A hashtag is a type of metadata tag primarily used on social media networks such as Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter. Similar to how Search Engine Optimization can improve with the help of keywords, hashtags allow users to easily find contents relevant to a certain product or service. By simply using the pound sign (#) in front of words, it serves as an informal markup for others to search a single stream of contents using the same hashtag.
Hashtags are important for small business owners because they increase exposure within a specific target market. Although using it doesn’t guarantee tons of views or page interaction, it ramps up your potential of building a relationship between you and your clients that can be more effective than paid promotions.
To increase web visibility, brand identity, and customer engagement, you’ll want hashtags that are relevant to your business. Hashtag suggestions that will direct users to your products and services without much effort.
Once posted, hashtags become available for public use and most if not all hashtags don’t contain trademarks. If you can’t come up with trendy hashtags appropriate for your trade, it’s a good idea to get inspiration from your competitors. Checking out other businesses like yours and taking a look through the hashtags they’re using isn’t bad at all, especially if they’re general tags that most people are posting. Moreover, the vast majority of hashtags don’t contain trademarks and many of the hashtags that will bring you qualified traffic are trendy hashtags that you might not come up with on your own.
For example, if you run a restaurant in California, a quick search on high traffic websites will reveal specific hashtags such as #californiadeli and #califoodies along with generic ones like #california and #food. Take a peek at your competitors’ profiles and see the hashtags they’re posting, use them as inspiration to create your own. Plus, if you use the same one it means that their customers might learn a thing or two about your business.
Trending hashtags are the most used tags on social media. Seen more frequently and often re-posted by others, a trending hashtag can either be a general hashtag or a unique combination you might never have thought of. Search for trending and popular hashtags to make reaching your target audience easy yet effective. From the list of trending hashtags, don’t forget to scroll through related tags and pick the ones that suit your business best.
There are many ways to search trending hashtags and each social media platform has its own technique of finding what’s hot and what’s not. On Twitter, the Top 10 Trending Topics are you usually on the page when you log in to your account. Facebook has its own trend section and users can filter the trends according to a category. Meanwhile, on Instagram, you can use the search icon to view the list of top trending captions.
The increasing demand of owners looking for the best hashtags for their business has given rise to the sudden outpour of various tools aimed to make the search easy and convenient. Browsing through the list of trending hashtags can be a time-consuming experience, luckily news tools you don’t have to spend a huge amount of time searching for hashtag suggestions.
Hashtagify, for example, helps you search and locate trending hashtags pertinent to your audience and comes with a tool to keep up with and monitor the latest trends. If, on the other hand, you want a tool that gives information on how often a hashtag is tweeted or re-posted, you can check out Right Tag. For those who want to target a particular audience, Trendsmap lets you see the most searched hashtags by country, city, or region.
It’s not easy to find the best hashtags relevant to your trade but that doesn’t mean you cannot create your own. Creativity and originality are sometimes better than trying to pattern your business like someone else ’s. Creating your very own hashtag gives a lot of benefits such as tailored customer interaction, easy brand recall, and a proficient marketing resource. It also gives your business a chance to optimize discovery and showcase unique characteristics.
When creating your own hashtag, make sure that it is not being used to promote another brand or competitor. Also, be creative and formulate a tag that will stick in the mind of your readers or customers in a positive way. It should be easy to remember, unique, consistent, and exclusive to your business.
If you aren’t social media savvy, the chances of getting the right hashtag suggestions for your business can quite be a challenge. There’s a secret language in social media and if you’re not familiar with the slang and terms, you might end up getting lost in the whole situation. Your followers on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram can point you in the right direction on how the whole hashtag thing works.
Devote some time scrolling through the posts of your own followers and looking at the hashtags they are using. As a business owner, you might find it strange to search for targeted hashtags on your audience’s feed but it’s a hidden treasure trove full of surprises – and you’ll surely find one when you least expect it.