What's a #hashtag? One recent addition to popular culture is the use of hashtags. Every time you look at a flier, watch the news, or talk with a teenager, you'll be exposed to different and confusing hashtags. What are hashtags anyway? What's their function? How can they help your social media marketing efforts? #readmore
#JoinTheDiscussion
Hashtags are primarily used to group social media posts together on the major social networking sites (Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, Tumblr, Google+, etc.). Think of hashtags as a way to start or join a worldwide conversation on any given topic, kind of like participating in a live multi-platform public forum.
For example, you could log on to Twitter, the largest user of hashtags, to check out what people are saying about the city of Boston, where you'll be visiting this weekend. You would simply type #Boston in the search field and hit Enter to find an unlimited amount of tweets from users about the city. Similarly, if you want to join the conversation this weekend, you would simply tweet something like, "I definitely wouldn't mind living here! #Boston". Now, your tweet will show up in the search results for #Boston when others try to discover what the city is like on Twitter.
Hashtags can also be used as a way to "tag" a little humor into the social media world. A great example of this is the show segment, #latenighthashtags, on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon. Every week, Fallon makes up a hashtag topic for his viewers to tweet about, and reads his favorite posts live on his show. A recent hashtag, #whyimsingle prompted Twitter users to tweet out reasons why they are single. One response was, "@JohnnyFdetrOit: Sometimes when I'm alone I pretend I'm a Major League Baseball Player and I interview myself. #whyimsingle". Another way to humorously use hashtags is to tag your statement with an ironic hashtag, like: "@cluedont: The ability to cook the right amount of pasta. #crapsuperpowers".
#BestPractices
#HashtagsForBusiness
If your business is interested in marketing to the billions of people who use social media (it should be), then here are three ways to maximize your use of hashtags in your social media marketing efforts.
We understand that hashtags can be intimidating if you're just joining the movement. However, many businesses have strongly benefited from using hashtags in their social media marketing campaigns. If you feel lost, the best way to learn is to jump in and start using hashtags today! If you're interested in more ways to boost your social media marketing efforts, call Ferrum Technology Services at (847) 697-3282. We'll help turn your company into the latest #trend.
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