashtag is fundamental to your success on social media. Here you can find seven innovative ways to use hashtags in social media marketing.

1. Keep it simple and relevant:

When you are choosing a hashtag, it is important to make sure that you pick something that people are searching for and can easily remember. There are lots of hashtags scattered in the social media universe. Using a hashtag that is long and difficult to spell or pronounce, will probably not give you a good result. However, an unclear, never-used or generic hashtag will also not get the results you want.

Your hashtag should be short, precise and simple to spell. It should give your audience a clear idea about the topic of the conversation. The key is finding out to what topics your audience can relate. You need to find the ones they are already talking about. The hashtag helps to categorize your content and let people follow a trend and even help you to engage with a community. You need to use a hashtag that is relevant to your content and company as well as simple to use.

2. Utilize trending hashtags:

A trending hashtag is a hashtag topic that has become very popular. Maybe you have heard people are talking about what’s “trending now”. Sometimes, it is referring to the hashtags that are currently popular or are the most talked about right now. Trending hashtags are continuously changing according to the latest trend. Oftentimes, hashtags are centered on the major news topics of the world. When you see a trend that relates to your business, engage in it by using the tag. By using a trending hashtag in your content update, you can get your message seen by a much larger audience. More and more people can see your updates rather than just your fans and followers.

Before you use a hashtag in your social media post, make sure it adds value to your existing conversation. If your post does not add value, it is likely to be ignored and lost in an ocean of posts. If you have a truly informative post, more and more people will re-share it and it will increase your overall brand awareness.

How to use trending hashtags:

Be the first in using trending tags to get more exposure for your content and brand.
Find trending hashtags on Twitter & Google+
Hashtag analytics & monitoring sites
Use niche-trending hashtags to connect and build relationships with your targeted market.

3. Use hashtag on multiple social media channels:

Hashtags may have started on Twitter but now all social media platforms support hashtags except for LinkedIn. Hashtags give your brand more exposure so you can spread the word about your product to a massive audience. In addition, when you use it on multiple times on different channels, people will easily remember your hashtag. You can use the hashtag before the keyword in the mind and this way you will find useful content.

Twitter: Because of character count restrictions, please don’t use more than 2 hashtags per tweet for best engagement.
Facebook: Use 2 hashtags on Facebook try one popular hashtag and one custom hashtag for your brand.
Google+ : You can also use a hashtag in Google+ to find and join a conversation about a particular topic. Click on hashtag to show related content.
Instagram: It allows up to 30 hashtags, however keep it to no more than 11 per post for the highest level of engagement.
Pinterest: Use only 2 hashtags, it’s a category of search so use your unique hashtag to help pinners to find relevant content.

4. Search the hashtag before you use it:

Check each of the social media networks to make sure that your hashtag isn’t being used for the wrong reason. Also, ensure that you don’t choose something that can be interpreted in a different way. It is worth making sure that another brand isn’t using hashtag specifically for their own promotion as well.

When you are using hashtags properly, they help to create online conversation, increase brand awareness and increase your sales as well. Before using a hashtag, always you need to search to see if other people are using it and what they saying. If you want your tweet stand out, tweeting on a negative hashtag might not be the best way to do it.

5. Don’t over use hashtags:

Make sure to use a maximum of two hashtags for each post. Including too many will leave the impression that you are spamming your followers. Usually, you don’t want to use more than one or two hashtags per post, with one hashtag is the best choice. Additionally, it will be important to avoid using them in every single post that you make, as social media users are wary of businesses trying too hard to promote themselves. Use these organizational tools when it makes sense to use them and you’ll reap the rewards of a more engaged subscriber base.

6. Be specific and unique:

As a marketer, you want to able to reach your community with the use of a hashtag, especially during special events and Twitter chats. However, if you want others to join in on the conversation you need to engage with each other, you have to use the hashtag that is more unique. You can’t use generic hashtags, such as #marketing or #seo and expect people to re-tweet your post. Nowadays, people are using an unique and specific hashtag for better social media engagement with an audience.

Undoubtedly, hashtags are the powerful tool for brands marketing on social media. For getting great results, you need to use a hashtag that is well chosen and properly utilized. Although, the uses of hashtags differ depending on the channel, following best practices can increase their performance. As a marketer, you also need to stay current on the ever-evolving features of social media and constantly changing user preferences. Every new year brings new innovations and new features. Try to keep yourself well informed of them.

7. Create brand engagement:

The key of a hashtag is the ability to connect your brand with many popular and incredibly visible topics. This will drive new viewers to your social media presence and also give you the opportunity to engage with them. When you use hashtag carefully, it helps you to enhance your visibility and can even improve customer relations. The more comfortable your followers feel with your brand the more likely they will be to attempt interacting with you by social media.

You don’t want to ignore them, but it’s not necessary to use hashtags while conversing with your followers. Also, you don’t need to use a hashtag in every post either. However, it is vitally important to remember that you should not use them while responding to someone. Whether it’s a re-tweet or a reply, avoid using these characters in when they are not required. Keep the marketing to your posts and out of your customer dialogue.

Adding keywords within your hashtags isn’t enough to enhance your online presence. You need to ensure your hashtags are short, conversational and unique. However, hashtags play an important role in social media marketing strategy.