How To Use Hashtags In Your Marketing

We all remember when the hashtag first made an appearance and was the big thing to do when using Twitter. You could click on a hashtag and everything that used that specific phrase popped up! What a concept! Now the use of hashtags, depending on the social platform is crucial and almost expected. There’s no doubt that the use of hashtags, when used strategically, can give your marketing efforts a boost.

Why Use Hashtags

Hashtags are beneficial for a few reasons-- the most important is tracking a topic, event or brand. It helps to categorize all of your content and other’s content for your audience to follow and recognize. Another reason is relevance. When you click on a hashtag relating to a topic you’re interested in learning more about, you will find tons of other posts using that hashtag that are relevant to what you’re looking for.

How to Use Them

When used correctly, hashtags are arguably the most beneficial tools in the social media world. Instagram, Twitter and LinkedIn are the best platforms to incorporate hashtags. To make sure they are used correctly, there are a few things to check off.

1 - Align hashtags with the post. If you are posting about a certain topic, use specific hashtags that relate directly with the post. For example, a post about a newly renovated apartment should include hashtags such as #Renovations and #InteriorDesign.

2 - Every marketing campaign should have a hashtag. This helps current and potential clients follow the conversation. If you’re consistently using the same hashtag throughout the entire campaign or event, people will be able to search for that hashtag and view photos and videos relating to that campaign. This includes content that your company has posted and content other people have posted using your hashtag. Double the content...for free! Brands should have one main hashtag they always use when posting anything about their company.

Hashtag Abuse

An average of 10% of hashtags are abused. This just means that people are using hashtags that are popular, but not relevant to the actual post. Hashtags that start to gain popularity will get constant attention no matter who uses them. Using popular tags that have nothing to do with your content is a sign of amateur marketing. Companies and people do this just to get more attention on their post, but the last thing people want to see when looking at the hashtag #coffee is a post about someone’s dental work. This only hurts your brand and reputation, while confusing your analytics in regards to followers. Bots follow profiles that use popular hashtags and unfollow days later. Some people will gain 10-20 new followers from one post just to lose them a few days later.

With these few things in mind, make sure to do your research. Research other companies in your industry who have a successful following and great engagement. Check out which hashtags these companies are utilizing and feel free to copy some, especially from Instagram. IG allows 30 hashtags per post, so take advantage of that fact as well.

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