Joining the ranks of Twitter, Google+, Instagram and other social media channels, Facebook has been the last one to jump on the hashtag wagon, assuming that you already did. Because if you do not, let me tell you that you are definitely missing THE point. As a social media marketer, you cannot ignore the hashtags. You know, those keywords or phrases that, when preceded by a #, add context to a tweet or post. Indeed, there is no denying that hashtags are one of the strongest influencers of online visibility and engagement.
When strategically implemented, these tagged topics can expand your content reach, amplify your brand impact, target your market audience, get your content found, improve your SEO, and so on. In this article, Egluu reviews the three core hashtag strategies that any social website could, or actually should use.
1. #YourBrand & #YourCampaign
First of all, you have to define a brand hashtag, which can be expressed by your company name or company tagline. Make sure that this one is unique to your business and use your brand hashtag as your signature tag. For instance, Kitkat is using #Kitkat as its brand hashtag, and #Haveabreak as its company tagline. The brand company consistently uses it on all its social platforms from Twitter to Google+. As a result, their followers know their brand hashtags, and use them to engage with the social KitKat community, while marketing the brand simultaneously.
When it comes to a campaign hashtag, using the name of your current marketing campaign is mandatory. Again, make it unique to your short- term contest or promotion. Implement your campaign hashtags into your marketing strategy in order to engage your customers with you and your community throughout the duration of your special offer. To do so, we recommend including the use of your hashtag as a requirement to enter your contest.
2. #FollowTheTrends
Trending topics are those topics being discussed more than others on social media. Searching for trending hashtags allows you to see global trends, popular tag opportunities, as well as country & even city data. Embracing the trending topics will help you to stay on top of the conversation. You can find trending, declining and constant trends on the following websites: Hashtags.org , Statigram ,Trendsmap .
On Twitter, the trending hashtags can be found on the left hand side of your computer Twitter feed. When seeing a trend that is relevant to your business and audience, engage in it by using the tag. By incorporating a trending tag in your content, you instantaneously increase your chances to get your message seen by a massive audience. Hashtags definitely extend the reach of your posts.
3. #HashtagsInContent
Content hashtags are hashtags that you incorporate in your posts. They are not branded; they are not necessarily trending or highly popular, they are simply common hashtags that further describe the purpose and the value that your post offers to its audience. For instance, if your content relates to a topic like #Kids, #Fashion, #ArtProjects, or a #HolidayPromotion, say so by including a hashtag.
The use of content hashtag is ideal for classifying content. Indeed, it helps to define and assemble topics of conversation online so that users could track down posts related to a group or event they are interested in. A recent RadiumOne survey found that 43% of participants think hashtags are useful, and 34% use them to search or follow categories and brands of personal interest. It can therefore be agreed that content hashtags improve the SEO of your posts.