Are you confused about how to use hashtags to market your business? Do you think hashtags are pointless millennial jargon? Hashtags are an integral aspect of marketing your business successfully. Hashtags are a practical and useful marketing tool that can be utilised across a range of social media platforms such as Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and even LinkedIn. With 49% of the world’s population owning and using a social media account, online platforms are a marketing dream. But why are hashtags important?
Put simply, hashtags are a way to categorise content across social media platforms. They’re also a way for people to find content that they want to see. Just say you were a pottery business you might write #mug or #ceramics, underneath a photograph of your products. By doing so, every person that wants to find new ceramics for their home can easily discover your homewares business, helping to convert clicks into profit.
The simple hashtag is a powerful tool for your business to boost engagement, increase organic traffic, and expand your customer base. But how can your business utilise hashtags effectively?
Brand Your Business
Who are you? What do you sell? What is your business? Utilising brand hashtags will help people understand what your business is and who you are. It is also a fun way for people to stay connected to your personal content and ensures that they can always find you, which is especially important in such an oversaturated online space.
Brand hashtags are simply you hash-tagging your business’s name and content. If we go back to the ceramics business example, let’s call them ‘Ceramic Studios’, they will write #ceramicstudios under every post, across every platform. This is because customers that enjoy their products can easily locate their page and posts through just their name. This makes their business easy to discover, increases their reach, and boosts the potential for previous customers to purchase more products. Simple!
Another way of utilising branding hashtags is to always categorise your posts under what product your selling. For ‘Ceramic Studios’ this could be ones such as #plates, #handmade, or #pottery. By doing this, this ensures that when people are searching for products that your business sells they can discover you and your website.
- Tip: Look at what hashtags other businesses in your industry utilise to market and brand their products. This will ensure that your products will also be visible to potential clients and you will gain insights into how best to market your business.
Create a Campaign
Not sure how to hype up your business? Creating a campaign utilising a hashtag can increase customer excitement, boost your visibility, and improve your reach. Campaigns can be created for any business, whether you’re a homewares store or a taxation company you can form hype around your products and services.
Community involvement is key to a successful hashtag campaign. You want to get your customers and others to create their own posts using your hashtag. Let’s change our make-believe business from a ceramic company to a sporting events organiser. For one of their upcoming events, they may create a hashtag such as #sydneymarathon2021, and encourage all participants and spectators to use it underneath their posts. This will not only create hype around the event as people across Australia and the world will see and interact with the hashtag, but it will also create a sense of community for each runner. This encourages individuals to continue to sign up each year by creating a history of the event for others to look back on and decide if they want to sign up the next time the event is on.
Whilst creating a campaign hashtag can be seen as slightly more confusing, it really isn’t. Simply put, your business will create a hashtag for your community to use, increasing engagement, and boosting your reach in a simple and inexpensive way. It will also create a sense of community for your customers, making them want to repurchase your products. It’s a win-win, right?
- Tip: Ensure the hashtag you create is simple, unique, and can be linked back to your business. You want to ensure that when others click on the hashtag that your business’s goals and products are highlighted.
Jump on The Trends
Just like you want to follow the fashion trends every year, you also want to adopt trending hashtags. Trending hashtags are the topics that are most popular in the moment. This means that a large majority of people are looking at and getting involved with the hashtag that is going viral at the time. These are constantly changing so it’s important that you keep up to date and regularly check your social media platforms.
Once you see a trending hashtag that relates to your business, you must act quick! Whilst utilising trending hashtags is not a regular occurrence, it is a great way of marketing your business and reaching a wider audience quickly and easily. So, get on it! Formulate a post, utilise the trending hashtag, and watch your engagement increase.
- Tip: Don’t overuse trending hashtags as they won’t be useful for your business and goals. Always ensure that the trending hashtag you’re interacting with is suitable and relates to your products and services.
#WeLoveSocialMediaMarketing! Utilising hashtags can be confusing at first but once mastered they will directly impact your business positively. Hashtags are a tool for you to connect with your customers, find new ones, and become a part of the online space. Hashtags allow your business to capitalise upon people’s addiction to social media. No longer do people simply search for brands or products, instead, they now find businesses through their online social media presence. So, get hash-tagging and watch your visibility and reach expand.
Still confused? No worries, we at Elite Words are masters at implementing the correct hashtags for your marketing campaign. Get in touch with us today so that we can help you market your business better!
