The hashtag, first used 12 years ago, has become a social media phenomenon! It is very rare to see a social media post without one across the platforms Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and Pinterest. A hashtag essentially is used within your social media post by adding a hash (#) in front of key search words. For example, posting an image of the beach might include #surfsup #beach #sunnyday or if you had a smoothie bar business, you might use hashtags such as #delicious #fruit #breakfast. Hashtags are one of the easiest and most effective way to get eyes on your social media profiles and improve your engagement. This is because they can be used to enable your content to be found by the right customers online. Using relevant hashtags places your content in newsfeeds and drives traffic to your profile so you can boost views, likes and shares. You may be asking how do you find the best hashtags to use for your business and which hashtags are popular right now? We will answer all your questions in our guide!
Why use hashtags?
Hashtags have become a vital tool for increasing your social media views and expanding your reach outside your network. Not only this but hashtags can be used to stay up to date on current trends, news, and follow conversations such at #Coronavirus. Despite many jokes on the overuse of hashtags, when used correctly, they can be a powerful tool to growing your online business. Hashtags help facilitate filtering and discovery of related content. Users searching a hashtag that has been used within your social post, such as #fruit, may engage with your account, becoming new followers and potential customers. Thus, using strategised hashtags will create good online visibility and brand awareness for your business. Studies have shown that Instagram posts that include hashtags receive over 70% more likes than those without hashtags. Therefore, hashtags bring your business closer to being noticed, to being liked, to being followed, to being shared, and to getting leads.
How to use hashtags correctly
While hashtags have proven to be a fantastic marketing technique, if overused or incorrectly they can have the opposite effect. Understanding which hashtags to use in your content become crucial to the growth of your business and online networks. Your hashtags should always apply to your content, do not use #surfsup on a post about a new smoothie recipe. To decipher which hashtags will work most appropriately with your business do a hashtag search and look at how different hashtags are performing. Some hashtags like #fruit have 26 million posts, opposed to #berrymagic that only has 1000. Remember the goal isn’t to show up in every search, but the right searches. You can use any sort of hashtag relevant to your business on your social media posts, as a local small business it’s great to use #shoplocal, #smallbusiness, or #brisbane. Using 5 or so specific and targeted hashtags is much better than using 20+ random hashtags that don’t correlate with your business.
How to find the best ones
There are five different types of hashtags, there is branded, business, timely, geographic, and fun. It’s always great to diversify your hashtags and use a variety from different groups in a post. For example if you owned a smoothie bar and you were posting about open hours on a public holiday you might use #morningsmoothie (business product), #publicholiday (timely), #brisbanebased (geographic), and #fruity (fun). This way you can reach a wider audience with a variety of relevant hashtags. You can find trending hashtags on many of the social platforms themselves, or you may notice them in posts with other businesses you are connected with.
Although over a decade old it is highly unlikely hashtags will be going anywhere. With its ability to help gain businesses exposure across the world, hashtags play a crucial role in marketing campaigns. Whether you are a new business hoping to make your mark on the online world, or have been operating for a while and want to tap into an online customer, Social Media Angel would be happy to help you with all things social media marketing. Hashtags still sounding quite confusing and daunting? Don’t worry we’ll help you utilise hashtags so your voice is heard across all platforms!
