Using Hashtags Effectively on Social Media

Toward the end of last month, we covered the topic of hashtags in our well received article Hashtags — What They Are and How to Use Them. We defined what hashtags are, discussed a bit of their history, and explained how your business can use them effectively.

As promised at the end of the article, we’re back to delve a little deeper into how they can be used by your business. We’ll be doing this by describing how to use hashtags on several popular social media sites.

Twitter

Although many of these types of discussions start with Facebook due to its size and popularity, Twitter is the most popular social media outlet for hashtags so it makes the most sense to begin here. Using hashtags on Twitter is simple and doesn’t require much of an explanation. Just scroll through your feed and you’ll see what we mean. Also pay attention to the Twitter stream for the trending topics.

Facebook

Hashtags are used in two ways here, just like with Twitter. The first is within comments, whereby clicking on a hashtag will take you to a new page that connects you with postings by others that have used the same hashtags. The second way is through the use of trending hashtags in your News Feed.

Instagram

If you want to find out if similar images are being used by your competition or in other ways, then the use of hashtags will help you connect to those. It also works vice versa … anyone clicking on a hashtag that matches yours on another Instagram account will find their way to your business.

Pinterest

Hashtags can be used in a similar fashion on Pinterest as they are on Instagram and other social media outlets. However, you must remember two things — 1) a hashtag is only clickable in a Pin description, and 2) you can’t search for hashtags on Pinterest, only for keywords that match the content.

Google+

Since hashtags originated from a Google employee (good thing they couldn’t patent them, huh?), then you can bet that they can be used on their social media platform. That being said, hashtags are used differently here than on other outlets because Google+ will automatically add hashtags to content if their system determines it to be a relevant or popular keyword. Some users love this capability while others do not, so you do have the option of turning this off.

YouTube

For YouTube, you’ll mostly take a backseat to hashtags. They are ineffective in video descriptions, so your only choice is to post on your own video and include a hashtag, which many businesses and individuals will do on a regular basis. But the real advantage here comes from hashtags created by other users in the comments, which will then link to other videos. This can help place your content into the company of others or draw visitors from other videos to yours.

Vine

Since Vine is owned by Twitter, it’s obvious that you can use hashtags here, too. Just add the hashtag like you do with Twitter and you’re all set.

Tumblr

This one’s easy. When you add tags to a post on your Tumblr page (like you would with a blog), Tumblr will automatically add a hashtag in front of it.

When used properly, hashtags can go a long way to improving the exposure of your business and brand. You can create your own unique hashtag that defines you or jump on a popular one and join the fray. It’s best not to do it alone, however — instead, trust the pros for all that pesky marketing stuff. We’ll take over everything for you and create a plan that is specific to your business’ needs as a way to grow your company and improve profits.