Aside from content, hashtags are one of the most important ingredients of social media success.
Behind every strong social media post is an even stronger set of hashtags.
Generally speaking, hashtags serve a number of purposes, many of which you and your business can benefit from. As such, it is important to fully grasp how they work so you can be on your way to social media victory.
What Do Hashtags Do?
They categorize social media content.
Let’s say that you post an image of a guitar and use “#guitar” along with it.
You have effectively placed your post in a category – which in this case is “guitars”. The more hashtags you add, the more of these ‘categories’ become attributed to your post (ex. “#electricguitar”, “redguitar”, “vintageguitar”, etc.)
Hashtags are an excellent reference point for users. If I wanted to see social media content relating to guitars, I can simply use “#guitars” to orient my search.
Why Are They Important?
Virtually every social media platform uses hashtags. This includes giants such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and even TikTok.
For businesses, hashtags are important for a variety of reasons:
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They’re Great for Ad Campaigns
This is perhaps the most business-forward use of hashtags. Are you celebrating the anniversary of your business opening? Are you promoting a holiday sale? Why not get the word out now using hashtags?
When it comes to writing these hashtags, the more straightforward you are the better. It’s important to be direct with your audience about what exactly it is you’re promoting.
For example, let’s say your business name was “Mark’s” and you were promoting a holiday sale: “marksholidaysale”, “marksholiday”, “markschristmas”, “holidaysatmarks”, etc.
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They Can Help Draw In Customers
The call-to-action is one of marketing’s most popular practices, and for good reason – it is a simple yet effective tool.
The case is no different in digital marketing, where action-oriented language is essential in creating effective hashtags.
While writing these hashtags, it’s important to ask exactly what is it that you seek from potential customers. Is it for them to visit your town? Eat at your restaurant? Choose your product over competitors?
Examples: “#eatatmarks”, “#visitmarks”, “#choosemarks”, etc.
These are simple, yet useful ways to galvanize customer action for your business.
Contact Boston Web Marketing
Looking to roll out your social media marketing plan? Look no further than us here at Boston Web Marketing. We offer online advertising, Search Engine Optimization, and web design to businesses of all kinds. Give us a call at 857.526.0096 or contact us here for more info.