It’s no secret that social media is a powerful marketing tool. In order to harness that power, you need to use hashtags effectively. Hashtags can be used to track campaigns, connect with customers and followers, and increase brand awareness. By using hashtags strategically, you can improve the effectiveness of your marketing efforts and reach a larger audience.
Hashtags are a way of categorising content and making it easier to find. When you use a hashtag, anyone who searches for that term will be able to see your content. People follow hashtags in the same way that they follow a person or business. This is why it’s important to choose your hashtags carefully and make sure they are relevant to your brand.
Here are some tips for creating effective hashtags:
Research your hashtags
Do your research. Make sure you know what the trending hashtags are in your industry. You don’t want to use a hashtag that no one is searching for. Before using a hashtag, do some research to see how popular it is. This will give you an idea of how many people are using the hashtag and whether it’s worth your while.
You can use a tool like Hashtagify to see how popular a hashtag is across multiple platforms or you can see in Instagram how many posts there have been for each hashtag. You want to use hashtags that have at least 5-10k posts as this means that it is well used and people may be following it. You want to avoid hashtags that are over 200,000 posts as this means that it is a more generic term and there is such a large volume that your posts will get lost.
Be specific. The more specific your hashtag is, the easier it will be for people to find. Make sure your hashtags are Australian focused. For example if you are an accountant the #accountant is too generic and could relate to accountants all over the world. However, #superannuation or #SMSF are Australia specific terms.
Use Keywords
Include keywords in your hashtags to make them more searchable. This will help you reach a wider audience and attract new followers.
For example, if you’re in a regional city in Australia such as Bendigo you could use the #bendigo or #bendigobusiness. This would include a relevant keyword and be easy for users to find because in most cases this hashtag would be followed by people that live or visit Bendigo and therefore may be your ideal clients.
Use Relevant Hashtags
Make sure your hashtags are relevant to your brand and the content you’re sharing. Using irrelevant hashtags will turn people off and make it less likely that they’ll follow you.
For example, if you’re a lawyer, using the hashtag #foodporn is probably not going to be relevant. Even if you are out to lunch at a fancy restaurant in the image.
Conclusion
When using hashtags, it is important to use them wisely in order to maximize their effectiveness. There are a few things to keep in mind when using hashtags, such as using keywords, researching popular hashtags, and using relevant hashtags.
By using hashtags with keywords, you can make your hashtags more searchable and reach a wider audience. It is also important to research popular hashtags before using them, to see how many people are already using the hashtag and whether it would be beneficial for you to use it as well. Finally, make sure that your hashtags are relevant to your brand in order to avoid turning people off with irrelevant content.
By following these tips, you can create effective hashtags that will help improve your social media presence and reach a larger audience. So get out there and start hashtagging!