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How to hashtag like a #pro

How to hashtag like a #pro

If you’re new to social media, hashtags (#) might be confusing, maybe even a little strange. But once you understand them, you’ll realise that pound sign, is a really useful social media marketing tool.

The hashtag was first used by Twitter. On Twitter, the “#” automatically turns any word that proceeds it into a searchable link. For example if we were to post last week’s blog to Twitter we would tweet:

Four common business card pitfalls to avoid VIA The K.I.S.S Marketing Agency www.thekissagency.com/blog #smallbiz #marketing

Anyone interested in the topics of “small business” or “marketing” would then be able to search those times and find our tweet – even if they aren’t following us on Twitter.

For businesses, there are obvious benefits. New customers can find you and your positioning is reinforced as you are automatically associated with relevant topics of discussion.

What can be included in a hashtag?

  • Upper and lower case letters
  • Numbers

#SmallBiz or #smallbiz will yield the same results.

#smallbiz2014 while correctly written, will bring be different.

What can’t be included in a hashtag?

  • Spaces
  • @
  • punctuation marks (i.e. !,:?’”;)
  • Special characters (i.e. +*()><%$)

#small biz with a space or #sma@llbiz’s with punctuation are both incorrect hashtags.

Since Twitter introduced the hashtag, it became the norm for people to integrate hashtagging across other social platforms, even if that platform didn’t support hashtag features. Eventually other social platforms gave in and now Twitter isn’t the only platform where you can hashtag.

Platforms that #support hashtags

Twitter

The pioneers of hash tags. Twitter hashtags are used to denote specific topics of conversation. The “Trends” sidebar of your Twitter feed curates a list of hashtags you might be interested in, based on your tweets.

K.I.S.S limit: no more than 3 #

Facebook

Introduced last year, some say Facebook hashtagging hasn’t caught on. Nevertheless, click on a Facebook hashtag and you will see a list of posts containing the same hashtag.

K.I.S.S limit: no more than 2 #

Instagram

Hashtags are used to accompany photos shared on Instagram. It’s currently the best way to discover new accounts and pick up followers.

K.I.S.S limit: no more than 6 #

Google+

When you click on a hashtag in Google+, the search results will include the original hashtag as well as posts with similar tags and keywords.

K.I.S.S limit: no more than 2 #

Pinterest

Click on the hashtag in a pin description to navigate results that contain the exact hashtag, plus pins with the same word or phrase in the description.

K.I.S.S limit: no more than 6 #

And to conclude.

The FUNNIEST hashtag skit from #JimmyFallon and #JustinTimberlake. Enjoy and check it out here.

If you need guidance with social media marketing, let’s talk.

See you next week,

Darnelle

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