Social media marketing is the hot marketing vehicle right now, but using it correctly is something that eludes a lot of business owners. Fortunately, there are many resources to help create a much more effective marketing plan, and one of those is education. Hashtags are the highlight of social media right now, creating trending topics and giving people a way to mark their posts so that they will be found. Some users create their own hashtags that aren’t going to become trending topics, but using keywords in social media is just like using them in SEO: they have to be relevant.
A hashtag is the pound sign (#) followed by keywords or topics. This trend was initially started on Twitter to help categorize trending topics and industries. These have become the most popular symbols on Twitter today, and are now used across many social media platforms to tag posts and organize conversations. Before you can dive into hashtags, though, you have to know what you are getting into. Like any keyword use, your hashtags have to fit the content and provide a benefit to the audience you are reaching.
Hashtags should be unique, but only to a certain extent. If you have a cabinet business, for example, you might want to use a hashtag like “#customcabinetry”, for example. This will let people know what you do, help you turn up in other searches related to that hashtag, and might even get you trending in certain industries. Make sure that you pick hashtags that make your brand stand out, too, because common tags are just going to lump you into the rest of the people in your industry that are using them.
Make sure that you’re using your hashtags across various social media channels. That way, you can carry on with the trend of the keyword(s) that you are using and don’t have to create new hashtags every single time you post. It will also give you the chance to show up more often in relevant searches when you are using the same hashtag throughout various social networks. Hashtags are ideal for getting noticed, but they are best for getting found. Do a search for relevant hashtags and related industry keywords in your posts. That way, you can see what hashtags are trending, how they are used, and whether they are right for your needs. It might just be a simple symbol, but the hashtag has evolved into a complex marketing tool for social media. Use it accordingly.