A hashtag is a tag that is used on social media platforms which makes it uncomplicated to find various posts or details with a particular topic or specified content. It’s a trendy approach to engage people over social media sites and also creates a buzz. It is formed by including the symbol “#” in front of a keyword or a phrase you wish to use to identify your posts.
Purpose of a hashtag
In today’s high-tech era, Social media plays a major part in engaging or connecting people from all over the world. In this content overloaded world, hashtags help users pick out specific posts or content from social media without getting lost in the bundle of online content. Thus, Hashtags make it easier to declutter online information and allow users to focus and pick out the desired content hassle-free.
Key reasons for using hashtags:
1. Simplification of the process:
A hashtag search pulls out the best results for each post with that particular hashtag. A hashtag allows you to widen your reach and engage with a higher range of target audience and likewise makes it easier for users to reach out to your posts.
2. Encourages an action from the user:
When a user gets even a glimpse of a post that matches his/her interest, they are more likely to get engaged for more time looking through all the content related to that particular hashtag.
3. Hashtags are progressive:
Hashtags are not only used for making your content unique but also to create trends online. More and more businesses are using hashtags to create trends over online platforms.
4. Hashtags are rewarding:
Hashtags enable information easily accessible for social media users. With every unique hashtag, you can stand out to your targeted users who find the hashtag valuable.
Let us now understand 5 brilliant ways to use #Hashtags in Social Media Marketing
1. Using Locality hashtags:
Users on social media platforms love to share their location to places they went with a hashtag and look for people with a similar location. For local businesses, using a locality hashtag helps gain a much higher exposure through hashtag search system and also increases the chances of conversion as you can now advertise to more locally based target users as users in need of the service can now look up for hashtags related to your posts and avail the service. Thus, posting fresh content and new items with local hashtags could help enhance the business reach and conversions.
Example of Local Tagging: #delhifinds #mumbai #shoppinginjaipur #canadamarket
2. Using a Brand’s hashtag:
The key to successful online marketing is through the usage of hashtags! Businesses can enhance their brand engagement and create their brand identity by constantly adding new posts with their brand name in the form of a hashtag, and asking the user to share their experience by using the same. Please ensure that your business brand name is short, catchy, and sweet which could be easier to spell or read and found online easily as it plays a vital role in developing the brand’s popularity. Thus, the brand must have a hashtag that has a knack for it and could stick to users’ minds.
Example of a Brand’s hashtag: #Gucci #h&m #HOV
3. Using all-time trending hashtags:
It is very important to use established hashtags related to your business which are being searched by people daily. As trending stuff is known to generate higher views and searches. When a new story or content enters the market, it is beneficial to add that trending story hashtags to your Post. Bloggers are mostly involved in writing/publishing stories on trending items all the time, so it becomes much more convenient for them to make a higher impact on the trend through their content.
Example of all time trending hashtags: #breakingnews #trending
4. Make use of Season/Activity/Holiday hashtags:
Seasons, Holidays & activities are the most looked-up hashtags on social media platforms. Holidays hashtags get the most engagement, especially during the dates around the holidays as people are curious to know about trends related to those Holidays. Seasonal photography and post trends are highly popular amongst people on social media platforms thus posting pictures with season hashtags could help increase the rate of engagement for a business. Activities hashtags also help create a wider reach of engagement from users all over the world. For instance, if you’re having a business convention, then #convention could get more people to be engaged in your convention, thus increasing the rate of participation.
Example of Holiday, Season, and Activity Tagging: #happyxmas #Winter #autumn #tbcconvention2021
5) Using keyword based Hashtags:
Every business creates a keyword targeting a goal for the success of their online marketing operations on the web. Always use at least up to 3 main keywords as hashtags on all your social media posts. Targeting users through keyword hashtags has been an old trick that is always equivalent to gold results.
Example of Keyword-based hashtags: #abbreviationofthebusiness #brandsname #onewordthatdescribesyourservicebest
Thus, Hashtags are the key elements for a business’s online branding, and it is very important to use the right tags with the proper strategy.