So you’re online and tweeting but what are all these #hashtags about? Should you be using them for your business social profiles?
The #hashtag identifies topics or areas of interests and you should definitely be using them for your business as they’re an integral part of social media. The hashtag can help you to track what’s being said around your brand/topic as well as getting found online by people interested in the topic.
Get enough people talking about something and the hashtag can ‘trend’. Ever marketers dream!
How can you use hashtags for your business?
1. Target specific customer groups
As a perennial gym-goer one of the best examples I can think of without another coffee in hand is #fitfam. This craze among gym bunnies and fitness fanatics is a bit long in the tooth but still going strong. If you post anything out on social media and want to hit the fitness types then #fitfam is your guy.
2. Get found on searches
Keeping your hashtags simple and to the point means you’re more likely to have those aligned with common search terms so you can get found. Do a quick search yourself and see what tags are coming up around your topics.
3. Brand awareness
If you push out messages on social media, be sure to use a hashtag that can become synonymous with your brand or tag line etc. This will help you monitor what people are saying about you online, it’s not just for the big brands. This way you can join in and be a part of the conversation.
Often companies are weary of using social media as it could open the flood gates to complaints or negative comments. We say, embrace it. Every communication from a customer, negative or otherwise is an opportunity to impress. (Not to mention you can have a little snoop on your competitors and see what people are saying about them too!)
4. Promoting events or deals to connived with events
You can’t get away from #rwc2015 with the Rugby World Cup going on and it’s fantastic to see venues using the hashtag to promote that they’re showing matches.
If you’re not sure what hashtags to use, try using an online tool which will give you suggestions for hashtags based on keywords you want to be found for.
You can use hashtagify.me to start with, give it a go.
Before we sign off, a word of caution. Sometimes the use of hashtags can go wrong and #please #dont #hashtag #every #word. When crafting your hashtag try to think of every eventuality and how it will be perceived, what it will encourage people to do… Test it out with a few people around the office before launching into a fully blown campaign.