Mastering the Hashtag
At McCauley Marketing Services, we don’t just perform a wide variety of marketing and advertising services, we master them. There is a feeling of security knowing the ins and outs of your business and being able to adapt to current trends. The hashtag originated in 2007 by a blogger before it was formally adopted by Twitter in 2009. Hashtags are used to search popular, relevant topics for both business and personal life. Even if a topic is not trending, hashtags can be a great way to find likeminded people discussing the same interests as you. Below, find five effective ways to use hashtags for your business on common social media marketing platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Google+, and Instagram.
Talk about what matters to people, not just what matters to you. Instead of hashtagging the name of your practice on social media, hashtag a common service or result of your service that may be researched. For example, if you own a spa and are tweeting, you could tag #skincare, #skintips, or #beautifulskin.
- Be creative. On the other hand, creating your own hashtag is a common marketing trend today and represents a new type of branding. Use creativity in marketing and use the hashtag consistently to increase the likelihood of being found.
- Keep it simple. A short, to the point hashtag is far more advantageous than something long and too specific. One to three words should do the trick.
- Participate in popular “day of the week” hashtags. Follow Fridays and Throwback Thursdays are easily applicable to any business. Simply make sure your Follow Friday picks stick to a common theme, such as fellow people within your practice or social media accounts within your industry. As for Throwback Thursday, you can either include personal pictures or early pictures from your business. There are plenty of other popular hashtags to join in on as well.
- Remember their alternate uses. As we covered, hashtags can be used to mark a topic or the basic point of your message. However, they can also give you an opportunity to apply your brand to a current event, convey your personality, or provide commentary or context.
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