Hashtagging for Social Media Growth

I see hashtags popping up everywhere these day and I can’t help but wonder if anyone has a hashtag strategy, or if we’re all just hash tagging willy nilly (it appears to be the latter!)

Hashtags are a searchable link for content aggregation, allowing people to see other people’s thoughts on the same topic, regardless of their location.

While you can use hashtags on Facebook, there use is generally more widely acceptable on Twitter and Instagram, and if you are going to use them on Facebook I suggest you stick to just one to two. 

So how do you go about choosing the right hashtags?

Research, research, research!

• Check out your competitors and see which ones they are using. 
• Search different hashtags and see what others are sharing with them.
• If you want to start your own hashtag for a competition for example make sure you check out what others have shared to check that it’s appropriate. 
• Check that a larger organisation isn’t already using it – if they are then your content will probably get drowned out.
• Check that when the words are all grouped together they couldn’t be misread as something inappropriate. For example Parts Exchange (for a car part business), could read something very different when all the letters are read together. 

So this week I challenge you to have a think about your hashtags. Make sure the ones you’re using are relevant and do some research to find some new ones – and as always, let me know how you’re go. 

Happy hash-tagging!