Growth Opportunities..Digitally

Best  practice of using hashtag(#)

Hashtags have become an everyday feature of online life. With the introduction of these searchable links to Facebook over the summer it is key to be informed about the what hashtags are, why they are used, when they are used and how they are used. Our tips will help you get started in this essential online marketing trend.

Hashtags can be used on all major social networks. They are a form of tagging that associates disparate pieces of content within an overall category. A hashtag, a word or phrase preceded by the # symbol (hash in Europe, pound key in the US), groups content together within the network where it is published. On many social networks these tagged words or phrases will be clickable, allowing users to access all content on that network associated with that word.

"your hashtag will be used by fans and followers to join a conversation about your product, service or event."

The hashtagged word can be used in a sentence or appended to it. For example, “For excellent #cricketing tips, check out our crics’ Dozen of Tips today.” In order to be more relevant the hashtag #sport could also be appended to this content. A couple of points of hashtag etiquette:

·         Don’t use more than two hashtags in one update. More and your content can appear spammy.

·         Hashtags should be one word without spaces so “Ravi Jain” becomes #Ravi Jain. Note the use of capitalisation to assist the reader.

While hashtags pre-existed Twitter, it was on this social network that they really took off. Twitter responded to users using hashtagged words to group content by making the content clickable and a user friendly phenomenon was born.

As an individual responsible for promoting products or services, you too can use hashtags to associate your content with a general category or create specific hashtags to strengthen your brand and allow users to find your content easily.

For example if you are responsible for promoting a kkrish as a movie you might append #hritik to your tweets, LinkedIn or Facebook Updates, Google+ posts, Instagram or Flickr images and Vine videos to name but a few. Consider being far more specific and using the brand name rather than a generic hashtag e.g. #KKrish3. 

Therefore you can use hashtags to do the following:

·         Associate your product or service with a general category such as movie or music

·         Gather the content under one heading especially around an event or initiative e.g. #redcarpet13

·         Expose your brand to a broader audience: users might mention #kkrish3 but not namecheck your brand itself in their update e.g. “Loving the movie on #kkrish3.”

·         To host a conversation around a specific subject usually with the word chat included e.g. #IndianSuperhero

“...the success of a hashtag is measured in its adoption.”