Hashtags are an essential part of social media marketing that decide the fate of your posts on social media platforms. If used correctly, hashtags help you to drive the attention of your targeted audience toward your post and also help increase your brand engagement. Hashtags are the most powerful tool that you can use to bring attention to your business on social media.
What is Hashtag?
A hashtag is a pound sign or a hash (#) followed by a simple, short key phrase or a word that allows people to quickly find a specific type of content across social media channels. In short, hashtags are used to categorize content and the type of post that you share on your social media channels. The use of hashtags allows your post to become easily visible to anyone interested in that type of content. Hashtags are used on every social media platform including Facebook, Instagram, Linkedin, and Pinterest to create conversation, attract new customers, and increase engagement.
How Can Hashtags Be Used Effectively on Social Media?
Hashtags that are short, simple, and relevant should give an outline of the content that you are sharing on your social media handles. Hashtags can allow you to create and track conversations. Keep in mind that careless selection of hashtags can also damage the value of your brand, so choose wisely. It is important to research every hashtag relevant to your business before you use them in your social media post. Just like you do keyword research in search engine optimization (SEO), it is important to do the same for hashtags. You want to pick the ones that are relevant to the content that you are posting about. Make sure that the hashtag engages your target audience and increases your brand engagement, so be specific about the hashtag that you use to gain the desired results and stay ahead of your competitors for the latest social media marketing trends. Stay away from the ones that are likely to create controversy. After using hashtags in several social media posts, research your hashtag popularity so you know which ones work for your target audience.
What are Trending Hashtags?
A trending hashtag is a hashtag that is related to trending and intensely popular topic or event during a limited time frame and can help you to increase your brand’s visibility, reach a larger audience and boost your brand awareness in the entire social media space. Trending hashtags change every day so it’s important to stay up-to-date with the latest online trends. Whenever you see a trending hashtag that is relevant to your post and target audience, use it. All of this social activity ultimately helps to give your content and your business exposure.
What are Niche Hashtags?
Niche hashtags are those hashtags that are related to your industry or field of business. This is where research comes in handy. Tools like Hastagify or Ritetag can be used to identify and gauge popular industry-related hashtags. Follow your competitors to track what hashtags they are using to attract your intended audience and increase followers. Use hashtags that are related to relevant content to ensure that your content reaches your target audience.
What are the General Rules for Using Hashtags?
There are several important rules to keep in mind when using hashtags. Be sure to:
- Use local hashtags to build community awareness
- Use specific product or brand hashtags to create conversation and build interest
- Utilize search tools to view related hashtags and their popularity
- Avoid offensive, controversial or demeaning hashtags
The use of hashtags on social media is vital to growth. Studies have shown that posts with hashtags get twice as much engagement as posts without hashtags. Instagram allows you to have over ten hashtags, however, keep your hashtags few, simple, and those that are relevant to your industry niche, content, and target audience. This keeps your post clean and is more likely to engage your audience. LinkedIn content shows up in Google searches so using hashtags can put your posts in front of a larger audience. Hashtags listed in the title of your YouTube videos help videos show up in searches. Choose the right hashtag for the content and audience that you want to reach.
Hashtags are growing in popularity and will give your posts more exposure, therefore new customers may discover your post and your business, so it may be in your best interest to use them.
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