You’ve got your written content down and your imagery is to die for, so why are your social media posts still failing to land?

There may be numerous reasons for this, but we’d be willing to bet that not making proper use of popular hashtags could be one of the biggest culprits.

Really? Yes!

A good set of hashtags, as any competent social media marketer will tell you, could be the difference between your brand making a splash on the biggest social platforms, or getting left behind altogether.

Want to find out more? We’d be #delighted to help you out!

 

The Hashtag’s Humble Beginnings

 

The hashtag was first employed in a social media context back in 2007 when a member of the Twitter team suggested using the symbol to group together posts with similar topics.

From here, the use of hashtags soon spread to most other social networks as a way in which brands and businesses could target those people who were interested in what they had to offer.

 

Why Hashtags Are Beneficial

 

Hashtags serve a variety of purposes.

For one, they can allow you to contribute to a conversation on a specific topic. This can be done by simply including a hashtagged keyword or phrase, such as #digitalmarketing or #Easter, within or at the bottom of your post.

By doing this, your content will become visible to the people who click on these hashtags or search for this sort of subject matter. On platforms such as LinkedIn and Instagram, users can even choose to follow certain popular hashtags.

Hashtags can also be useful in showing your support for particular issues, and this is something that many charities and campaigns for change have been quick to take advantage of. For example, Cancer Research UK uses #CancerRightNow as a means of encouraging those affected by the condition to share their stories. This hashtag has received considerable engagement from cancer patients and their families.

Depending on the platform you’re focusing on, hashtags can also allow you to lend some extra context to image-based social media posts. Using them in this way will ensure that you don’t overdo the textual element of some of your social content, seeing that social media is a largely visual medium. 

 

How Do I Decide Which Popular Hashtags To Use?

 

Whilst this may seem self-explanatory, there is a little bit of an art to identifying the hashtags that are most appropriate to you. Make sure you research the topics that you want to talk about on each social channel to discover the words or phrases that are most used on these platforms.

You could also check out what your rivals or similar accounts with lots of followers are doing and take some inspiration from their posts. Tools such as Hashtigify can help to determine which popular hashtags are the best fit for you, and will always make sure you stay abreast of what’s trending or coming up on the calendar. Why do you think our Social Media Maximiser is so sought-after?

 

Popular Hashtags

 

What You Need To Remember

 

Hashtag usage is fairly straightforward, but there are some things that you should take note of when choosing which ones to accompany your posts.

Firstly, you need to ensure that anything you hashtag is free from punctuation or other foreign symbols. Including these will mean that your hashtags won’t work properly, thus defeating their purpose.

Secondly, it’s probably a good idea to decide on how many popular hashtags you want to use and stick to it. Even if you’re choosing to separate them from your main post (by pressing Enter and adding a few dots) too many of these can really undermine the quality of your content. Your followers may see such tactics as unnecessary, spammy and annoying.

Next, try and select hashtags that are already recognised on the network in question. It’s fairly easy to do this via Google search or by simply seeing whether your chosen word comes up when you search any social platform. Utilising uncommon hashtags might not do you any favours, unless other people start to add them to their posts, too! 

Lastly, you need to ensure that all of your social accounts are set to public. If you put out a hashtagged post from a private account, it won’t be seen by people who don’t follow you. This is not what you need when you’re trying to attract new customers and build brand awareness!

 

Truly Content

 

Want to learn more about how we can help you make it big in the world of social media? Call us today on 01926 814547 or email info@trulycontent.com. You can find out more by visiting our website.