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How to Use Hashtags on Popular Social Networks

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By Debbie Gregory.

LinkedIN Debbie Gregory VAMBOA VAMBOA Facebook VAMBOA Twitter

 

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.

Finding the Best Hashtags for Your Posts

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By Debbie Gregory.

LinkedIN Debbie Gregory VAMBOA VAMBOA Facebook VAMBOA Twitter

 

 

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.

What Are Hashtags and Why Use Them?

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By Debbie Gregory.

LinkedIN Debbie Gregory VAMBOA VAMBOA Facebook VAMBOA Twitter

 

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.

Tips to Obtain Your First 1,000 Instagram Followers

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By Debbie Gregory.

LinkedIN Debbie Gregory VAMBOA VAMBOA Facebook VAMBOA Twitter

 

Starting out in social media for any business seems difficult but it really doesn’t have to be so intimidating. Building a large following takes time and effort but it should be fun. There are a few things that you can do to help increase your followers and below are some tips to obtain first 1,000 followers a bit more quickly.

 

  • Hashtags

Using popular hashtags is a great way to gain followers but the catch is the hashtag must be relevant to your business. Additionally, be sure to mix a variety of popular hashtags with some less popular hashtags so that you don’t simply get lost if there is a high level of competition for the tags.

 

  • Eye Candy

If your content is not interesting or visually appealing, people are not going to follow you. Invest some time and effort into the content that you post.  Take time and spend the money to have a professional photo shoot to build a library of high-quality photos to promote yourself on social media. Spur-of-the-moment smartphone photos are great occasionally but followers will be more willing to stay engaged if your content provides high-quality eye candy.

 

  • Engagement

Set aside a small amount of time everyday to engage with your followers such as liking their content, responding to comments, mentions, and private messages. This is also a good time to search for other accounts that you would like to follow. Simply liking a post is not going to cut it. Your like will get lost in the hundreds of other likes and will go unnoticed. Comments force interaction and tend to stay more visible.

 

  • Giveaways!

To build your following, consider a giveaway promotion. Many giveaways have multiple rules that help boost your account, reach, and engagement. Ask your followers to “Follow our account and tag two friends in the comments below.” By having people tag two friends, you will gain more attention and, hopefully, a lot of new followers.  Don’t add too many rules, make your rules clear, make sure to add an end date to the giveaway and keep on top of the promotion to engage those playing.

 

  • Account Setup

If are using a personal account for your business brand, we highly recommend changing it over to a business account. The business account provides you access to analytics and other benefits that are not available with personal accounts. If you are using a personal account and do not want to switch to a business account, make sure your personal account is set to public. This may sound obvious to some but you really need to make sure that your account is not private. Business accounts are automatically made public.

 

  • Instagram Insights

If you have a business account, you have access to Instagram Insights for your account. Instagram Insights doesn’t necessarily provide super in depth analytics, but it does give you basic information that can assist you in understanding your followers, their behaviors, and the best times to post for engagement.

 

In summary, gaining 1,000 followers will take time.  Remember to be patient, post consistently, post quality, and engage your audience!  Remember to leverage relevant hashtags, tag other brands and individuals, and consider hosting a giveaway. Taking these steps will help your account grow and boost your business.

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