What is a Hashtag and How to Use It in Marketing

Where Can You Use Hashtags?

Social media marketing is great for e-commerce businesses and even for other businesses. Using social media platforms helps you reach a lot of people within a short period. However, a few tools are necessary to improve visibility. The hashtag is of those tools. Attaching hashtags to your content will automatically promote your content to some extent and this works well in terms of traffic.

The hashtag is a metadata tag or a filter in the form of a word preceded by a #, the hash symbol, and it is usually used on social media platforms. Instead of words, you can also use a phrase without any spaces after the hash symbol. Hashtags help people identify or search for particular topics. They connect various posts or content on the same topic. If someone clicks on a hashtag, all recent posts sharing that hashtag will be shown.

You can use hashtags on your content to connect with more people and increase the reach of your post. When you are promoting a product or your entire brand on social media, hashtags help you gain more exposure. You can also use hashtags to connect with other brands or events.

The usage of hashtag gained popularity on Twitter. But nowadays, hashtags are used on all other social media platforms like Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest, Tumblr, Vine, LinkedIn, and even Google+. Hashtags are also used to find relevant content on Google search. Using hashtags while searching for content on Google is fairly new but it does work. As a Google user, you will have most of the information available to you. If there are public social media accounts with popular content containing a specific hashtag, Google will show you that as well.

With a Google account for any of the services like Gmail, Google Drive, or Calendar, you can access these public accounts even if you are not active on the different social media sites. On social media platforms, if you have an account, then you can find several different posts and even connect with new accounts through hashtags. Using hashtags is a very easy way of putting your brand out there and allowing people to see more of your content.

Efficient Use of Hashtags Drive Traffic to Your Posts

Best Ways to Use Hashtags

For e-commerce businesses, having a social media presence can be helpful. Using hashtags while posting about your content will help you to showcase your brand and generate more traffic. However, there are certain ways to use hashtags, so that they are effective. The best ways to choose and use hashtags on your content have been listed below.

  • Do not use too many hashtags: Most social media platforms have a capacity for hashtags and they do not allow you to use any more than that. For example, Instagram allows only up to 30 hashtags. But that is a lot. You do not even need to use all 30 to improve the reach of your content. Select your hashtags according to the niche of your content and do not go overboard.
  • Engage your audience: Since hashtags reflect the niche of your content, write descriptions that will engage interested people. These people are part of your target audience and they are going to use the hashtags to find your content. So it is important to give them relevant information and keep them engaged.
  • Use hashtags in your content description: It is better to use hashtags organically while writing about your content, instead of adding them after the content. This is usually more effective for Twitter. There is a character limit and you might lose out on some important ones if you try adding all hashtags at the end. If you write the description to include important hashtags then you will not need to worry about the limit.
  • Compare your hashtags to those used by your competitors: Hashtags will tell you a lot about the traffic being generated. Check the hashtags on your competitors' posts. You can then compare your progress and reach. This will help you improve your content and thus come up with more useful hashtags.
  • Promote your content: Just adding hashtags is not going to be enough. Once you have added the important hashtags, promote the post. Share it on as many platforms as possible. This way it has a better chance of appearing on the top of search engine rankings.
Implementing Hashtags on Your Social Media Posts

Hashtags on Instagram

Instagram is one of the most used social media platforms for brands. Hashtags are extremely important on Instagram. You can use them to improve your visibility and reach people who do not follow you. Connecting with your target audience is quite easy on Instagram and you can gain followers. These followers can be converted into long term customers.

If there is an ongoing event that has some relation with your brand, you can use the same hashtags to connect with those who are participating in or following that event. Hashtags improve engagement on Instagram and are a great way to enhance your brand image.

Following are several different types of hashtags on Instagram.

Trending Hashtags

These hashtags are usually related to some event that is extremely popular on Instagram. However, it is important to be sensitive about using hashtags. Do not use hashtags related to a serious socio-political event to promote your brand. This might be disrespectful to several communities. Therefore, conduct your research and only use trending hashtags if they are relevant to your content.

Niche Hashtags

These hashtags are related to the industry to which your brand belongs. They are the best for e-commerce businesses. Niche hashtags are specific and help you reach interested customers immediately.

Branded Hashtags

These hashtags are created only for your brand. They are exclusive hashtags that will lead people to your products. It is unethical to use branded hashtags created by other companies. You can only share these hashtags if you are sponsoring or collaborating with the other brand.

If you are using hashtags, make sure to track the results. Check the reach and how many views you are getting. It is also important to check who else is using the same hashtags. This will help you to understand if any of the hashtags need to be changed. Hashtags when used wisely can prove to be quite beneficial for marketing and brand promotion.