What is a hashtag for? Strategies and tools to get the most out of it
Hashtags are a way to classify the content of your posts on social networks. With the help of tools you can find the most suitable for your brand, connect with your audience and monitor your competition.
The hashtags became popular with the advent of Twitter to our lives. Since then, the rest of social networks have been joining this trend, which helps users find topics of interest to them.
In today’s article we will see what a hashtag is for and how to get the most out of it in your content marketing strategy . In addition, we will discuss some useful tools to add the best hashtags to your social media posts.
WHY USE HASHTAGS IN YOUR POSTS?
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The hashtag or tag is made up of one or more words without spaces and preceded by the # symbol, known as a hash. These tags are used to categorize the content we publish. In this way, users can more easily locate the publications of their interest.
To classify the content, a hashtag is added at the end of the text or even within the post itself. Its objective is to facilitate interaction, so they can be considered as communication tools within social networks .
For example, we can add the hashtag #marketing to the description of a video or a post related to this topic. When a user clicks on the tag, they will be able to filter the content related to that word. It is something similar to what you get with a hyperlink.
Hashtags not only help filter content but also allow you to share and spread topics on social networks.
These are its main advantages:
- Brand recognition
- Greater visibility for your content
- Increase of followers
- Promotion of events and campaigns
- Increase in web traffic
- Greater engagement with users
Now, to implement this strategy you must know its rules of use and some tactics to enhance its reach.
HOW TO CREATE YOUR HASHTAGS WELL?
Although its use is simple, it is advisable to take into account a series of rules and tips so that the contents are well indexed.
- A hashtag can be made up of one or more words . As they do not allow spaces, the words are usually separated by capitalizing the initial of each one. For example, #MarketingEnRedesSociales.
- It is essential that you clearly identify the topic you are talking about in order to choose the keyword that best defines it.
- Take care of the spelling before adding a hashtag in your posts, since your users will not be able to find tags with errors.
- A good technique to find the perfect hashtag is to think like a user who wants to find information related to that content would.
- The number of hashtags used in each post should not be abused. Think that we are going to use them as a communication tool . Many hashtags in a row make reading difficult . One or two is usually enough. A maximum of five is recommended.
- Use very specific words to make it easier to index the content. Don’t write a very long concatenation. Continuing with the previous example, the hashtag #MarketingEnRedesSociales is better than #How to Gain VisibilityInTheSocial Networks.
- It is also not advisable to tag individual words for the same topic because the searches will be less specific. If you use #Marketing #Redes #Sociales, the user will have more problems finding what they are looking for.
- A very unethical practice is to use hashtags that are trending but have nothing to do with your content.
And now that you know the best practices for adding hashtags to your social media posts, let’s see how to get the most out of it.
STRATEGIES FOR TAGGING YOUR POSTS
The most important thing, of course, is that your brand has a presence on social networks. And, of course, be active sharing content and interacting with your followers.
Social media marketing is a strategy that you need regularly to build relationships with users and know their preferences.
If, in addition to the above, you use the appropriate hashtags, you will gain visibility and you can get more followers. This is the first step in increasing conversions.
As a brand, it is recommended that you create your own hashtag, as it will help you improve your positioning. You can get it shared using tactics like prizes, discounts, or contests.
How to use hashtags on each social network
Hashtags are useful for creating campaigns, organizing events, promoting offers or announcing launches, among other things. In this sense, it should be remembered that each social network has its own code for the use of hashtags.
On Twitter, you should only use one or two hashtags per post. In this social network it is interesting to encourage participation with a call to share.
Another idea is to use popular or trending hashtags, as long as they have something to do with your post.
Twitter allows you to schedule your posts , search for hashtags and find interesting threads to participate as a brand.
On Facebook, it is better to use one or two hashtags at most, unlike on Instagram. It should be placed in the first 80 characters of your publications.
In addition to promoting content, you can also use them to start conversations. Facebook hashtags work like links that capture traffic from other sites.
Instagram is a social network where hashtags are essential. If you want to use them effectively, it is advisable to use several in each publication. In fact, Instagram has a limit of 30 hashtags per post.
Combine specific hashtags in your niche with other popular ones for greater reach and permanence. One of the benefits of Instagram is that it offers tag suggestions. You can also use its search engine to get ideas.
Hashtags on LinkedIn help you increase your reach. Thanks to the monitoring function, you can reach your target audience. Enter the terms in your search engine to see which posts are indexed with those tags.
TOOLS TO FIND AND MANAGE HASHTAGS
The range of tools to manage your hashtags is very varied. You can use from the simplest, to find labels, to the most complex or specific for each social network.
- Hashtracking
It is a tool to locate and track hashtags on Twitter and Instagram. In addition, you can analyze your presence on these social networks. - Hashtagify
Find trending hashtags on both Twitter and Instagram. Also, offer relevant suggestions related to your business. - RiteTag
allows you to analyze the popularity of a hashtag and get suggestions for images, texts or keywords. In addition, you can integrate this tool with others such as Buffer or SproutSocial. - Keyhole
Provides data on the behavior of Twitter, Instagram and Facebook users regarding certain hashtags. In addition, it offers real-time metrics.
As you can see, the use of hashtags is simple. You just need to know some basic rules of good practice. The most important thing is to study the type of label for each social network.
