Key Hashtag Strategies Exposed For Marketing Your Business

Are you thinking hashtag strategies are not necessary or relevant to your business?

I beg to differ and politely ask you to think again. Here’s an insight to the business superpower, that is, Hashtag.

GET TO KNOW HASHTAGS

It’s no secret that hashtags have been popularly associated with trends but in case you are unfamiliar with what a hashtag is, here’s a quick intro to what it is.

A hashtag is originally known as this symbol “#”. However, in this context, a hashtag is a word or a set of words used after the “#” symbol without spaces between the words.

As gloves are to hands, so is a hashtag to social media channels. We find the optimal use of hashtags on social media channels.

They are popularly used on social media channels such as Twitter, Instagram, Google+, Pinterest, and Facebook. It’s been known to serve many purposes. Hashtags can be used for campaigns, call to action, creating conversation, trends etc. You can read more on

PROPER USE OF HASHTAGS

Since the inception of a hashtag, we’ve had people make use of hashtags wrongly. Sample errors include:

• Putting the symbol before and after a word or sentence e.g #love#. The correct use is #love.
• Leaving a space between the hashtag and the word/statement e.g #throw back Thursday. The hashtag will only recognize the word throw and disregard the rest, therefore, it should be #throwbackthursday.
• Using special characters in letters of a word e.g #Josephine’sBridalShower. Here the hashtag will only recognize the word “Josephine” and disregard the rest. The correct use is #JosephinesBridalShower.
• Using lengthy hashtags e.g #getafreecopyofmyebookformyadvancedigitaltraining. Such hashtags tend to be irrelevant and incoherent. It’s better to make it short and understandable.

In summary, the correct use of the hashtag is to put the hashtag symbol before the word or string of words to be used bearing in mind not to make it too lengthy. Also, avoid inserting special characters or a space within the words.

HASHTAG STRATEGIES FOR BUSINESS

We’re done with the preliminaries; now let’s get to the crux of this article. Let’s see how hashtags aids marketing.

Trending Hashtags

This must by far be the most popular business strategy for hashtags. A hashtag can be classified as trending when a wide range of users include it in their posts.

Some social media channels such as Twitter have done us the favour of listing trending hashtags so we don’t have to manually seek them out.

However, it’s best to get in on a tag that’s trending fast enough due to the instability of how long the trend will last for. It may last for just a few minutes or hours or days.

Being part of a trending hashtag allows your post to be available to not just your contacts or followers but a wider range of audience who are following that trend.

It’s not all about getting into the trends, the relevance of the trend to your business is also a priority. You can’t be running a laundry business and be getting in on a trend about noodles.

So, weigh your options well.

Brand Hashtags

These are tags that basically give identity to your business and which allows your social community to easily identify with your business. It can be your business name or a short slogan relating to it.

Before choosing a brand hashtag, a thorough research should be done to determine its availability.

Brand hashtags should be unique and relatable. This encourages your social community to engage more with your brand and know what you are about. This strategy works hand in hand with campaign strategy.

Campaign Hashtags

These are used when you have an ongoing offer or campaign. They usually run for a short period of time and are not intended to last forever.

For example, if a business called Delish Cakes is organizing a giveaway for its social community, a campaign hashtag such as #delishcakesgiveaway  could be used alongside the brand hashtag.

Both hashtags are incorporated into the campaign such that those participating include it in their posts.

The bonus here is that the social community of your social community is made aware of your offer and in turn your business. Awesome, right?

Content Hashtags

These are posts that are related to the content of your post. They don’t necessarily have to be trending hashtags but they have to be popular.

For instance, the business Delish Cakes may decide to add popular hashtags such as #cakes, #dessert, #cakesinNigeria etc. to their post. This helps them to be easily spotted when being searched for.

It’s been an interesting talk about the world of hashtags.

Share with me in the comment section what other hashtag strategies you know or any thoughts you might have about this topic.

Let’s hash it out #smiles (permit me).