They’re everywhere. Hashtags have become a central part of our day-to-day life. But are you still wondering What the $*(% is a hashtag?
Let us try to make it simple.
Hashtag
noun: a word or phrase preceded by the Hash or Pound Sign (#) to identify messages or a certain topic
Using a hashtag in a tweet, instagram, facebook post or pin makes your content searchable within each social network. It is difficult to identify a hashtag across all the platforms at once but they’re powerful within each network.
Almost all the social networks make use of hashtags. Tweets with a hashtag get twice the engagement than a tweet without one. But be smart about your hashtag use. Don’t just load up on hashtags thinking that’ll get it picked up by someone with thousands of followers. Use hashtags to enhance your message and help it be found by the people that WANT to see it! So a hashtag about a sporting event will likely get picked up by people watching the same game. Similarly with a product. They’re so fun for small businesses to see where their customers are – and many will share or repost things that feature their business’s hashtag.
#WindyCityBloggers for example has been used over 10k times (amazing) and your photos are pulled onto the homepage!
Not only are they for promotional purposes or to make your content searchable but #TheyCanAlsoBeUsedForCheekiness #SeeWhatWeDidThere There aren’t a ton of rules for hashtag use the important thing is to try and use them productively more often than for a tongue-in-cheek afterthought.
We also didn’t want to totally re-do work that has already been done. #Efficient #Dontreinventthewheel Anways, The Huffington Post did an awesome infographic about Hashtags.