Most people in today’s digital society are familiar with the basic idea of hashtags on social media networks. 75% of all social media users use hashtags to be exact. However, knowing of a concept does not correlate to understanding how to use it properly. As such, this article will aim to explain the concept in detail and provide some tips on the best way to use hashtags to increase engagement on your social media channels.
Hashtags are defined as: A word or phrase preceded by a hash mark (#), used within a message to identify a keyword or topic of interest and facilitate a search for it.
Whenever a user adds a hashtag to their post, it’s able to be indexed by the social network and becomes searchable/discoverable by other users. Once someone clicks on that hashtag, they’ll be brought to a page that aggregates all of the posts with the same hashtags.
Using a hashtag on a social post is really as simple as adding the # sign before a single word or phrase, without spaces or punctuation. You can also include numbers in your hashtags as well. Typing out a hashtag is simple enough, but there are some subtle nuances you should learn to get the most out of them.
Here are a few quick tips on how to use hashtags:
1. If you’re using hashtags for their intended purpose (categorization and discovery), don’t string too many words together within a single hashtag.
2. Avoid over-tagging a single post or adding hashtags #to #every #word.
3. On most networks (mainly Instagram and Twitter), if you use a hashtag on a public account, anyone who searches for that hashtag can find your post. However, on Facebook (where most accounts are private), posts will not be discoverable to the public, and the searchability of the hashtag will be limited to “friends” of the account.
4. The ideal number of hashtags per medium are: Facebook: 1-2, Twitter: 1, Instagram: 1-5 (more flexibility, but 10 is the maximum before you start to see a decrease in engagement).
5. Take advantage of using hashtags to join in on conversations, such as:
• Events and conferences (#WorldCup)
• Holidays or celebrations #AustraliaDay)
• Popular culture topics (#Avengers)
• Popular hashtags for days of the week (#TBT)
• General interest topics (#Attvestday)
Attvest have used hashtags to build awareness for the brand, by starting a conversation amongst finance brokers and utilising the searchability of hashtags to choose winners for giveaway prizes. The #Attvestday tag has helped forge the identity of Attvest’s “Giveaway Campaign” which has ultimately increased Attvest’s brand loyalty. This was achieved with the prizes generating positive sentiment and increasing engagement online. Stay tuned for further #Attvestday action here – https://www.facebook.com/attvest/
