Just How Important Are Hashtags For Brands?
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Just How Important Are Hashtags For Brands?

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you have probably noticed an increase in the number of hashtags on your social media feeds. Hashtags have become commonplace in digital marketing and they are a sure-fire way to get more eyes on your Twitter, Instagram and Facebook pages.

Brands that want to gain a following have to delve deep into the world of hashtags and include them across their social media platforms. The importance of this simple social media tool can’t be emphasized enough, which is why we’ve decided to #explore just how important hashtags are and how brands can use them.

What Are Hashtags?

Before we get into the importance of hashtags, it’s essential that we explain what the heck they are. Not too long ago, the “#” was simply known as being the pound sign, but thanks to Twitter it has taken on a new meaning altogether.

A hashtag is a relevant phrase or keyword that follows the ‘#’ sign and it is used to label content found on the Internet. Hashtags are indexed on social networks, which helps make topics easily discoverable for people who are interested in them.

What Hashtags Can Do For Brands

Hashtags can do wonders for a brand’s social key performance indicators and help to boost overall engagement. How else are users supposed to find you on social media platforms that have millions of pages? It’s important to keep in mind, however, that in order to benefit from all the great things that hashtags can do it is essential that a brand uses them properly.

Hashtags are used to categorize content for social media users, so if you use hashtags that aren’t relevant to your brand or a post, this can result in users having a negative experience with your business. Overusing hashtags can also put you at risk of losing some engagement.

If your brand is selective about the hashtags they use, uses them in moderation, and includes the right mix of hashtags, you can reach relevant, new audiences.

What Different Types of Hashtags Can Do

There are three main types of hashtags that are used in digital marketing:

  • Branded hashtags
  • Content hashtags
  • Trending hashtags

1. Branded Hashtags

Branded hashtags are unique to your brand and open up the possibility of creating an online community where you can easily track users connected with your brand. Good branded hashtags are catchy, concise, and easily recognizable. If your brand already has a clever name, that in and of itself will serve as a great branded hashtag.

Shakeshack uses #shakeshack in all their posts and they’re thriving on Instagram!

2. Content Hashtags

Content hashtags are a great way to get a hold of a target audience by using common hashtags that are related to the content you post. As long as you don’t hashtag every word in a post, content hashtags can benefit your brand in terms of SEO.

A good example of content hashtags being used appropriately is including #winewednesday and #cheers to attract wine enthusiasts to your wine brand.

3. Trending Hashtags

Last but not least, trending hashtags can garner you a lot of positive online attention if it doesn’t look like you’re just jumping on a bandwagon. Make sure you know the story behind why a hashtag is trending and that you can tie it into your brand in a way that makes sense before using it in your post.

Tropicana seamlessly integrated #NationalPicnicMonth into their Twitter feed when it was trending.

 

When hashtags are used correctly, they have the ability to increase viewership, bring in new customers, and build a strong brand. If you’re looking to gain a loyal social following with the help of hashtags, Arnold Street Media is the place to go!

At Arnold Street Media, Inc., we curate every social post so that it’s tailor-made to fit your brand voice and reach undiscovered audiences. Contact us today to make your online presence known – you’ll definitely have #noregrets!

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