Are you looking for more business? Now THERE’S a silly question! Hashtags (metadata tags following a number sign or pound sign which use a word or unspaced phrase to attract the interest of a user) have proven their worth in social media advertising time and again. Millions of prospective clients use social media apps daily, and are a tremendous audience for brand promotions, product marketing, and any new ad that might catch their eye.
The first hash tag was used on Twitter in August 2007 to connect conversations in one single stream, and the rest is history. Hashtag use followed on Tumblr, Google+, Instagram, LinkedIn, and Pinterest soon afterwards, and Facebook finally jumped on the hashtag bandwagon in June 2013. Hashtags unite interested individuals around popular culture and general interest topics, events, celebrations or holidays, as well as emergencies or disasters. This article will clue you in on 7 fantastic ways that you can maximize hashtag use to attract more business:
Hashtags on Social Media. Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Tumbler, Pinterest, Google Plus and Linkedin
- Tweet #Using hashtags on Twitter – Twitter introduced “conversational ads” or promoted tweets in January 2016. These hashtag ads have call-to-action buttons, as well as a few unique customized hashtags created by the social media advertiser for a particular campaign. A user will get drawn into your ad if you entice them with a choice question. If you are an energy drink marketer, you have an image of one of your products underneath a poll question. For example: “Which energy drink is right for you? Our #CoconutEnergy or our #NaturalCaffeineBlast? Two buttons underneath the image – or video- of one of your products, will offer two choicesNaturalCaffeineBlast, or Tweet “#CoconutEnergy”. Clicking on an action button gets the clicker an advertiser’s pre-composed message, a thank you, and the ability to add a message and retweet it on their timeline.
- Maximizing hashtags on Facebook – Don’t post test ads on your page – It’s estimated that only 2% of your fans will ever see your post! Make a video of your product – It’s 135% more likely that a video will be seen opposed to photos. Make sure to turn “autoplay” on – that means that the video will begin playing automatically whenever users start scrolling through their feeds. Make a “live” video – It’s three times more likely to be viewed than a regular video. Add subtitles or closed captions to your videos, so potential clients can understand them without having to turn on the sound
- Getting the most out of Instagram hashtags – If you put the hashtag #socialmedia in your post, it will be cross-shared with any Facebook user looking for #socialmedia. Don’t overuse hashtags – if you use too many your ad will look unprofessional. Make sure your hashtags are relevant – if you use a hashtag that’s popular but irrelevant, there’s a chance you’ll be reported for creating spam.
- Using hashtags on Tumblr – Don’t use more than 5 hashtags on Tumblr, since they won’t be searchable. Only use tags on original posts, not a re-blog. You can use apostrophes, commas, SPACES, dots, and a bunch of other symbols in your Tumblr hashtags. Focus on a young, very tight niche audience. Create category pages like “most popular”, “most reblogged”, or “our newest”
- Hashtags on Pinterest – Pinterest just started using promoted pins in 2016. They aren’t big fans of hashtags in social media advertising. Just use 1 specific hashtag for your company
- Google+ hashtags – Create a business account with very specific hashtags. Google+ will intuitively add their own hash tags to your post
- LinkedIn hashtags – LinkedIn uses hashtag advertisements for “Social Influencers” on a Cost per Click (CPC) platform, in exchange for sending traffic to your company’s business or website
Utilizing Hashtags will ensure your are maximizing your efforts on social media and increasing your bottom line.