#Hashtags are everywhere. Today, almost all social networks – from Twitter to Pinterest, Instagram, and Facebook – support hashtags. They can be a very useful tool for cataloging and organizing your social posts, and for growing your audience as a marketer.
But how can you use them properly? What are the best practices for using hashtags on social media, and how can you maximize their utility?
#Don’t #Overdo #It #And #Use #Too #Many #Hashtags
We’ve all seen those posts on Instagram and FaceBook that have what seems like an endless amount of hashtags at the end, highlighting every word possible.
It’s tempting to cram in as many hashtags as possible onto your posts in the hopes of getting discovered by people who are searching for a particular event or a hashtag. But this is a mistake and it reflects inexperience with social media.
Pick a few relevant hashtags that users would be searching to find posts like yours and leave it at that. You might even want to take the time to research the hashtags you want to use to see what kind of content they bring up in search.
Which brings us to our next point:
Do Some Research Before You Pick A Hashtag
This is especially important if you are creating a new hashtag for something like a contest or a new product. You should do some searches of your hashtag to make sure it isn’t being used for a different product and that it does not have a potentially offensive double meaning.
Tools like Hashtags.org are a great resource for this. You can also search them directly within Twitter, FaceBook, etc. to see how other accounts are using them.
MakeUseOfCamelCasing
CamelCase (capitalizing each word without spaces, as seen in the above title) helps make hashtags more clear and understandable to audiences. If your hashtag is longer than one or two words, make sure to put it in CamelCase so that it’s clear and easy to understand.
It helps highlight the beginning of each word so users can easily decipher your hashtag. For instance, if you are creating a hashtag for a manufacturing trade show, use a hashtag that looks like #ManufacturingTradeShow, not #manufacturingtradeshow.
Keep It Short
The best hashtags are usually just a few words. 1-4 is a good length to shoot for, but in general, you should try to keep your hashtags as short as possible. This makes them easier to remember, and easier to use on platforms like Twitter, where a 280-character limit makes brevity absolutely essential.
For example, don’t hashtag a whole sentence. Just write your caption and choose a few keywords that stand out and use those instead.
Integrate Them Into Your Post (#Don’t #Just #Add #Them #All #At #The #End #Like #This)
Try to avoid simply adding your hashtags at the end of your social media posts. You should integrate them into the body text whenever possible. Sometimes, you won’t be able to do this. But when you can, it’s a great way to make your posts flow more naturally, and make better use of the limited space that some social media platforms offer.
For example, with the title of this post, it should be tagged like this:
How #B2B Companies Can Get the Most Out of #Hashtags on #SocialMedia
Not like this:
How B2B Companies Can Get the Most Out of Hashtags on Social Media. #B2B #Companies #SocialMedia #Hashtags
Follow These Tips For #HashtagSuccess
With just a few best practices, you can have a much easier time using hashtags on social media and benefit from higher engagement rates, a larger marketing audience, and more.
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