“Social Media Etiquette.” While this may seem like an oxymoron, it is exists and is warranted. We’ve heard/seen various celebrities or brands having meltdowns and doing irreparable damage to their brand. For most businesses/brands, their sins are far less egregious. Take for example Twitter, (and now Facebook) with it’s use of the #hashtag (#).
#Hashtags
Hashtags are used as a way to mark keywords or topics in the message. For many, the hashtag is a goldmine for driving conversation about topics related to your brand/business. The problem is that no one knows how to use them effectively.
According to howtohashtag.com, a site whose sole purpose is enlightening mankind to the use of the hashtag, everything one should know about hashtags. So for now, here are the highlights:
- Know when you’re using too many hashtags– Try to use a max of 2 hashtags for your tweets or posts. If you use too many your followers will think you are spamming them.
- Keep Them Short– There’s only so many characters, so don’t use it all up with a huge hashtag. (Facebook allows longer posts but a huge hashtag will just look gaudy.)
- Define Your Tag– try tagdef.com, give your tag a meaning; also useful to search for other tags.
- No Spaces– Make sure there are no spaces in the words preceding the hashtag or punctuation, as it will break the link.
Hopefully, this lesson in social media etiquette will help you appeal to more people, instead of driving them away. Stay classy, folks.
