In this world of millennials, hashtags are everywhere in your social media. Be it Twitter, Instagram, or Facebook, you will find ‘#’ in a maximum number of posts. But have you ever thought of what it is or why it is? No? Not a problem, let us briefly discuss the hashtags that are so popular these days.
What is a hashtag?
Denoted by the number sign ‘#’, the hashtag has gained popularity for a different reason that no one would have thought of. It is used in front of words without any spaces in between and placed in captions of posts made on social media. It won’t be wrong to say that hashtag has become an important part of social media communication, especially for the young generation. We must say that hashtag serves as a label for your posts and make it easily discoverable for other users.
Why you should use the hashtag?
Believe it or not, hashtags can significantly increase the visibility of your social media posts and grab the attention of your target audience. With hashtags, not only your followers but anyone interested in your hashtag can view the content you have posted. This will play a vital role in building your brand stronger and exposing it to the larger audience than you think.
Importance of hashtag for your social media marketing
Before we move on to the benefits that hashtag will deliver, let us see the platforms that support it. You can use the hashtag on Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram, YouTube, and Google Plus. Below mentioned are some of the benefits hashtags will provide you:
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Better user engagement
This might be surprising but it is completely true that hashtags increase user engagement. Now you must be thinking that how this happens? Don’t worry, we will clear it for you. Using # in your social posts gives a tag to them or we must say make them prominent. Thus, when a user makes a similar hashtag query, your post will be visible to them and the chances are high that it will be relevant. So, consider giving it a try at once if you haven’t yet and see what impact it creates.
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Increased online visibility
The fact that there are millions of users online is not hidden from anyone and more are the number of posts present. So, while running the social media marketing campaign if you post something about your business’s niche, there will be numerous posts available about a similar niche. Now, it will be a tough ask to make your way through those posts and get the visibility you desire. In this scenario, hashtags could make a difference. Using relevant & trending hashtags in your posts can help them get discovered by the target audience and gain the amount of visibility you want.
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Reach to a wider audience
Now you must be thinking that social media marketing itself is done to get exposure to a broader audience, what role do hashtags play in that? Yes, if you are thinking so you are right but, with social media, you get exposure to the people that are present there, while on the other hand using relevant & trending hashtags will give you exposure to the right people. There is a big difference between people and the right people. With hashtags, you will come in contact with the right people when they search for the related hashtags as mentioned by you in your posts. No doubt that it might increase the organic visibility of your site as well.
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Strengthen your brand
Content is always important, no matter which technique you are using for digital marketing or social media marketing. With hashtags as well, you are required to focus on the content you are delivering. If people who searched for the hashtag you used to find the content relevant, informative, and unique, it will create a positive impact on your brand value. Delivering the right and important piece of information with relevant & trending tags is a great way to make your brand stronger and more reputable.
These are the benefits that you’ll get using hashtags appropriately and smartly. They could become a defining tool for your social media marketing strategy and deliver more than you would have thought. Let us put some light on how hashtags work on different social media platforms along with the importance:
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Twitter
Twitter is the social media platform from where the trend of hashtags ‘#’ came. While using Twitter, you can search for any hashtag keyword that you are looking for and you’ll get relevant results to your raised query.
Being the originator, we must say that Twitter is the best social media platform to make effective use of hashtags. Doing this will improve your engagement with the target audience and will have a direct impact on the visibility of your post.
One of the best hashtag strategies is to use more than one in your single post and see the difference it makes. Doing this will surely increase your engagement and build your brand stronger.
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Instagram
Especially for posting photographs, Instagram is the first choice for most of the people across the globe. Not only individual users but a huge number of businesses are also there on this social media platform to promote their brand and get the desired attention.
In this race to become a popular brand on social media through Instagram, hashtags can lead you to better results. Posting images about your business with relevant hashtags will make it easy for people to find you. One of the best things about hashtags is that not only your followers but those who don’t follow will also see your post when they’ll search for the hashtag used in your post.
You will be glad to know that on Instagram, you can use as many as 30 hashtags in your single post. Now you can imagine the exposure you will get using relevant hashtags on social media platforms like Instagram.
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Facebook
Facebook is undoubtedly one of the most popular social media platforms in the world and it is also preferred by businesses to get exposure to a wider audience. While on the other hand, when it comes to hashtags, Facebook is relatively new and is not so popular for hashtags as other platforms do. But this is never a sign that they are ineffective on Facebook.
The hashtag trend appeared in the year 2013 on Facebook and since then it saw a rise in the popularity graph. While posting about your business on Facebook, you can add one or two relevant hashtags in the caption to maximize your reach.
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Pinterest
Pinterest has become one of the key social media platforms where people can post images, Gifs, and even videos mentioning their business’s name or URL. This platform has grown very fast and is being used by most of the businesses around the world as a part of social media marketing.
Hashtags also play an important role in Pinterest to be found by a genuine audience. Users can click on the hashtag they are looking for and the results based on that will be visible. Thus, using relevant hashtags to your business and the topic of the post you have made will increase the chances of being visible.
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Google+
In the hashtag world, Google+ is doing a bit different than other social media platforms. It is seen that Google+ provides more relevance to your hashtag theory by using a different algorithm to identify the best posts related to the used hashtags.
Another important thing about using hashtags in Google+ is that if you have used a less relevant or weak hashtag in your post, it will automatically add more relevant hashtags to give your post more exposure to the target audience.
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YouTube
Most commonly, YouTube is only used by people and businesses to post videos in order to get views. But you can also use hashtags that are related to your video in the description and comment section of the posted video.
It is seen that using hashtags in your YouTube videos improves their discoverability and with that, the chances of getting high views will also increase. For example, if the uploader has used #DigitalMarketing in the description of the posted video and if someone will click on that hashtag, other videos having the same hashtag in their description will appear.
This is how using a relevant hashtag on YouTube will help in providing you the exposure you want.
The time is not far when hashtags will rule social media and play a more important role in social media or we should say in digital marketing campaigns. This is already so popular that most of the social media users do not post any content without the use of hashtags and it is becoming more popular day by day.
The Bottom Line
Everything being used digitally or on the social media platforms holds importance during marketing practices adopted by businesses. The hashtag is one of them and it has gained popularity so rapidly that no one has imagined. Social media platforms like Instagram and Twitter are flooded with hashtags and they are justifying their presence as well.
Many businesses who have already adopted this technique are experiencing its great benefits and you could be the next on the list.
One of the most important things that you must consider with the use of hashtags is their relevancy. If your hashtags are not relevant then the reputation of your post will go down and it might not even rank for the relevant hashtags that are there. So, keeping this thing in mind is a must and you will surely reap the benefits of using them in your social media marketing.