We all know that it’s easy to get carried away tagging everything, and sadly many of us tag everything. Hashtags are way more effective if you know how to use them.
First it’s important to understand what hashtags are and how they work. A Hashtag # (the number symbol or pound symbol) placed immediately before a word or phrase makes it clickable in your status. For instance we could write a status update “Facebook hashtags can be effective in #marketing” If someone was to click on the #marketing hashtag it would bring up all the other posts that used that #marketing hashtag and other posts relating to that topic. Note that you can only see posts that have public visibility so any private posts would be hidden.
OK so now you know how it works but why should you use them?
There are billions of posts on Facebook every day! That is a massive amount, so it’s easy to see why it is hard to get the attention of your target market when you are competing with so much other content.
By adding a #hashtag to your post you are making it viewable for anyone who searches for that subject. This means that even if people are not following your page already can see your content too, which is important because it gives you access to a whole new audience. What’s even better is that you know they are interested in your topic because they have searched for it.
The other possibility is to connect with people based on certain topics. This works really well for serviced based business as they are able to search for #hashtags and join in on the conversation. For example, if you’re a make-up artist you can search for terms such as #makeuptips or #howtoapplymascara and offer your advice.
There is tremendous marketing potential utilising this new tool.
The great thing about Facebook’s hashtag search is that it brings in hashtags from Twitter and LinkedIn as well. So if someone has tweeted on twitter and used a hashtag you will be able to view it on Facebook.
To search for hashtags, use the Facebook search box and type in the # hashtag followed by the keyword or phrase like #marketing.
Just a few more tips:
- Do not over-do hashtags, use them wisely
- Hashtags must be all one word
- Capitalisation does not matter
- Research your hashtag before you use it
- Use short hashtags like #onlinemarketing #social media
- Avoid long hashtags that are hard to read #socialmediamarketingtipsonline
- Create hashtags for your business and use them regularly
- Use hashtags to market a product or event
- Use words people will be searching for
- Remember you can use hashtags in your #sentences not just at the end
- Don’t spam conversations with your hashtags. Only use if relevant
- Comments with hashtags won’t show up
How do you use #hashtags in your business? Are you using hashtags on Facebook? Are you doing it correctly?
