Hashtags can be a crucial component of your social media campaign. Their purpose is to allow people to see your post when they search for the hashtag, opening up your posts to people outside your friends list or existing network.
Essentially, they expand your reach to anybody who has an interest in your hashtag, potentially opening up a huge new potential audience who may be interested in your product or service. Hashtags are becoming more important in recent years as brands seek to inspire people to interact and engage with them online. This is why we now see hashtags used in so many advertising campaigns.
Figures show that tweets which contain hashtags generate twice as much interaction (such as retweets and replies). However, it’s important to strike the right balance – one or two relevant hashtags can be a useful addition to a tweet, Google+ post or a Facebook status, whereas too many can simply put people off. Interestingly, figures show that Instagram is an exception to this rule, with posts containing 11 or more hashtags experiencing the most engagement.
Here are some of the benefits that appropriate use of hashtags can add to your marketing campaign.
- They help to summarise and simplify ideas, making it easier for people to share in a specific concept, brand or product and get involved with your company.
- A distinctive and memorable hashtag can become part of your brand identity, sticking in people’s minds as the retweet, repost or search for it.
- They can be used to promote special offers, events or competitions, increasing interest in your company.
- Hashtags can be used to cross social platforms; for example, a tweet with a hashtag can also be posted on Facebook, boosting your reach even further.