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By Dan Gasser, Marketing Specialist at Eagle |
media, there's a chance you're still in the large group that wonders why people put a number sign in many of their posts. In the social media world, that number sign is called a Hashtag.
Hashtags are used primarily on Twitter, but are also supported on many other social media networks including: Google+ and Facebook. (Side note: While hashtags are supported on Facebook, studies have shown that people are less likely to read your post on Facebook if it has a hashtag.)
This trend originated so that group topics could easily be grouped together and it would make it easier to have a discussion. For example, if you watch an award show, you'll often see they have a hashtag associated with it, like #Grammys2014. In that example, anybody on social media could search out that hashtag to talk to people around the world, in real-time, about was happening at the Grammys.
Hashtags are now used beyond a specific conversation. They have become a powerful search tool. For example, when we tweet this blog post, it will be visible to a limited group of people. If, however, we add the hashtag #socialMedia to the end of the tweet, anybody interested in social media will be able to find it, simply by searching #socialMedia.
Hashtags will help increase your social media presence and will also help you increase your followers. Experiment with them as you write your posts and see what works. Here are a few tips to keep in mind:
- Try to use hashtags that are already in use. To test them, simply search them out and see how many posts already have them.
- If you use more than one word, remember to CapitalizeEachWord to make it easier to read.
- #DontUseTooManyWordsInYourHashtagItWillBeTooHardToReadAndSearch
- Limit your hashtags on each post. One to three hashtags are effective, any more than that make your posts confusing.
