How to use hashtags effectively?

Social media users and marketers are familiar with hashtags. People use the grid symbol in front of a word combination to follow a topic of interest or to make their posts visible to a specific target group. Content marketers understand the power of hashtags, so they often include them in posts. However, just as often, it doesn't produce visible results.

This article will tell you how to properly use hashtags and what tasks can be accomplished with them.

What are hashtags and where are they used?

A hashtag is a keyword or phrase marked with a "grid" symbol. Here are some examples of hashtags: #USA, #love, #cool, etc. With the help of hashtags, social network users group thematic messages and create information channels. By tagging their own post with a hashtag, the author includes it in the appropriate channel.

Most popular social networks, including Facebook, "Vkontakte", Twitter, Google+, YouTube and others, support hashtag functions. Marked with a "grid" keywords after the publication of the message are transformed into clickable hyperlinks. By clicking on the link, the user gets a feed of messages marked with the corresponding hashtag.

How to use hashtags.

As noted above, most content marketers understand the power of hashtags. In other words, they know why to use this social media functionality. Hashtags increase audience reach, increase brand awareness, and help draw customers' attention to an event or trend. Another thing is that not all marketers know how to use hashtags in practice. The recommendations below will help you fill this knowledge gap.

How to choose hashtags

Choosing the right keywords is half the success when using hashtags. Imagine the following situation. You post a post on Facebook about search engine optimization. To get it noticed by users interested in search engine marketing, you add the #SEO tag. In this case, your content will go largely unnoticed because the hashtag is used by Facebook's English-speaking audience.

When choosing hashtags, put yourself in your target audience's shoes. Think about what keywords your potential customers are searching for. Your publication should align with users' expectations.

Avoid overly generic keyword phrases. The simplest example is the hashtags #marketing and #CEO. If your target audience is search marketers, using the specific keyword "SEO" is enough. And if your message should be seen by users interested in marketing in the broader sense, use the appropriate tag.

Be sure to check the hashtags you choose. For example, if your company sells blow, take the time to use the hashtag #DDDT. It is popular with fans of the musical group of the same name, for whom your publication is not interesting.

To check a keyword, use the hashtag search feature of popular social networking sites. For example, to see if the hashtag #Mirage is a good match for a Google+ post about the French plane Mirage, use the search form at the top of the page.

How many hashtags to use

In visual content-oriented social media, it's common to tag posts with more tags. With each new tag, the number of views of the publication increases.

However, in networks focused on mixed content, this approach does not work. Users perceive messages with a large number of hashtags as spam. In addition, the large number of hyperlinks in a post reduces its readability and visual appeal.

When publishing content on Facebook, Google+, Twitter, use no more than one or two tags. In addition, at least half of your publications should not contain hyperlinks. Hashtags distract users from the content of the post, so don't include them in every post.

How to increase your audience reach with hashtags

Using hashtags to increase your reach is similar to using keywords in natural search and contextual advertising. For example, if you sell kitchen furniture, you use the phrase "kitchen furniture" in PPC campaigns. And to increase your reach through users using specific queries, you include the landing phrase "furniture for built-in appliances," for example, in the campaign.

However, PPC campaigns and natural search have significant differences from using hashtags. By using "long-tail" keys, you reduce the cost of contextual ads and increase your reach. As hashtags, on the other hand, low-keywords are inappropriate. For users to notice your content, tags must be popular. Note again, you need to use the most popular tags to increase your audience reach.

Popular hashtags are often too generic. Because of this, the number of views of your content remains low, despite the increased reach. You can solve this problem by combining tags. Include two tags in one post. One should be general and popular, and the other more specific. For example, you can include the general tag #internetmarketing and the more specific tag #internetstore.

How to organize your publications with hashtags

If you sell multiple products, you probably try to talk about each of them in your publications. The problem is that most of your existing and potential customers are only interested in notes about the product they use or plan to use.

For example, a certain Big Bank sells mortgages, consumer loans, deposits, and cash and settlement services to customers. The bank's marketers can use two hashtags in their publications. First, content can be tagged with the brand tag #bigbank. Second, publications can be systematized with the specific tags #mortgage, #potekredit and #RCO.

Note, in this case quite popular general keywords are used as specific systematizing hashtags. Thus, they not only help streamline the posts, but also increase their reach.

How to show creativity with hashtags

In most cases, brands use hashtags to increase the visibility of their content. However, sometimes tags showcase the creativity of a company's employees and start new trends.
It's worth noting that there are no universal recipes for using tags to show creativity and create new trends. Your task in this case is to show that the company's employees think and act outside the box. If you are lucky and the new hashtag becomes popular, it will work for your image for a long time.

What makes hashtags such effective

Hashtags can increase the visibility of your content and expand a business's audience. Tagging can also annoy social media users and cause them to unsubscribe from the brand page. First and foremost, the effectiveness of tagging depends on a marketer's ability to choose the right keywords. A specialist should find the golden mean between the popularity and specificity of hashtags.

Also, the effectiveness of tagging depends on the specialist's ability to dose the keywords. By using a maximum of one or two tags in a publication, you solve marketing problems and do not risk being marked as "spam". And by using creative hashtags, you can start a new trend and attract additional attention to your brand.

What hashtags do you use to get business information and increase content visibility?