By Debbie Gregory.

Our last two articles went over what a hashtag is, why you need to use them when posting on social media, as well as how to find the best hashtags to use for your posts. In this article, we will go over tips on how to use those hashtags on each of the popular social platforms.

TWITTER

We will begin with Twitter because this platform was the first to utilize hashtags. Hashtags on Twitter are best sprinkled into the post itself to emphasize or highlight important parts of your Tweet.

Keep in mind:

• Utilize relevant hashtags
• Twitter recommends no more than 2 hashtags per post
• More is not better, too many hashtags looks spammy

INSTAGRAM

You want to put hashtags after your photo caption, in your stories, in your profile as well as in the comments section when you are engaging your followers.

Keep in mind:

• Instagram recommends no more than 10 hashtags per post (the largest number of all the social media platforms)
• Instead of posting your hashtags with your images caption, consider adding them as the first comment on the post so that your followers can focus on your caption without being distracted or put off

PINTEREST

You want to add hashtags when writing a pin description or a description for a pin you are re-pinning.

Keep in mind:

• Pinterest recommends no more than 5 hashtags per post
• Pinterest is more like a search engine than a social platform so make sure that your hashtags are searchable, specific, and contain relevant keywords

FACEBOOK

You can include hashtags in any part of your written post or in the comments.

Keep in mind:

• Facebook recommends no more than 2 hashtags per post
• You can search for a hashtag using Facebook’s search bar
• You can click on any hashtag to see the posts using that same hashtag

YOUTUBE

You want to add relevant hashtags to your video title or video description.

Keep in mind:

• YOUTUBE recommends no more than 3 hashtags per post
• Adding too many hashtags to your video can get your content flagged as spam
• Hashtags are made into clickable links in titles and descriptions on YOUTUBE so followers can find other content with the same hashtags
• If you don’t include hashtags in the title of your video, the first three hashtags in the description will show above your videos title

LinkedIn

You want to add hashtags in your LinkedIn updates and any articles you post to the platform.

Keep in mind:

• LinkedIn recommends no more than 2 hashtags per post
• LinkedIn is more of a professional platform than other popular social media sites You need to be sure that you keep your use of hashtags professional too
• You can follow hashtags on LinkedIn to see recent posts that include hashtags
• Hashtags can be searched using the platform’s search bar
• Trending hashtags will show in the “news and views” section on your home page

Regardless of which social platforms you use, make sure that the hashtags you add to your posts are timely, relevant, specific to your business, and make sure you don’t use too many of them.

We hope these articles on Hashtags have been helpful to our VAMBOA members.

By Debbie Gregory.

Our last article went over what a hashtag is and why you need to use them when posting on social media. The question that comes next is “how do I find the right hashtags to use in my posts?” To find hashtags that are specific to your company, your brand, your industry and your audience, you will need to do a little research. Below are a few tips that can help you.

1.)  Keep an eye on which hashtags are trending on each platform

It is always a good idea to know what hashtags are trending on the platforms you use. Some will be relevant to your company and others will not be relevant. You can keep track of these manually but that can be very time-consuming, especially if you use more than one social platform. Utilizing tools, such as RiteTag, allows you to research what hashtags would be best to pair with your content and saves your valuable time. Basically, you simply type in the caption you plan to use for your post, along with the post image, and RiteTag will generate trending hashtag suggestions based on your content.

2.) Use Hashtagify.me to check hashtag popularity

Hashtagify.me lets you search any hashtag and gives you a quick picture of how popular it is. Hashtagify.me shows you the hashtag’s overall popularity, its recent popularity, and its trends are broken down by both month and week.

3.) Look at the success of hashtags on your past posts

Keeping track of hashtags, you have used on past posts and analyzing their success will provide you a good idea of hashtags to include in future posts. It is also makes sense for you to type the successful hashtags into the other tools listed in this article in order to check their overall popularity. Make a point to re-use hashtags that have been helpful to your posts.

4.). Keep an eye on relevant social media influencers as well as your competitors

To be successful in any industry, you need to know who your business’ influencers and competitors are. You have a target audience in common and need to connect with those people in similar ways. Once you know who your influencers and competitors are, make a note of what hashtags they use the most in their posts. This information will help you better engage your shared audiences and potentially grow your influence in your market.

5.) Utilize social media management tools

There are quite a few platforms out there that will allow you to do your hashtag research directly from the platform as well as pre-schedule all of your social posts. These types of social media management platforms usually have built in analytics and other helpful insight tools. One of the more popular ones today is HootSuite.

Hootsuite allows you to search social streams and discover which hashtags are the best to use for each of the different platforms. All you need to do is setup an account, attach your social networks, and search streams. It is easy to see from the streams which hashtags are the most popular and the most effective for your chosen social platform.

6.) Find and use related hashtags

Once you have a good handle on what hashtags work best for your specific business, you may wish to consider using popular related hashtags on your posts too. These types of hastags are usually more specific than the ones you have already been using. Additionally, they can help you connect with a more targeted audience.

Figuring out which hashtags would be best for your posts, your industry, or your audience does require a bit of work.  Keep in mind that this work will pay off in better customer engagement, increased followers, and wider brand recognition.

VAMBOA hopes that this article is of value to you.  Please feel free to let us know.

By Debbie Gregory.

The symbol that we now know as a hashtag was once called the pound symbol, or octothorpe, and was initially used to mark numbers. The first known usage of this symbol as a “hashtag” was in the summer of 2007 by Chris Messina, a web marketing specialist. He approached the company Twitter with the suggestion that they use the symbol to group related Tweets together. Since that fateful day the use of hashtags, their reach, and their effectiveness has grown exponentially.

Hashtags in a nutshell:

• Connect social media content to a specific topic, event, theme or conversation
• Make it easier to discover posts around specific topics

Where are hashtags used?

Hashtags are used on almost every social media platform that we use today.

• Twitter
• LinkedIn
• Instagram
• Facebook
• Pinterest
• And more

Why should you use hashtags?

Hashtags help your post take part in a larger conversation which makes your posts more visible to both followers and non-followers on any given platform. This can lead to better engagement with others including likes, shares, comments, more followers, etc. as well, it can boost your brand’s overall standing on the platform. When hashtags are used correctly, they are a very effective and easy way to promote your business and drive the conversation. You can also use hashtags to show your support for social issues, help your target audience to find your posts on social media and add more context to your posts without adding too many more words.

Should you use popular hashtags?

Just because a hashtag is popular does not mean it is a good idea for you to use. For example, the hashtag #followme has more than 515 million posts on Instagram but is broadly used in every industry and category. That hashtag will not help you get more followers. You want to avoid using a hashtag simply because it is popular. If the hashtag does not engage your followers or add to your post, it is best to be avoided.

This does not mean that you should ignore popular hashtags.  In fact, some hash tags are excellent to insert your brand into a fun or popular conversation. For example, hashtags such as #throwbackthursday or #flashbackfriday, help you mix up your social posting with fun and popular social media games.

Keep in mind that popular hashtags also differ depending on what social media platform you are using. On Instagram, popular hashtags include ones such as #instagood, #photooftheday, and #photography, among others. However, on LinkedIn, popular hashtags include more business-focused ones such as #leadership and #productivity. You may need to do a bit of research to find the popular hashtags on each platform that boost you.

A few things to keep in mind for using hashtags:

• Hashtags always start with the ‘#’ symbol and contain no spaces between the words such as #thisisahashtag.
• Hashtags listed on private accounts cannot be seen by non-followers of that account.
• The best hashtags are short and easy to remember.
• More is not better when it comes to hashtags. Limit the number that you use and make sure they are relevant to your post.

As you can see, hashtags really help people connect with the things they find important or interesting on social media. If you have not been using them in your posts, now is the time to start! They are one of the best and easiest ways to get your brand in front of people who may be interested in what you are offering.

By Debbie Gregory.

With all the new social media terms popping up all the time, it certainly can be very confusing to keep up with all of them as well as trying to understand what they mean or how to use them. Below are even more terms to add to your glossary.

Social Selling

Social selling is the practice of using social tools to find leads, connect with prospects, and nurture business relationships.

Snap

Snap is the company that owns Snapchat, the photo- and video-messaging app launched in 2011. Each post on Snapchat is also called a Snap. Users can add filters, text, drawings, or emoji to their content before sending it. Direct messages last only up to 10 seconds before they disappear forever and are erased from the company’s servers. Snap Stories allow users to share re-playable Snaps for up to 24 hours.

Spam

Spam is unnecessary, unwanted, or repetitive content that clogs inboxes and clutters social media feeds. The term “spam” has been used to refer to junk messages since the earliest days of the Internet.

Sponsored Posts

Sponsored posts are social media posts in which an influencer or celebrity highlights a brand or product that they have been paid to promote. These posts must be identified as ads using a hashtag like #ad or #sponsored.

Sticker

Stickers are a feature of stories formats like Snapchat and Instagram Stories. They allow users to add extra information to a post, like a hashtag or location. Some stickers offer interactive features such as questions and polls.

Stories

Stories are a form of ephemeral content on Facebook, Instagram, or Snapchat that disappears after 24 hours.

Tag

A tag is a keyword added to a social media post to categorize content. You can also tag someone in a post or photo, which creates a link to their social media profile and associates them with the content. Users have the option to remove unwanted tags from their profile.

Targeting

Targeting is the practice of selecting a specific audience for social ads to maximize conversions. Social networks offer many targeting options based on factors like demographics, location, and interests.

Thread

A thread is a string of messages that make up a conversation. Threads begin with an initial message and then continue as a series of replies or comments. Threads are essential to keeping track of conversations in most forms of online communication, including social media and email.

Throwback Thursday (#TBT)

Throwback Thursday (#TBT) is a hashtag used to share old photos on social media.

Trending

A trending topic or hashtag is one that is popular on social media at a given moment. Trends are highlighted by social networks such as Twitter and Facebook to encourage discussion and engagement among their users. The “trending” concept was first popularized by Twitter and has since been adopted by other networks. The trends that you see on Twitter and Facebook are based on your location, who you follow, and the content you like.

Troll

A troll is a social media user who makes deliberately offensive or annoying postings with the sole aim of provoking other users.

Tweet

A Tweet is a Twitter post. Tweets are limited to 280 characters and can include photos, videos, and links. They are public by default.

Unfollow

To unfollow someone is to unsubscribe from their social media account. If you would prefer to maintain the social connection but don’t want to see their posts, you can mute them instead.

URL

URL is short for Uniform Resource Locator. It means the address of a website page or other resource on the Internet. URLs can contain codes called UTMs that help with tracking and analytics.

URL Shortener

A URL shortener is a tool that condenses a long URL into a shorter (and more social media friendly) format. URL shorteners such as ow.ly can also provide link tracking capabilities, which allow businesses to measure click-throughs from social media and attribute website conversions to individual social messages.

User-Generated Content (UGC)

User-generated content is content created by the regular people on social media, rather than brands. Brands collect that content through contests, branded hashtags, or simply reaching out to ask permission. When brands re-share that content with their own followers, they are implementing a UGC campaign. User-generated content can help increase brand awareness and loyalty by allowing businesses to tap into the excitement and creative energies of their customers.

Vanity Metric

A vanity metric is an analytics item that can be measured but is not a signifier of real return on investment. Examples include the number of followers, likes, or comments. These metrics are best contextualized by more concrete numbers such as click-through rate or visitor-to-lead conversions.

Vanity URL

A vanity URL is a web address branded for marketing purposes. Vanity URLs replace common URL shortened formats with something related to an organization’s branding. For example, Time Inc.’s vanity URL is ti.me. The New York Times uses nyti.ms.

Verified

To be verified on social media means that you have proven your identity to the social media platform provider and gained a verified label in return, usually in the form of a checkmark. This is usually reserved for brands, journalists, and other public figures as a way of preventing fraud and protecting the integrity of the person or organization behind the account.

Viral

To go viral on social media is to have a specific post bring in an unusually large number of engagements. An exceptional number of shares is the clearest sign of going viral, as your post spreads across the internet like a virus.

Virtual reality (VR)

Virtual reality immerses the user in an experience so that what they are doing looks or feels real. VR headsets are a common way of engaging with virtual reality.

Vlogging

Vlogging is a combination of the words, “video” and “blogging.” It means to create and post video blog content. Someone who vlogs is known as a vlogger.

Webinar

Webinar is a combination of the two words “web” and “seminar.” A webinar is a digital broadcast of a presentation intended to educate or inform. Webinars allow users to watch a presentation from their computer or other device, and often interact directly with the presenter or fellow attendees through chat or video.

Whew! That is a one long list.  VAMBOA hopes it is valuable and you learned some new terms.   Please print out your glossary and share this article.   Everyone stay safe, healthy and we wish you prosperity!

By Debbie Gregory.

Since social media is always changing, it can be very difficult to keep up with all the new social media definitions that emerge every month. Here are even more terms for you to know.  We hope we are not making your head spin.

Recommendation

A recommendation is a testimonial provided on LinkedIn. You can provide recommendations for your connections or ask them to provide a recommendation for you. Recommendations appear on your public profile.

Regram

To regram is to repost another Instagram user’s image or video. Make sure you have permission to do so, either through a branded hashtag or by asking the user directly.

Repin

To repin is to save another user’s Pin to one of your own Pinterest boards.

Reply

Reply is a social media function that allows you to respond publicly to another user’s comment, creating a comment thread. On Twitter, you reply by clicking the comment icon under a particular Tweet.  On other social networks, you’ll find a button or link marked Reply.

Repost

To repost is to share another user’s content on social media. This can include regramming, repinning, or retweeting. It also includes sharing another user’s Instagram post in your Instagram Stories.

Retargeting

Retargeting is an online advertising strategy that aims to re-engage website visitors who left a site without converting. Retargeting starts with a small tracking tag embedded in your website’s code. You can then target these prospects on other websites, including social networks.

Retweet

To retweet is to share someone else’s Tweet with your followers. When you click the retweet button on the Twitter website or app, you can opt to republish the tweet as is, or add a comment to explain why you’re sharing it.

Rich pin

A Rich pin is a Pinterest post that contains additional content from the original website. There are three categories: article, recipe, or product. For example, product Rich pins include real-time information about where to buy the product, pricing, and availability.

RSS feed

An RSS feed is a format for syndicating web content. It may be short for Rich Site Summary or Really Simple Syndication, depending on who you ask, but neither is an official acronym. RSS feeds are created in a standard XML format that makes them compatible with a variety of readers and aggregators that readers can subscribe to.

RSS reader

An RSS reader is a tool that allows you to collect articles from multiple RSS feeds in one place for easy reading.

Scheduling

Scheduling involves planning social media updates and content ahead of time using a social media management platform or other publishing tool. Scheduling saves time by allowing users to draft several messages at once, often as part of a publishing approval process or larger marketing campaign. It also enables posts to be timed for audiences in various time zones.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

Search engine optimization is the practice of increasing the organic visibility of a web page in search results. Although businesses can pay for ads on search engine results page, SEO refers to “free” tactics that enhance the search ranking of a page.

Selfie

A selfie is a self-portrait photograph, usually taken with the front camera on a smartphone and shared on social media sites.

Sentiment

Sentiment is a way of describing the way people feel about your brand on social media. Rather than just measuring the number of posts or engagements related to your brand, it captures the feelings and attitude contained in those posts.

Sentiment analysis

Sentiment analysis is an examination of how an audience feels about a brand, company, or product based on social data. Sentiment analysis typically involves natural language processing or other computational methods to identify the attitude contained in a social media message. Analytics platforms—such as Hootsuite Insights classify sentiment in a variety of ways. For example, some use “polar” classification (positive or negative sentiment), while others sort messages by emotion or tone (contentment/gratitude, fear/uneasiness, etc.).

Share of Voice

Share of voice is a measure of how many social media mentions a particular brand is receiving in relation to its competition. It is usually measured as a percentage of total mentions within an industry or among a defined group of competitors.

Social Customer Service

Social customer service is when a company uses social channels to provide service and support to customers. Larger companies often have a separate social handle for customer support issues.

Social inbox

A social inbox is the screen for reading and responding to direct messages on a social platform.

Social listening

Social listening begins with finding and assessing what is being said about a company, topic, brand, or person on social media channels. Then, the social team acts based on what the analysis reveals. Taking action could be as simple as responding to a happy customer or as major as revising the brand strategy.

Social Media Management

Social media management involves managing social media accounts, engaging audiences, and measuring the business results of social media activities. Effective social media management practices implemented at scale across departments and regions allow everyone within the organization to collaborate and achieve measurable outcomes on social media.

Social Media Management Platform

A social media management platform is a secure, scalable tool that allows businesses to manage multiple social media accounts across departments and devices. Social relationship platforms are used for monitoring, posting, and tracking social media, and help manage everything from customer service to lead generation.

Social Media Marketing

Social media marketing is the use of social media to increase brand awareness, identify key audiences, generate leads, and build meaningful relationships with customers. Social media marketing should be part of a larger social strategy that also includes social customer service, community management, and social selling activities.

Social Media Monitoring

Social media monitoring is like social listening in that it involves tracking what is being said about a brand on social media. However, while social listening involves analysis and action, social media monitoring is primarily concerned with finding and gathering data.

Social Media ROI

Social media ROI (Return On Investment) is a measure of how much you get out of the time, money, and effort you put into your social media strategy. It’s a way of evaluating which strategies provide the most value, and which areas of your strategy may not be delivering enough return.

We know you are waiting with bated breath for the final article in this series – ENJOY!