How to Use Hashtags

Hashtags have become so prevalent in social media that some people now reference hashtags in real life speech. At the end of the day, many are confused at what hashtags are, along with what their purpose is. Hashtags were first popularized by Twitter, in an attempt to catalogue conversations so strangers discussing the same subject could converse together. By hashtagging your tweet with #Olympics2014, for example, you could find other people talking about the Olympics.

Here are some pointers on how you can best use hashtags:

Hashtag Consistently but Don't Overdo it

Hashtags will allow your voice to be heard, so it's vital you utilize it. However, don't be the one to hashtag every word, or words that have no relevance to the message. This is considered spam, and people browsing the unrelated hashtags will get annoyed fairly quickly. Hashtag the main topics, and leave it at that.

Be Smart with Your Own Hashtags

If you're generating your own hashtag, make sure it's short and sweet and that your intention is clear. For example, if your studio is named Zen and you're hosting a movie night, your hashtag could be #zenmovienight. One thing to note is the scale of your business. If it's very small, perhaps a single hashtag can encapsulate all related social media material, such as #zendoesyoga.

Different Networks Require Different Strategies

Tweets are inherently short (140 character limit), which means a high amount of hashtags will look quite silly. With Twitter and Facebook, we would limit hashtags between 1 and 3 per post. Instagram is a little different. The hashtag feature is frequently used by many, perhaps more so than Twitter and Facebook. Due to this, hashtagging is quite popular on this network. You will see people submitting up to 30 hashtags per post. We think 5 to 10 is more tasteful and still gets you noticed. Just make sure all of the hashtags are relevant.

Get Your Team Behind it

Once you create a hashtag, make sure your team knows about it and knows to tell your audience as well. You can mention the hashtags at the beginning of an event, as your audience chronicling your event will be great for exposure. If a stranger is intrigued by one of your posts, they may just follow the hashtag to see what everyone else has submitted.

Effective hashtagging takes some practice, experimenting and cleverness. Think about what worked in the past and keep adjusting moving forward. You'll become a hashtag master in no time. For more tips from PerfectMIND,  like us on Facebook, Twitter or Google+ and stay up to date with all of yourChampionsWay news.