Simply put, a hashtag (#) is a way of creating an easily searchable link from a string of words. For example here is a recent tweet from @VireoMedia
In this post I have used the hashtag #PokemonGo and #Market and #SMM. Those were topics relevant to my tweet that I know other people are also using in their posts. When I click on #PokemonGO I can see other people’s tweets on this same topic.
For the most part, hashtags are used to continue a larger conversation. For example, I know that other people are tweeting about #WebDesign which is one of the core services of my business so I frequently use that hashtag in my tweets (and I have added it to my Twitter bio).
My favorite use of hashtags it to see what is trending. The Panama Paper’s are trending this week with the hashtag #PanamaPapers. So far 396,000 tweets have gone out with that hashtag. Trending hashtags vary in topic, from serious political issues to #NationalPuppyDay.
What is #PokemonGo and how can you use it to #market your business?#SMM https://t.co/z0VjFZTpXh pic.twitter.com/HMlqs5pKUO
— Vireo Media (@VireoMedia) July 14, 2016
A few things to note when using hashtags:
- For small businesses I don’t generally recommend trying to brand your own hashtags a branded hashtag like #ShareACoke works well for a company like Coca Cola, but for a small business like me it is highly unlikely that people are going to use the hashtag #VireoRocks (I would really love it if you did though!)
- You will have to throw grammar out the window. While capital letters are allowed, spaces, punctuation, and symbols are not.
Finally found our Summer ’16 Theme! #ShareaCoke before they run out & show me your summer song. I’ll RT my favs! #ad pic.twitter.com/bFSskRGxk2
— Madison Pettis (@madisonpettis) July 12, 2016
Featured photo credit: Michael Coghlan
