How using a Hashtag strategy can improve your Social Media Marketing presence.

If you are using social media these days you will observe people/businesses using hashtags especially on platforms like Twitter, Instagram and to some extent on Facebook post feeds.

Using Hashtags is a bit of big deal nowadays. Why? They help new customers find you and your brand on social media platform, and also help increase customer engagement on social media. For eg: tweets or Instagram pictures with hashtags have high chances of engagement rates than those without and approximately 60% of retweets or reposts.

However using a wrong hashtag while promoting your posts, images or relevant product can hinder your customer engagement. So try these pro tips to help you build a #winning social media strategy:

Which types of hashtags should you use?

You will probably observe that the hashtags are specific at times for eg #starbuckscoffee or a summation of different types of post (#beverage #food). As a general rule, it is advisable that you make use of hashtags that are specific to your post and audience and also include general hashtags wherever applicable. Avoid using too many general hashtags as you are likely to get lost in the sea of general hashtag pool and in return will have less conversion for your posts.

How many hashtags should I use?

The number of hashtags you use depends on the social platform you’re using. On Instagram, interactions will vary depending on the kind of product or post you are targeting. A general thumb rule indicates that using probably 7 hashtags can help you engage more audience, so you can comfortably experiment with lots of different options to see what works best for your brand. Anything beyond 7 hashtags can lead to spam as per the market analysis.

On Twitter, however, tweets with more than two hashtags signal a drop-off in engagement, so use them sparingly.

Facebook posts without hashtags actually perform best, so avoid them unless you’re using a specific hashtag for a marketing campaign.

Brand Hashtags

Branded hashtags tend to work well when they accompany events like product launches, competitions, sponsored events and so on. When choosing a hashtag for a campaign, remember to keep it short and relevant to your brand, and check that it isn’t already widely used by someone or something else.

There are many tools online to help you find popular and relevant hashtags:

• Hashtagify.me – great for discovering popular and related hashtags based on any starting hashtag
• RiteTag – helpful for finding which hashtags you have chosen is most likely to be effective in getting your post noticed
• Trendsmap – useful for discovering which hashtags are trending on Twitter in your locality
• Hashtracking – allows you to track the popularity of your brand or campaign hashtag

Aside from the number of hashtags you use, you should also tailor hashtag type to the social platform you’re using. Hashtags on Instagram tend to refer to the content of the photo or video. On Twitter, however, hashtags generally refer more to events or topics of discussion. That’s also the case for Facebook, but keep in mind that hashtags should be used sparingly.

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