Pound sign, Number sign, and Octothorpe.
Wondering what all these names have in common?
Well, these are the names the # was called before 2007. Though I must confess, I only found out about that last one when I was writing this article.
In 2007, Chris Messina, a social technology expert, tweeted ‘‘How do you feel about using # (pound) for groups. As in #barcamp [msg]?’’ and the hashtag was born.
Since then, people have used hashtags to push social movements, political movements, and brand awareness. Think the #metoo movement, or #shareacoke and the hustle to find a Coke bottle with your name on it.
That is the power of using a hashtag and its reach is endless. Using hashtags has inspired citizens to fight for their rights.
In 2011, Egyptians used the #Jan25 to start a Nationwide protest that led to the ousting of President Hosni Mubarak. Similar incidences have happened in Nigeria and America, people used the #EndSars and #JusticeForGeorgeFloyd hashtags to protest police brutality.
Many people don’t know about hashtags and how they work. That is why we thought to tell you 5 things no one else will tell you about using hashtags.
1. Don’t use the same number of hashtags across all platforms.
Adding hashtags to your posts on almost every social media platform helps you to increase your visibility. So, to promote your brand on social media, you need to know how to use hashtags but most importantly you need to know that the trick to using hashtags on Twitter is quite different from that of Facebook or Instagram.
Let us start with Instagram which is arguably the best platform for multiple hashtags. Instagram lets you use up to 30 hashtags on a post at once, and even though you might not use all 30, you should use as many as you can.
You can experiment with various numbers, maybe 10 today, 15 tomorrow, 9 next week until you land on the lucky number that gives you the highest engagement.
After experimenting, you should find your lucky number for Instagram, I am thinking 12.
You can not then use those same 12 hashtags on Twitter, Linkedin, and Facebook because it is going to look spammy and put your audience off consuming whatever information you are trying to pass across.
Imagine looking at a Tweet or a Linkedin post at first glance and seeing too many hashtags. Puts you off right? Exactly!
2. Using only popular hashtags won’t get you the visibility you need.
One of the most popular hashtags on Instagram is #love and it has over 2 billion tags. Another very popular hashtag is #photooftheday and it has almost a billion tags on Instagram.
Now, you can’t just use these two hashtags on your post and expect to get lots of likes and engagement because the hashtag is popular. It doesn’t work that way.
The truth is that using very popular hashtags for your posts will get them lost in the crowd.
Instead, use nice hashtags that are specific to the audience you’re trying to reach or the product you are trying to sell.
Even if there is a good message, people who come across hashtags that are unconnected to the original tweet tend to lose interest. Popularity is not proof of necessity. Create your own hashtag.
I would give an example. If you are a fashion designer in Lagos, it is advisable to use the hashtag #fashioninlagos which has only 124,000 tags and speaks to the location of your audience rather than using #fashion which as stated earlier, has almost a billion tags.
Trust me, you don’t want your post to drown in the noise.
READ: Social Shopping: The Future of Ecommerce
3. Properly researching hashtags is the best way to make them work.
For many businesses, their hashtag strategy can be likened to throwing a lot of paint on the wall and seeing what sticks.
Use the search bar.
Each hashtag on Facebook has a unique page where you can explore other posts using that hashtag and with the number of people posting about it, you can judge whether it is a good or bad hashtag. Remember you don’t want to use a hashtag with too many or too few tags.
You can search for a hashtag using the search bar and it will pull up posts incidental to the hashtag. Also, you can sort that hashtag by Top, Latest, People, Photos, and Videos.
You can even take a look at trending hashtags and use one that fits into what you are trying to say.
Start by typing in your desired hashtag into the search bar and it will automatically display related hashtags. You will also see the number of posts the hashtag has generated. From there you can pick the ones that work best for you.
You can also decide to look at similar pages that have generated good engagements and likes from the use of such hashtags and incorporate them.
4. You need to use hashtags in the body of your post
No rule says you have to wait till the end of a post to use hashtags in your post. You can use them in the body of your message especially if it is a keyword you are drawing attention to.
This can come in very handy with platforms like Twitter that have a character limit.
Imagine you are trying to make a post that already has 276 characters and you have not included any hashtags. Rather than turning it into a thread or trimming the content, you can choose to add a hashtag to specific keywords. This way, you end up passing the message in full and gaining the visibility that the hashtag provides.
5. You need to create a brand-specific hashtag and encourage others to use it.
Let’s go back to the #shareacoke campaign which reportedly generated over 18 million impressions for Coke and grew their Facebook page by over 870%.
That is what using a branded hashtag can do. They can help spread the word about your business, find content created about you by your followers, and create a community around your business.
But to create a branded hashtag, there are some rules to follow:
- Keep it short and simple.
- Use something clever.
- Ensure it is not hard to spell.
- Make it memorable.
This way, you will get people to use the hashtag and even share user-generated content with it.
Hashtags today are not what they used to be in 2007, they are more relevant and have helped birth some of the most successful campaigns of all time. Hashtags are the new frontier for social media marketing and publicity and have driven both commercial and political success.
So if you are not using hashtags on posts you put out, reconsider it. With a bit of research and practice, you can gain the traction you need.
We have worked with over 24 startups to drive conversions through increased community presence and relevant blog posts that we help distribute. To understand our process, book a 15 - 30 minutes meeting with us.
Great insight. Keep the good work.
Loved this generally. Thanks for putting it together.
> You need to create a brand-specific hashtag and encourage others to use it.
But how do you work the needed emotions into the hashtags? #shareacoke is loved. Are there some techniques in play here?
We are glad it resonated with you, as a lot of research went into putting this post together. That being said, you can work emotions into branded hashtags by building stories around the brand and the hashtag. This helps get the message further and deeper such that it starts to mean something to people.
The #shareacoke campaign for instance, played on our natural human instinct to socialize and used names that people in certain locations found relatable.
Hope this is helpful Innocent.
Didn’t know the use of hashtags should be that intentional…. Interesting
Hi Lauretta. We’re super glad to be of help!
Applying these tips well should definitely up your social media game.