You've all had the chance to see hashtags on social networks, but do you know what they're really for and how they can be used?
First of all, we will explain what a hashtag actually is. A hashtag can be described as a word or phrase preceded by the symbol # and it categorizes the post in which it is written (the post can be text, image, video). Using it, we can place each post on social network (Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn...) in a certain category and make it easier for people who are interested in that category to find our post.
For example, if a beauty brand makes content on social network, in addition to the description of a face cream photo it will also write several hashtags that describe its brand and the face cream from the photo - e.g. #beautybrend #beautyroutine #moisturizer #aloaveracream #facecare #facecream ... With these hashtags, the brand wants to achieve a presence in each of the categories for which it has written the hashtag - more simply, it wants its face cream to be displayed in the #aloaveracream category and thus reach people who searched in the search engine on a particular social network hashtag #aloaveracream and/or follow that same hashtag. This way the brand directly reaches people who are interested in face creams with aloe vera and gets the opportunity to present its product to the right audience in the best possible way.
Due to the huge number of posts published on social media every day, brands can have difficulty getting their product or service in front of the right audience. The use of hashtags helps posts to be discovered by those people who belong to their target audience, and therefore we can say that a hashtag is a type of audience filter on social networks.
A large number of brands use hashtags as part of their social media marketing strategy, with the aim of reaching their target audience, achieving greater interaction with that audience and building brand awareness. Brands use hashtags when promoting their current products and campaigns while also using brand hashtags (campaign name, brand name, brand vision...), and to start viral trends on social networks which also significantly contribute to building brand awareness and ultimately achieving the main goal - greater products/services sales.
Although hashtags are present on many social networks, their use may differ from network to network. You can find out how many hashtags are recommended per post on different social networks and how to find the relevant ones here.
When creating a social media marketing strategy, it is necessary to pay attention to the type of hashtags that will be used on posts. Some of the most used types of hashtags are: brand hashtag, product/service hashtag, industry niche hashtag, daily hashtags, location hashtag and others. Depending on the type of business or brand that creates the strategy, the right hashtags will be selected.
In addition to choosing the right type of hashtag, it is important to pay attention to the popularity of the hashtag itself, that is, how many times that hashtag has been mentioned in posts by other profiles/people. Hashtags with millions or billions of mentions are often not the solution for a quality social media marketing strategy because an exclusive use of them can reduce the chance of your post being noticed in a sea of others using the same popular hashtag.
Before creating a strategy, it is necessary to think about which more specific keywords or phrases describe the brand or the product being promoted. Research is a key to finding relevant hashtags of the niche to which the product/service belongs, as well as creating several brand hashtags (hashtags that will be linked exclusively to that one brand). We believe that every good social media marketing strategy should contain a mix of branded, more specific (niche) and few popular hashtags, to achieve optimal results. Combining and testing different hashtag mixes is a road to the long-term success and sustainability of a quality hashtag strategy.
If you need help creating a social media marketing strategy and choosing the right hashtags for your business, don’t hesitate and contact us 🙂