#Beautiful Sunday – Brunch with Bestie; #Happy – It’s Friday again; #Follow. What you just saw were some very common and popular examples of hashtags on social media platforms. They are almost inevitable on the likes of Twitter, Facebook or Instagram. If used at the proper place in an appropriate manner, a hashtag can actually work wonders for your business.
But first, for those who aren’t too familiar with this powerful social media tool, let’s get started with defining it.
Meaning Of Hashtag
It is essentially any keyword or bunch of keywords that can be placed together preceded by a “#” sign. The purpose of doing so is to organize all content or messages that fall under the category of a particular keyword. This helps in easy searching of this or similar content not just on the specific social platform but elsewhere too.
Let’s take an example. You post a message on Facebook as #frustrated with Delhi traffic. This would enable grouping of similar messages or other content with the given hashtag. Now someone using Facebook or searching for content on Delhi traffic woes on Google will be driven to your post. In other words, by adding a simple symbol to your post, you can end up attracting huge traffic from everywhere.
Where, When And How To Place Hashtags?
Just because it’s a short and simple symbol on the keyboard, doesn’t mean it can be used anytime, anywhere. Remember that overuse or inappropriate usage of hashtags on social media may not yield the desired results. Therefore, it is important to remember the following 3 golden rules of using a hashtag:
- Where to use hashtags:
A hashtag should ideally be placed either in the content body or towards the end. E.g. – the primary keyword of your content (#vacuumcleaners) can be used in the main body preceded by hashtag. Besides that, for further reference, you may hashtag the name of your company (#EurekaForbes) as well in the end. - When to use hashtags:
Don’t tag every word in the content; you’ll put off your readers. Besides that, hashtagging the same word twice or more also doesn’t look appealing. You may use them when you want to enhance your visibility in the market. Social media is anyway a great platform to promote businesses and hashtags would only add more benefits. - How to use hashtags:
It’s very simple. Firstly, you are the one to decide whether or not a hashtag is necessary at a specific place. That settled,you can simply place the sign before any keyword that you feel is more searchable. By clicking on your hashtag, people would be redirected to numerous other messages grouped on the same topic.
You may hashtag a keyword to express a feeling, highlight your brand, make suggestions (#MustWatch) or search for similar posts or people (#CricketFans). Also, remember to keep the keywords together; don’t separate them.
If you are clear about the #UseofHashtag and the power it holds to drive higher traffic, time to try it yourself. Make your business noticed on social media and beyond.
