I may be a social media nerd, but I love hashtags so much that sometimes I find myself going a little overboard. There is just something very exciting about discovering an audience, and having the potential to turn that audience into a consumer of your product and/or service. With the growing popularity of hashtags, one thing holds true: they are not always used correctly for businesses. My fourth post in the Posting with Purpose series is all about the do's and don'ts of hashtagging to make your posts more effective!
DO'S
Create a unique hashtag. Make a list of various hashtags that would work best for your company, and search them on all of the platforms you use. Does anyone else have them? If not, choose that one and always incorporate that hashtag into your posts! If so, then it's back to the drawing boards. Having a unique hashtags allows others to find all of your posts under one list and is a big trend in today's social media culture! ( Fun tip: you can get your clients and consumers to use your hashtag too when posting anything that relates to your company!)
Research. My Dad always says, "prior planning prevents poor performance." This "do" completely resonates to that quote. In order to stay relevant, avoid random hashtags and research ones that relate to your company and specific post. If you choose a random hashtag and it leads you no where, it is pointless.
Hashtag within your text. Many social media users only put their hashtags at the end of their text; however, if you are going to type something in the copy and follow that same word/phrase with a hashtag why not just incorporate it into the copy? There is nothing wrong with using a hashtag in the middle of a sentence, and it will make things easier on you!
DON'TS
Forget etiquette. There are three main rules when it comes to hashtag etiquette: (1) do not use punctuation marks or spaces within one hashtag - it cause a break in the hashtag, (2) do not spam news, event or other company hashtags, and (3) do not hashtag aboslutely every word!
Use too many words in one hashtag. If a fellow social media user has to stare too long to figure out what you are trying to say in a hashtag - get rid of it. Using a hashtag that is short and sweet is much more effective for your brand and audience. Also, you are more likely to misspell a word within a hashtag if it is too long!
Hashtag without purpose. Including random hashtags within your post is ineffective and useless. Always remember to post with purpose, and include hashtags that associate with a specific post and most importantly your business!
If you want to have a social media review of your current platforms to ensure that you are hashtaging with purpose, contact me today!
