3 Ways to Use Hashtags in Social Media Marketing

You see them everywhere, be it on Instagram, Twitter or Facebook. Yet the real question is, how can you utilise these popular hashtags for the gain of your business? A while ago, Twitter decided to hyperlink hashtags to search results, and a trend was born. Hashtags can be a vital item in your marketing toolbox to promote your business across social platforms by connecting it to searches relevant to your target audience. An analysis of the Interbrand 100 list (the world’s top 100 brands) revealed that the world’s top brands have all adopted the use of hashtags. Therefore, this is definitely a trend you want your business to get on board with!

Use A # To Drive Engagement

The same analysis of the Interbrand 100 list showed that these companies use hashtags to drive engagement. The hashtag creates a link, and this link ultimately leads your audience to where you want them to end up, usually a page on your website. Research has shown that when compared to Tweets without a hashtag, Tweets with a hashtag showed 12% more engagement, through either a ‘retweet’, ‘favourite’ or ‘mention’.

Use A Trending # To Widen Your Audience

A trending hashtag is a topic that has become very popular and it changes is real-time, for instance when it was the Superbowl, the hashtag #SB48 went crazy all over Twitter and topped the Trending charts. Therefore, if you didn’t know about it before, you will know now! Twitter cleverly alerts people when their followers are all tweeting about the same thing, so even if the hashtag you are using isn’t trending, they are still great to use at events to increase your reach by helping acquire customers to increase the buzz around your business. Moreover, by using a trending tag in your content update, you can potentially get your message seen to a huge audience. However, a word of caution: ensure that you fully research the meaning behind the trending hashtag you want to use so that you don’t make a bad impression on your followers or attract the wrong audience.

Create Your Own # For Your Brand

Brand-specific hashtags are exactly what they say on the tin: they are tags you make for your own business. You can use these no matter if you have a large or a small company to market your brand and promotions. The idea is to make a brand hashtag unique to your business; you want it to define what you do or what your ethos is. You want people to use this # so your brand gets marketed and so it can be used at any time on any social site. A great example of a brand hashtag is by KitKat, who utilise their slogan #HaveABreak their customers, therefore, know this brand hashtag and can use it to engage with other members of that community. Ensure that you keep your brand hashtag consistent and unique, and if you do decide to create one, use it on all of your social media sites!

What do you think? Are hashtags super cool and great for business, or a bit too targeted at the younger generation? Whatever your opinion, the statistics don’t lie and it’s important to know that whether you love them or hate them they’re great for driving your engagement rates through the roof and getting involved with current trends. #LoveHashtags. 

Written by

Total Merchandise | Editoral Team

Our editorial team is drawn from a pool of experienced promotional merchandise product team members, account managers, marketers and other contributors. With such a wide range of skills and experience, they write about many aspects of promotional merchandise, wider marketing and business matters, as well as company news updates.

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