Are Hashtags Still Important?

It’s quite obvious at this point in time that social media isn’t going away any time soon. We can almost guarantee that any small business, ecommerce or otherwise, needs to include social media efforts in their marketing strategy. However, this does not mean that social media is the same as it was five years ago. Like everything else, social media platforms have evolved over the years, and using them to engage with your audience is almost always changing.  

#engagement

If you frequent social media platforms then you are most likely familiar with hashtags, whether it’s along the lines of #FridayFeeling or #inspired. More than a decade ago, hashtags began as an important way to categorise information. However, they quickly evolved into a way to easily see which topics are trending at any given moment in time. 

Social media posters soon realised that by adding relevant hashtags to posts, images, and videos they could boost engagement and reach. You may be asking: just how much more engagement, exactly? Below are a few quick statistics from Zimmer Radio & Marketing Group from 2018. 

• A Facebook post with 1-2 hashtags will receive 177 more interactions on average. 
• A Twitter post that does not use hashtags has a life expectancy of around 15 minutes, but hashtags can extend the life of your tweet. 
• Instagram posts with hashtags receive 12% more engagement than posts without one. 

But what do these statistics mean for 2019? You may be surprised to hear that hashtags are still just as relevant today. While they may seem to dominate Twitter and almost entirely abandon Facebook, using hashtags on your marketing efforts is worth the additional research.

Get #more from your #marketing

Most digital marketing experts will admit that hashtags are actually more relevant today than they were in 2018. The internet is a very busy place and estimates predict that up to 70% of your digital marketing efforts are going unseen, whether it is in the form of blogs, white papers, social media posts, or online videos. 

Hashtags create an easy way to increase engagement if done correctly. In reality, a simple hashtag can accelerate your entire marketing campaign if it is thought through properly. See below for a few helpful tips on how to use hashtags effectively and responsibly for the best return on your marketing efforts:

Be consistent. 

If you have a hashtag that represents your brand, be sure to use it in every single post to help spread hashtag awareness and gather all of your great content in one easy-to-find location.

Research.

Don’t automatically assume that you understand the entire lifetime of a hashtag. Far too often brands create a global faux pas by forgetting to research all the ways that a hashtag was used in the past. You would hate for your campaign to be associated with any scandals or embarrassing mistakes.   

Don’t overdo it. 

Two to five hashtags per post should be plenty to help you spread your message on social media. Any more than five appears as hashtag spamming. 

Keep it conversational. 

Don’t be afraid to add hashtags mid-conversation. For example, if you are boosting awareness for a #SummerSale, be sure to let your audience know. 

Use capital letters.

Without adding capitals to your hashtags, Susan Boyle’s album party becomes, well, something else entirely…. #SusanAlbumParty 

Happy Hashtagging!