So What’s All This Fuss About #Hashtags; #DoYouNeedOne?
Hashtags – simply adding the pound sign before a word – are used to mark keywords and topics on social media. They allow people to search/follow specific topics. For example, if you are a runner, you might be interested in following these hashtags: #JoysofRunning, #RunningTips and #SeenonMyRun.
Introduced on the Twitter platform by users, Twitter adopted the hashtag in July 2009 and began hyperlinking hashtags to Twitter results. Other social media channels began to follow suit… Tumblr adopted the hashtag in August 2009, Instagram jumped on board in January 2011, followed by Flickr in March 2013 and finally Facebook in June 2013.
Hashtags continue to become more and more important in social media and search. They allow people to more easily and quickly follow topics like the Olympics using the hashtag #SOCHI2014. They allow brands to more easily join and be part of conversations, or start a following for a new conversation. A successful brand hashtag has been known to increase social media followings.
Research has shown that hashtags increase social media engagement by two times when compared to social media content without hashtags (note: I continued to see this stat over and over online, but couldn’t confirm the source). But less is more when it comes to hashtags, one or two are recommended in a single post, but anything more than that actually has the opposite effect and reduces engagement.
To get your creative juices flowing on how to incorporate hashtags into your next campaign, it is fitting to share how Twitter is currently capitalizing on the Olympics. It is following the hashtag #SOCHI2014 and posting a photo collage of the most shared Olympic photos on Twitter.
If you do decide to use a hashtag for your next digital marketing campaign, ensure to conduct a search to if it is already being used, and really consider about the benefit and downfalls to avoid any embarrassment. Conduct a quick search for #McDStories and you’ll see what I mean.
Providing credit where credit is due… The hashtag history is attributed to Uri Bar-Joseph’s recent article 5 Brilliant Ways to Use #Hashtags in Social Media Marketing.
Sorry, the comment form is closed at this time.