#Hashtag Essentials and Everything You Need to Know
It’s no surprise anymore that hashtags are dominating all social media platforms, brand awareness products, and presidential campaigns. They’ve even debuted on TV. They are not going anywhere. For those who are not up to the hashtag terminology, the hashtag is simply a pound sign (#) with a key word or phrase that follows. For example, #Election2016 was the most clicked-on phrase leading conversion of the year, according to Twitter.
The purpose of creating a useful hashtag is to group people together who are chatting about the same topic at the same time. The hashtag game started off with Twitter and eventually was used/perfected by other platforms. Today, hashtags continue to thrive on the same concept, but have some differences depending on what platforms they are used on. SBC can help ensure the hashtag is used correctly by your business. Here are the basics:
Twitter hashtags
Since Twitter created the hashtag, it’s only fair that we start with this widely popular platform. Similar to other platforms, on Twitter the hashtag is used to simply tie conversations of users into the same stream. Let’s examine the hashtag #Election2016 again. People across the world wanted to participate in conversation and saw this hashtag on their television screen or in a “trending” spot at the top of their Twitter page. When on Twitter, there are multiple ways to search for a hashtag in which will give you different results regarding the hashtag. To do this, all you do is choose from the search options— top, latest, people, news, or Periscope— in order to separate which results are beneficial to the user. Another use of hashtags on Twitter is for Twitter chats. Twitter chats have evolved successfully into a way to converse back and forth regarding any chosen topic—including hashtags.
Facebook hashtags
People still wonder is if it’s okay to hashtag on Facebook. The answer is, yes! Although hashtags on Facebook have the same goal, the accepted number of hashtags is different from other platforms. Additionally, Facebook has no limit on the amount of hashtags, but social research conducted by Socialbakers indicates that posts do better without any hashtags at all. To add to that, a report from BuzzSumo noted that too many hashtags leads to less interactions. To be safe, stick with 1–2 relevant hashtags in order to increase engagement on your page. Too many times, we see Facebook “friends” using hashtags incorrectly. 2013 was when Facebook started hashtagging, but people are still set in their ways and refrain from hashtagging in their posts. The important thing to know about using hashtags on this platform is that it is very similar to Twitter, but according to your location and different search tactics, results vary while searching for a specific hashtag. Lastly, if your page is private and you have incorporated hashtags in your post, these hashtags are only visible to your friends. If you want to jump on any trending topics, it’s best that you change your settings to public.
Instagram hashtags
Now that we know a little more about the different uses of hashtags, it’s time to explore Instagram hashtags. The beauty of Instagram is of course the billions of photos you are able to explore and connect with. You are able to explore a huge variety of images through the search of keywords using hashtag phrases. Businesses large and small have taken advantage of this social media marketing opportunity, using millions of photos marketing their products on Instagram. Incorporating the correct content with the vital hashtags relating to your product is how social media marketing is successful on this platform.
Similar to platforms mentioned above, hashtags on Instagram have one goal, which is to help us discover content/images. Using proper hashtags can and will help you gain followers, get Instafamous, and to grow your platform. Just because hashtags are all over Instagram doesn’t mean that they are being used correctly, though. Instagram allows you to post up to 30 hashtags per image uploaded; some people do the extreme and crowd their caption with hashtags. This simply makes it look tacky and as if you’re desperate for followers.
The key to Instagram is to use a couple popular hashtags in your caption and then include other hashtags in the comment section. Using this method will help expose your image to the people who are searching for your hashtags. When adding your hashtag, the word or phrase should populate and show you how many times it has been used. Use hashtags that are popular and commonly used. For example, this is how you would hashtag an image of pizza:
Not like this: #omgthispizzaisdelish #iminfoodheaven #eatingthesecaloriesup
The power of the usage of hashtags is to join the conversation, whether it’s in image form or video form. Hashtags are a great way to brand your business and, of course, to make your post visible to others in hopes of increasing your engagement and followers. We all can’t have 112 million followers like Selena Gomez or 93.9 million followers like Kim Kardashian West, but using proper Instagram strategies will get you close.
Hashtagging is only one element of social media success. SBC helps businesses across many industries grow their reach to targeted demographics on social media platforms every day. We can help you, too! Contact us today for a free marketing consultation!
