Using hashtags to promote your business on social media is very crucial so as to broaden your audience base and grow your engagement. It helps people, engaging in a common theme, to discover you and hence connect with you. But is it that easy to just incorporate hashtags in posts and be successful? The answer is no. There are millions of brands using hashtags, trying to reach more people but only some of them are successful.
There are some dos and don’ts for hashtags too.
Relevance
Some people mistake incorporation of trending hashtags and therefore use all the hashtags that are topping the list, even if it isn’t relevant to the content in question, this might generate traffic for you but definitely isn’t profitable, as people who are not interested in your content will just skip your posts. Therefore it’s best to use hashtags that are relevant to your content so that it reaches the people who will show interest in it.
Hashtag stuffing
Yes, using hashtags is a great way to promote but using every hashtag that contains your keywords isn’t the best way to do it. Some socials such as Twitter have a short word limit and therefore people prefer not to add many hashtags but other platforms like Instagram allow you to add around 30 of them, yet it is suggested to add not more than 10 to 11 tags or else it might be considered spam by Instagram's algorithm.
Research
It can be tricky when it comes to choosing relevant hashtags, it’s always a good idea to research something before using it. Look at the content that has been linked to the hashtag you choose to use, in what context is it being used. That will help you shorten the list and cut down the irrelevant ones and hence you will be left with the best ones available for your content.
Usability
Using a hashtag that already has a strong base is the way to go when you begin because it has already made a place in people’s minds and people are talking about it, searching about it, trying to know more about it, long story short, it’s the talk of the town! If you decide to incorporate that hashtag in your post, it will definitely reach a larger audience and would be beneficial for you but of course, the key is relevance.
Don't overuse them
Do not use hashtags in every post or every comment that you publish. Overusing or trying too hard to put your word out there can be frustrating for you as well as your customers. Use them in some of your posts so that it is easy for your potential customers to look for you and go through your profile.
A unique hashtag
When you have a strong base on social media, you can have a unique hashtag that would represent your business and people can use it if they are posting content related to you, such as reviews and feedbacks and this will even help you to see what people feel about your products and services.
The perfect hashtag
What spreads as the base is, after all these factors what is the perfect hashtag to be used, this is a very obvious but crucial point to be noted, the hashtag should be easy to pronounce, spell and clear. This will definitely bring in more effective results.