6 #MostlyTrueFacts about Hashtags
Thursday, June 14, 2018
NSBI clients routinely ask us about social media, and how to properly use hashtags when they are thinking about promoting their products to specific target audiences online. We’ve assembled a few #MostlyTrueFacts about the use of hashtags that we hope you’ll find useful.
- Don’t overuse hashtags. If you have adequate space in your Tweet for your messaging and maybe two hashtags, that would be considered perfectly acceptable. Hashtagging #your #entire #tweet #is #not.
- Using a hashtag for your sector or industry you conduct business in is a way to show up in search results for that hashtag. (A hashtag is a search. They’re meant to label a topic or filter conversation.) For example, let’s say you sell oysters, then add #oysters to your messaging. If you wanted to be specific with regards to market, use #novascotiaoysters.
- Events, conferences (and sometimes even weddings!) use hashtags to keep conversations about an event tagged with a unique tag. This, again, helps with search, but also provides a way for people who couldn’t attend the event to get caught up or watch as the event unfolds.
- Some hashtag experts say to not use them on Facebook. We tend to think that having one or two does help with search. Try searching for #ThinkExport on Facebook and you’ll find posts, photos and videos all tagged with #ThinkExport.
- And, speaking of #ThinkExport, NSBI uses this hashtag as one of it’s branded hashtags. This means that almost every post regardless of social channel has #ThinkExport included. In addition to a branded hashtag being used as a ‘tagline’, a branded hashtag could also be used for a specific marketing campaign or promotion.
- A popular use of hashtags on Instagram is using a specific hashtag (generally) gives permission for others to re-post your post. Check out @NovaScotiaTourism on Instagram and you’ll note that they have put in their profile that if you use #VisitNovaScotia, you could be featured on their account. This is a great way to extend the reach of your posts.
Have any ideas for future topics related to social media? Tweet us @NSBI with #InsiderSocial.