Hashtags, everyone knows and uses them (silver-haired folks excluded). Whether you’re a fan of Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram, you encounter them everywhere. It’s a smart and efficient way to categorize your message or photo, from #YOLO to #Yeswecan. Yet they aren’t just limited to the #SWAG crowd; your business can benefit from them too. How to best approach it? Read and learn…
Originally developed by Twitter to categorize messages, hashtags can now be found across all social media. The well-known pound sign creates, as it were, an easily searchable link to a specific topic. When you as a company want to gather certain information, the hashtag serves as a means to get in touch with a specific target audience, ask for their opinions, or even interact. What’s more, a successful tag can bring together a group of engaged people who are only too happy to spread your marketing message online.
A hashtag is also perfect for creativity. Launch a fun, unique tag related to your company or campaign and watch your popularity grow. Nike (yes, the sports brand), for example, started the hashtag #Makeitcount. A unique tag that, spread across all their social media, caused quite a stir and generated a lot of buzz. Read: lots of photos of sporty we-are-powerful-women-who-can-handle-anything types, challenges, and masses of engaged athletes, all in combination with that same hashtag. Igniting the collective sports feeling? Check. (You go Nike!)
All advantages aside, an excess of hashtags can quickly be perceived as annoying. So limit your arsenal—yes, even if there are some really good ones in there—to a minimum. About two hashtags per post are enough to spread your message massively among your target group without coming across as intrusive. Moreover, the use of hashtags depends from company to company. Are you targeting a young audience? Then feel free to go all out! If your business is focused on more serious matters, it’s better to hold back.
Well, what have we learned today? #YOLO is still hot, Nike loves powerful women, and also something about hashtags.