In recent years, hashtags have become one of the most valuable tools for marketers across the globe. Whether to expand your brand or organize your content accordingly, there has been tremendous growth with the use of hashtags across all platforms. The question is, are they still relevant in the way in which they are used today?
What is a hashtag? Hashtags are words or numbers followed by a # sign, also known as a pound symbol with the official name octothorpe. Hashtags were invented to help bring simplicity and organization to social media feeds in the early 2000s and to help people find content that matters to them. Over the years, hashtags have now evolved to not only organize and cater to users’ feeds, but they have become a powerful tool to amplify messages, increase brand awareness and even start global campaigns.
According to recent posts across Sprout Social, a social media monitoring app, with the correct use of hashtags, brands and creators can not only grow their platforms but also use hashtag analytics to further their reach. Hashtags increase engagement, making your content easier to find while adding additional context to your post. Before using hashtags, determine your goal. What would you like to accomplish using hashtags?
To increase engagement, use trending hashtags. For example, topics that platforms are pushing out, as your content will be associated with it. Be careful to still stick within your niche and not lose sight of the end goal for you and your brand. You can research trending hashtags through hashtag trackers available online or organically through platforms as they push them out. This will not only increase engagement but also organize your content with the correlating niche you are pertaining to. Keeping your hashtags relevant to your content is one of the most important steps for using hashtags effectively and efficiently.
A key factor to note is each app will want you to utilize hashtags differently. Instagram, Facebook and many other social media platforms will function best with slight differences in the way you present your hashtags.
“When using hashtags across your social presence, don’t take a one-size-fits-all all approach. Tailor hashtags to suit each platform” as stated in the recent article by Sprout Social. Take time to research how each platform will funnel your hashtags, track the performance and use the data to super-charge and grow your content exponentially.
