From being known as the “pound sign” on telephones to marking a musical note up a half tone, the slanted number symbol is now more commonly known as a ‘hashtag’. Hashtags are blanketing the social media realm, whether it be a campaign stunt or a form of expression on personal tweets. Either way, they’re helping broaden connections on social media. Here are a few of our tips on using hashtags in social media:
- Connecting Information: Hashtags essentially exist to allow people to see a different flow of information than they might otherwise see on their profiles/feeds. On Twitter and Facebook, hashtags give you a path to all posts about a particular topic. It’s a great way to stay on top of trending topics and keep you up to date on recent news.
- Help Others Find You: Social media platforms like Instagram let users include hashtags as a filter to find information on specific topics. By using relative hashtags on your Instagram post, you’re giving others a chance to find your photos. Remember to be specific! Choosing specific tags will help you connect with other like-minded people.
- Be Relevant: Make it easy for like-minded users to find you by making sure your tags accurately describe your posts. Using general tags like #pic may get you a few likes, but with over 26 million posts, it gets harder for others to find your photos in the mix! Relevant tags will help you attract new followers who will have a genuine interest in your photos, making engagement consistent on your page.
- Be Observant: Keep your eyes open to other hashtags used on photos that use the same hashtags as you do. You can easily find popular relevant hashtags you can use on your posts as well. You may find a tag that similar users like to use more often than what you were using in the first place!
- And NONE for Pinterest: Pinterest search does not support hashtags. Just like with other social networks, hashtags act as a pathway to bring all of the Pins using that same hashtag together. However, Pinterest hashtags are most effective when they are unique to your brand. General hashtags are too broad and bring in all kinds of interesting search results, most of which don’t even have the hashtag you’re searching for in the description. Our recommendation is to focus on key words rather than hashtags when optimizing pins on Pinterest.
With these tips and a little bit of practice, you’ll be a hashtag pro! Remember to keep testing hashtags when posting on social media. You never know what will work until you try it out! #PracticeMakesPerfect
