How to Use Hashtags to Promote Your Business on Social Media

Facebook just reported that they now have 2 billion active users every month and that’s just under a third of the world’s population on that social web site. LinkedIn recently surpassed the 500 million active users mark. These trends are not isolated indeed, they are a reflection of the ever-increasing popularity of social media in our lives. It is true that we no longer go on social media, but we now live online. Entrepreneurs should follow these stats with keen interest because such vast numbers present almost infinite opportunities to make money and
promote their brands & businesses. One way of taking advantage of this is to use hashtags and in this post I’m going to show you how you can do that.

WHAT ARE HASHTAGS AND WHY ARE THEY USED
A hashtag is a word or phrase preceded by a hash mark (#) and is used
within a post, comment or message to identify a keyword or topic of
interest and facilitate a search for it. Whenever you add a hashtag to your
post, it is immediately indexed by the social network and searchable by
other users. Hashtags can expand your content reach, amplify your brand,
target your market, get your content found, improve your SEO, and more.

HOW TO USE HASHTAGS
There are various ways to use hashtags.

1. Brand hashtags
These are hashtags that promote your brand or slogan or pay-off line. You
want to have a hashtag that’s unique to your business, so research when you
are creating your hashtag. You also want a hashtag that’s catchy so that
your audience will easily remember it and will be more likely to use it on
social media.
You can ask your customers to tweet, update statuses and upload pics using
your hashtag so that it gets viral. This in effect, means you have to serve
your existing customers well so that they become your free brand
ambassadors. You can also create a competition where you will ask you
audience use your hashtag and win a prize. This will make your hashtag go
viral and it will increase your reach.

2.Campaign hashtags
You can create hashtags for specific campaigns or promotions. For example,
if you are running a 50% off promotion, you can use the hash tag #TwoForOne.
You then ask your customers to include the use of your hashtag as a
requirement to take advantage of the sale. When they use your hashtag,
their friends and followers will see it and this increases your reach as
their followers can also engage with you.
For example, Pizza Inn can use the #TerrificTuesdays and increase
awareness. Some people who might have forgotten about will see the hashtag
on a friends thread and go and buy.

3. Popular hashtags
A popular, or trending hashtag is topic that has become very popular (dont
confuse trending topics with trending hashtags). When you see a trend that
relates to your business, engage in it by using the tag. By using a
trending tag in your content update, you can potentially get your message
seen to a massive audience. Your content update can be seen by more than
just your Fans and Followers – and it’s free.
You can use these tools to find trending hashtags
-Hashtags.org (general trending hashtags and constant trends)
-Statigram (Instagram specific)
-Whats the trend (popular hashtags in the last thirty days)
-Twitonomy (find personal hashtags similar to your content)
-Trendsmap (geographical distribution of trends)
Monitor trending tags by using the sites and apps mentioned above. When you
see a topic trending that is related to your business – make a content
update, and include the hashtag.

4. Content Hashtags
Content hashtags are hashtags you use in your posts. They are not branded
(and not used to define your business and marketing). They aren’t
necessarily trending or highly popular. They are simply common hashtags
that are related to your post content.
Content hashtags improve the Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) of your
posts. They get your updates seen by your consumers who are searching for,
or using, the hashtag words.

Some categories of common hashtags include:
• Product hashtags
• Event hashtags
• Location hashtags
• Holiday hashtags

RULES FOR HASHTAGS
1. A good hashtag should be memorable, unique and relevant
2. Capitalize the first letter of each word
3. No spaces or special punctuation or the @ symbol
4. Always use the same spelling, if you misspell it, you create a new
hashtag
5. Each social network has its own specific hashtag etiquette, take the
time to see how your audience uses hashtags on every social network.
6. Don’t spam
7. Make sure your hashtag works i.e it’s all blue.

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 I’m a digital skills and social media strategy specialist. Get in touch if you want more on how you can leverage social media to promote your
business or start one.
+263774746242

Twitter: @taylorchiyangwa
LinkedIn: Tailone Taylor Chiyangwa
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