Hashtags are the easiest method for people to discover or categorize any specific topic, conversation, theme, or event. As a result, hashtags use has changed the way people use social media. In contrast, the most strong and powerful tool any user can use to grow the engagement and following in the social media account is the effective hashtags.
Moreover, in the marketing field, with hashtags, we can improve the engagement rate, gain more followers, create a related community around any campaign or business, increase the business’s visibility, promotions, products and promote any brand without cost and free of charge.
This article will discuss how a small vintage punctuation mark turned to famous and obtained new lively life and became a symbol to connect people in the digital life. It will also break down the basics of using hashtags effectively on social media platforms and why Hashtags are essential. Moreover, it will discuss the definition and history of hashtags, the power of hashtags, how to find the best hashtags, best practices for using hashtags, and top social media hashtags.
Definition and History of Hashtags
Today, hashtags are ubiquitous in almost every social media site; Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and even Pinterest. More people are using hashtags in their posts and captions to promote engagement with their content, not to mention the gradual use of hashtags in marketing. But where did hashtags start?
Aside from the social media context, the symbol # has had various meanings and uses to different people. For example, some use it to mean “number,” pounds, or hash, as used in devices such as mobile phones. In essence, in pre-internet days, the # symbol was used based on its literal meaning. With the Internet and social media infiltration, the hash symbol began developing new meanings and uses. For example, this feature was first used on Internet Relay Chat (IRC) to label topics and groups available in an entire network. For example, when conducting a chat over the client/server model and using the text form, the hash would be used to group the topics. In essence, the hash symbol was initially used in communication over the IRC application layer protocol to label subjects and groups, making it easy for the app’s users to locate the desired information more easily.
Besides the IRC, the hashtag became more popular on social media sites such as Twitter. As the literature suggests, the history of hashtags in social media can be traced back to Twitter when Chris Messina proposed using this feature to help make sense of the numerous information often referred to as “noise” within Twitter by most of the site’s users. Arguably, before hashtags were introduced on Twitter, the site users were exposed to numerous information, some of which they considered irrelevant. Chris Messina, under the inspiration of IRC, unleashed the feature on Twitter in 2007. Therefore, it can be argued that the social media-related use of hashtags started on Twitter before spreading to other interactive platforms such as Instagram and Facebook.
The Power of Hashtags
Since being unleashed on social media, hashtags have had significant networked power. Networked power is the power that social actors have over other social actors in a network and which are specific to each network (Castells 773). In this case, social media users can harness the power of hashtags to influence more people besides their followers. For example, in marketing campaigns, entrepreneurs may use hashtags to create engagement and extend their influence outside their followers’ boundaries. This information implies that using hashtags equips a social actor with more impact than social actors with campaigns and posts that lack such features because, for every single click, other people can see the former’s hashtag trail, including their profile and additional information related to them. Besides, hashtags have the power of enhancing the visibility of a marketing campaign by targeting a larger audience and connecting a brand with its followers and followers with one another.
Basics of Using Hashtags/Best Practices for Using Hashtags
While the power of hashtags is undoubtedly high, sometimes their use in marketing can prove to be ineffective, especially when users fail to use them appropriately. This information raises the big question; how can individuals use hashtags effectively on social media platforms, and why are these features important.
The appropriate use of hashtags differs from one social media platform to the other; therefore, marketers must learn how and where to use this feature. For example, the chances of engagement of tweets with one or two hashtags are high than tweets with more than two hashtags. Studies also show that statistically, the chances of engagement drop by 17 percent if individuals use more than two hashtags on Twitter (Pindoriya). Therefore, for marketers to create significant engagement on Twitter, they should not exceed one or two hashtags.
Photo: Twitter: The Originator
Similar to Twitter, Facebook is also among the sites that require few hashtags for more engagement. Studies conducted on Facebook revealed that posts with more hashtags have less engagement than those without this feature (Pindoriya). This information does not imply that marketers should not use hashtags on Facebook marketing campaigns; on the contrary, hashtags would be the best way to promote a marketing campaign across several networks using the same hashtag. However, marketers should use hashtags purposefully. Arguably, misusing hashtags such as using several unrelatable hashtags can constrain a marketing campaign from achieving its aims.
Photo: Facebook
Conversely, Instagram does not follow similar rules regarding hashtags; on this platform, the more hashtags, the higher the chances of engagement. Pindoriya argues that while other social media platforms follow the law of diminishing returns, Instagram’s rule is the more, the merrier. For this reason, social media marketers who use Instagram as a marketing platform are encouraged to use as many hashtags as possible to promote the highest level of interaction with the social media community and communicate their marketing campaigns to the target audience.
Synthesis of this information regarding how hashtags should be used across various platforms reveals some critical details on the basics of using hashtags effectively, especially in marketing. First, using hashtags effectively means using them purposely. Put differently, marketers should use the appropriate number of hashtags depending on the social media site they choose to use for their marketing campaigns. Secondly, marketers should be wise and vigilant when selecting hashtags to avoid possible backlash, as experienced in marketing campaigns such as the 2012 #McDStories. Thirdly, marketers should ensure that they use a brief and relatable hashtag that the social media community is likely to follow and share with others.
But why should marketers use hashtags in the first place? Well, studies and practical, real-life scenarios have proven that hashtags are essential as sociotechnical networks. Notably, these features act as the medium and the messages of any marketing campaign, controversial topics, political engagements, activists’ campaigns, to mention a few (Omena et al., 2). When used in marketing, hashtags are important because they help marketers draw their target audiences’ attention, enhance their product, service, or brand engagement and ultimately promote the brand for more sales among consumers.
How to Find the Best Hashtags
Hashtags are not just simple trends that marketers can use to increase engagement with their brands and product; this is why every successful marketer strives to create and adopt the right hashtag to promote their marketing needs. For marketers, finding the best hashtag that social media users can engage with can be daunting; however, it is not an impossible task. Below are some of the tips that entrepreneurs can use to choose appropriate and engaging hashtags:
- Borrowing ideas from influencers
Lucky enough, every industry has influencers who impact consumption and trends among consumers. Therefore, the ideal strategy to find the best and most successful approach is searching for influencers and identifying some of their hashtags that may be relevant to one’s brand and marketing campaign.
- Know your hashtag
A popular hashtag is not always a suitable hashtag for every marketing campaign. Therefore, to select an appropriate hashtag, marketers must ensure that they evaluate whatever hashtag they choose to determine its suitability for their marketing campaign. Besides, with the several cases of hashtags that backfired on brands, it is wise for marketers to conduct their due diligence and launch campaigns that would not compromise their entities.
- Find a unique and reasonable hashtag
The other critical step of finding the best hashtag is choosing one that is unique and resonates with the brand’s target population. Marketers can use third-party analytics tools to search for already existing hashtags and use this information to craft their unique hashtags. However, whether marketers choose to create their hashtags or use some existing ones, they must always use a message that resounds with the intended audience. Otherwise, the crafted hashtag would end up being ineffective or promoting the wrong message among consumers.
Top Social Media Hashtags
For marketers to find the best hashtags, they must also learn about some of the most trending social media hashtags. According to the best hashtags website, the new or most trending social media hashtags on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, and Tumblr include #socialmedia, #marketing, #socialmedia marketing, #digitalmarketing, #instagram, #branding, #business, #marketindigital, #design and #seo (“Hashtags for #Socialmedia on Instagram “). Marketers should keep in mind these trending hashtags when creating and implementing hashtags for their marketing campaigns and remain vigilant on the number of hashtags that they use for various social media platforms because some follow the rule of diminishing returns.
To sum it up, the hashtag is here to stay, and it will remain one of the most powerful marketing features on social media platforms. The big question is, do marketers have the capacity and skills to utilize this tool as an arsenal in their marketing campaigns, or will their efforts backfire as they did in #McDStories.
Works Cited
“8 Tips for Choosing the Right Hashtags for Your Hashtag Aggregator Tool.” Curator, curator.io/blog/8-tips-for-choosing-the-right-hashtags-for-your-hashtag-aggregator-tool. Accessed 1 June 2021.
“Definition of Hashtag.” Merriam-Webster.com, 2019, www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/hashtag. Accessed 1 June 2021.
“Definition of Marketing.” Merriam-Webster.com, 2019, www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/marketing. Accessed 1 June 2021.
“Hashtags for #Socialmedia on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr.” Best-Hashtags.com, best-hashtags.com/hashtag/socialmedia/. Accessed 1 June 2021.
Boyd, Stowe. “Hash Tags = Twitter Groupings – Stowe Boyd.” Stoweboyd.com, stoweboyd.com/post/39877198249/hash-tags-twitter-groupings. Accessed 1 June 2021.
Castells, Manuel. “A Network Theory of Power.” International Journal of Communication, vol. 5, no. 2011, 2011, pp.773-787.
Lips, Allison. “History of Hashtags: How a Symbol Changed the Way We Search & Share.” Social Media Week, 20 Feb. 2018, socialmediaweek.org/blog/2018/02/history-hashtags-symbol-changed-way-search-share/. Accessed 1 June 2021.
Omena, Janna Joceli, et al. “Digital Methods for Hashtag Engagement Research.” Social Media + Society, vol. 6, no. 3, 2020, p. 205630512094069.
Patel, Neil. “How to Harness the Power of the Hashtag as an Entrepreneur.” Forbes, 17 Aug. 2015, www.forbes.com/sites/neilpatel/2015/08/17/how-to-harness-the-power-hashtag-as-an-entrepreneur/?sh=515981707983. Accessed 1 June 2021.
Pindoriya, Vishal. “How to Effectively Use Hashtags for Maximum Engagement.” Sendible.com, 30 July 2014, www.sendible.com/insights/how-to-effectively-use-hashtags-for-maximum-engagement. Accessed 1 June 2021.
Rojas, Nick. “Hashtags: A History.” Business 2 Community, 19 Aug. 2014, www.business2community.com/social-media/hashtags-history-01013071. Accessed 1 June 2021.
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