A hashtag uses (#) before any word or grouping of words, it’s used to track topics or specific keywords. When you utilize #hashtags you are enhancing the content of your posts for best optimization. Because #hashtags are indexed it increases the chances of your posts being found by those interested in the specific topics you’ve covered.
Hashtags become clickable links in social media posts. When clicked on, it opens other posts that included the same topic. You may be the one clicking on those to view what others have posted, gain ideas, make comments and become involved in the topic. On the other side, there may be others out there looking for that given topic and they will discover your social profile because of it. There are multiple benefits to using #hashtags but it’s important to be smart with them.
As a business you should establish a hashtag that represents your business as a whole to use in all of your posts so your followers can quickly reference what you’ve shared as well as use the #hashtag in their own posts.
- Be sensible when picking topics to #hashtag
- Make them relateable with your subject
- Do not make up your own #hashtag that others won’t utilize
- Any hashtags that grow in popularity can be found in Trending Topics
Tips for using hashtags:
- #hashtags cannot contain spaces or punctuations. I find it more legible to capitalize each new work but it’s not necessary (ex: #SocialMediaMarketing #socialmediamarketing)
- You can use as many #hashtags as you’d like however, it’s good to keep them to a minimum. 2-3 is a good number. If you need to add more you can, there are no limits unless you are using Twitter and only have 140 characters worth of space.
- Keep in mind that using #hashtags does allow your post to be found by anyone. Because they become clickable links it references all posts using #hashtags.