6 Major Ways to Use Hashtags Correctly in Social Networking
Just getting started using hahstags, the links preceded by the pound sign #, on social media sites or you just don’t really get them? Don’t despair, we’ve rounded up 6 major ways to use them correctly. But first, what are they really? How did they appear?
To answer your first question hashtags are a form of metadata tag, it’s basically an internet bookmark that sends you directly to all those messages that include the respective hashtag, such as #rainyday, #genius, #nightout and whatever you may think of.
You can’t include any character in a hashtag. Using spaces is a big NO. If you want to differentiate between words you have to capitalize them – #JustinTimberlake will wield the same search results as #justintimberlake. Also, forget punctuation marks, commas, periods, exclamation points, question marks and apostrophes. You can’t use them. You can use numbers though.
They first appeared in a blog post by Stowe Boyd “Hash Tags = Twitter Groupings” on 26th august 2007. It’s popularity grew on Twitter and soon enough on most of the social media platforms.
The major ones, besides Twitter, are Facebook, Instagram, Google+, Tumblr and Pinterest. Everyone of those major platforms have different rules on how to use hashtags.
Let’s start with Twitter where there is a limit of 140 characters per post so that the user keeps it simple and to the point, also it’s frowned upon hashtagging #every #word #in #your #message.
Facebook users were using hashtags before Facebook even enabled them. On this platform you have to take in mind that there are privacy settings that may render your hashtag useless unless your posts are public. It’s probably the main cause that it didn’t quite catch on.
The really good thing is that you have a limit of 60.000 characters, and it’s more than sufficient for hashtag usage. Facebook turns each hashtag into it’s own unique URL that drives traffic from other social media sites to it.
Instagram! Where #TheMore #TheBetter is making it’s users happy. They have this nice little trick that recommends you what hashtags to use. Your post can even appear on the public feed if you hashtag it with #dog or #leash for example. You can post up to 30 hashtags in a post, but take care, they have a banned list of hashtags.
Google+ is a heaven for start-ups and businesses that thrive on hashtags. Google can add to your post additional hashtags, besides yours, that it thinks are best suited. Yours are in a grey color while Google hashtags appear in a blue color, so you can differentiate between them. The great thing about using Google+ is the two hashtag streams. The first one is similar to the Twitter model and the second streams are hashtags on your streams.
Tumblr is the weird one of the bunch. Besides normal tracking of information or posts, users can comment on any post using any hashtag. You don’t even need to type the pound symbol #. Refrain from projecting your hate through hashtags towards anything, unless you want fanboys or fangirls to rage at your #doorstep.
The last one of the group seems to be Pinterest, where hashtag is relatively new to the platform. It was implemented last year. Basically, the same rules apply as to other platforms. Don’t use paragraphs as hashtags, use unique hashtags for better results.
And now that we’ve gotten the origins and the basic stuff out of the way, lets help you out discovering their major usage.
1. Be specific!
You want to start a conversation about how easy it is to get freelance jobs on behance or elance, and you want it to spread it easily among those who don’t use those platforms. Using hashtags like #greattipforbehance or #opinionaboutelance are just really vague and confuses users.
You need to be more specific about your phrasing, start using hashtags such as #JobsOnBehance or #WorkOnElance. Think about common words that most of the target demographic users use.
2. Keep it simple!
Try to not overuse hashtags. It’s an unspoken rule on Facebook and Twitter that the maximum hashtags that it’s acceptable to use are three or it will seem that you are spamming. You don’t want to be considered that spammer guy that everyone hates, do you?
Don’t worry, you can get away with more than three of your beloved hashtags on Instagram and Tumblr. A great tip that you need to be reminded of is don’t post the same hashtag twice – #CreativeSuite6 is so #awesome. I just made my dog ride a Velociraptor with #CreativeSuite6. It’s #unneeded.
3. Give context!
I bet you’ve seen numerous hashtags like #sad, #beautiful, #new or just posts that contain only hashtags and didn’t know what to think of them. It’s because they are wrong. If you ever posted like that, please stop, you’re not supposed to do it like that. What am I, the user, to think of when you just post ” #sad #mac” ?
You need to give it some context, for example “ I’m #sad. I just spilled some red wine on my new #macintosh.” Finally, your followers will know what you’re trying to communicate to the world. Don’t sweat it, you’ll get there. We’re just halfway through. It’s not that hard, is it?
4. Consolidate your hashtags!
Do you have a business and wish to promote your merchandise or your services? Start with an official page or account that will represent your brand. It’s easier this way because you’ll have all your posts centralized. Posting from multiple accounts can be a little bit tardy more also if you rely on a slow internet connection. As everyday passes and new things come up, new problems may arise, you can easily lose track of what you’ve posted before, what hashtags you’ve used.
You can mistakenly promote your new services with a hashtag that nobody follows that may cause a lower reach of users on the respective platform. Keep them in one place and you’ll have no problems.
5. Follow trends!
Keep an eye out on what’s trending. You should jump on the bandwagon and profit – but only if it’s relevant with your post. Don’t promote your design abilities, your ability of creating a website from scratch by jumping on a trending hashtag like #YouObviouslyLikeOwls or #VoteMariska because it will definitely hurt your credibility and you will lose clients. Try and be in the same demographic before promoting yourself and you’ll gain more followers.
6. Create your own hashtag!
Really, it’s the best way to go viral and score followers. You can create hashtags for everything: events, campaigns, weddings, promoting merchandise, services, tips and tricks #everything. You just need to be careful and not pick something that is already used and remind everyone to retweet, reshare, +1, repost and repin your message.
The simplest ones seem to have the most effect and be more likable. Keep it short, make yourself quickly understood and get yourself stuck inside the users mind, make it catchy. Be careful on using a lot of words in a hashtag, it may cripple your chance of going viral. #NobodyWantsToSeeAWholePhrase.
The journey has ended. Now you can hashtag your way to the top. Don’t forget, be creative and don’t spam. Each day hashtags are getting more popular as the user base is getting larger. Can you be the one that adds to the pile of popular hashtags?
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