Now that you already have an idea on what hashtag is, it’s fairly important to know how to use it and where to use it. Hashtags have become so popular that most social media platforms now feature them.
The thing is that hashtags works differently on each social media network. So, to help you get the most out of hashtags, this article is about 101 guides on using hashtag to their full potential on networks like Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest and Instagram etc.
Social Media Network and Hashtags
Did you know that tweets,posts,updates with hashtags generate twice as much engagement – which includes clicks, retweets, share, repost, favourites and replies – compared to those without?
It became such a common practice these days that people have started using them outside of their intended purpose.
People use them in text messages, chats, songs, and advertisements. That’s because hashtags became a way for social media users to tag their posts with keywords, which in turn make them easier for social networks to organize and users to search.
Using a hashtag in a social post is as simple as adding the ‘#’ sign before a single word or phrase without spaces or punctuation (numbers are okay).
Don’t string too many words together with a single hashtag. If you tweet with a hashtag on a public account, anyone who does a search for that hashtag may find your tweet.
Don’t #spam #with #hashtags. Don’t over-tag a single tweet. Use hashtags only on tweets relevant to the topic.
Hashtag Etiquette Dos and Don’ts
It is important to follow best practices when using social media hashtags. Your goal is to gain more followers or clients, not annoy people and drive them away.
Do use 1-2 hashtags, keep it short, simple and relevant to your topic or brand. Don’t spam, or use long irrelevant hastags #OMGIFinallyGotADate is bad #FirstDate would be better.
Use hashtag in a professional way
If you write about your company, your services or products so be sure to tag them. Create a strategy for your brand that you can use as a hashtag in related posts.
For example, KitKat uses #GiveMeABreak even their customers use these when they write about their products or posting pictures on Instagram so the campaign gets more visibility.
It should be unique, yet short and simple. You want your brand hashtag to be easy to remember by your customers.
Which Networks Support Hashtags?
Most networks use hashtags in the same basic way; to organize data and make it easier for user consumption. However, each network has a different tweak on how they use them.
Twitter: The network that brought us the hashtag is the most popular site to use it on. Just scrolling through my own feed I see that more than half of the tweets contain a hashtag. You can find the trending topics on the left hand side of your Twitter stream.
Facebook: Clicking a hashtag on Facebook will bring you to a separate page with posts that are visible to you based on the various users’ privacy settings. You’ll also see the different trending topics in the top right hand corner of your News Feed.
Instagram: Hashtagging on Instagram is great if you want to see photos similar to the ones that you’ve taken. Simply hashtag the picture you took and it will create a link to a page with other pictures of the same subject.
Google+: Google+ uses hashtags similar to the other sites, but with one main difference. Google+ will add hashtags to content if they think that it is a relevant and popular keyword. You can always opt-out of this through Google+ if you’d like.
Tumblr: When you’re creating a post on your Tumblr page, you’ll see an area at the bottom asking you to add “tags.� When you start to type a tag for your post, Tumblr will automatically add a hashtag to the front of it.
Pinterest: The main thing that you need to bear in mind when creating hashtags on Pinterest is that they’re only clickable in a Pin description. Also, hashtags aren’t searchable on Pinterest, so you’ll need to just search the keyword to find the content.
YouTube: Hashtag use within YouTube is most prevalent in the comments section. Users can leave comments with hashtags, which will then click through to a page with videos that contain that hashtag in their title.
Other Networks that Support Hashtags are: App.net, Flickr, FriendFeed,vines, GitHub and Tout
Many people are getting hooked every day on using social media hashtags whether it’s about interesting things, entertainment, personal stuffs or just about any kind of business you can think of.
Last but not the least, here are some examples on how to use hashtags in social media posts:
This is a Beginner’s guide to #SocialMedia #Hashtags
ISME is a site that can help you build your #onlinepresence #digitalmarketing
101 guides to teach you about #socialmediahashtags
I can’t wait to go see #avengers this weekend! #moviejunkie
#eastgipsland is such a beautiful and stunning place #visitEG
