A Hashtag Here. A Hashtag There. Here, is a Hashtag. There, A Hashtag.
No matter where you look, there seem to be hashtags lurking in the corners of your favorite social media website.
For those unfamiliar, hashtags are labels used on social networks such as Facebook or Twitter to make it easier for other web users to find messages with a specific theme or content.
Twitter, one of the first social media websites to popularize hashtags, define hashtags as follows:
Definition: The # symbol, called a hashtag, is used to mark keywords or topics in a Tweet. It was created organically by Twitter users as a way to categorize messages.
Using Hashtags
So how do you use hashtags to your advantage? Furthermore, how do hashtags fit into your brand-building puzzle?
Speaking from personal experience and observation, I find that using hashstags is a great way to bring awareness around a subject or topic that is important to you.
Nowadays, everyone wants to go “viral” but the fact of the matter is that there are very few folks who will actually achieve “viral” status. Their short lived fame usually results in a funny story mentioned during happy hour but doesn’t go much further than that. To help you avoid that lame story, here are 5 quick tips to help you along your way:
1. Get A Goal In Mind
Start with a clear goal in mind of what you want to accomplish with your hashtag campaign. Do you want to entertain? Do you want to inform? Are you trying to raise awareness? These are some simple questions you can ask yourself while preparing to “hash it out”.
2. Find Out What People Are Talking About Already
An easy way to get some traction is to ride the “wave” of something that is already working. In other words, if something is trending already, it can make it easier for your social posts to pick up momentum. The downside to this is that there may be many other people doing the same thing. Choose your hashtags wisely my friends.
3. Pay To Play
A tried and true way that many business professionals and companies use to get the word out about a topic is paid promotion. If you’re ready to start investing, cold hard cash will get some eyeballs on you. Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and many other websites offer options for you to have your posts promoted. The key to paid promotion is to strategically target your audience.
4. Engage
It’s called social media for a reason folks. The keyword here is “social”. When you start engaging and connecting with other people online, it becomes easier to build an online following or draw attention to your cause. Start the conversation one person at a time and watch the magic happen!
5. Be Genuine
It takes little to no effort to be an internet troll nowadays, but there is much more value in being genuine and transparent online. Behind the myriad of hashtags and social posts, there is always a human being. You can fool some of the people some of the time, but you definitely won’t fool all of us. Do yourself a favor and just keep it real.
Hopefully, you found these tips to be helpful in your efforts to build your notoriety online. If you have more suggestions, feel free to leave them in the comments section.
