Hashtags are a remarkable tool, and in this day and age they should be an essential component of your  marketing strategy. Who needs to use hashtags? Every business owner should be using hashtags to connect with their target audience and to spread awareness of the products and services they offer. If you aren’t already using hashtags, you are missing out on an incredible opportunity to publicize your business. By creating your own hashtag and effectively using it, people will know how to easily find information about your business, and it is also a great way to generate a buzz around your marketing efforts.

The History of the Hashtag

The first hashtag appeared on Twitter in 2007 when it was suggested as a way to organize Tweets. Since then the hashtag has evolved into much more than a way to categorize information. Today it has become a valuable marketing tool that many companies have used with great success. In 2012 Google+ began using hashtags, and the next year Facebook followed suit. Today you will find hashtags on all of the major social media sites. Although there was a time when many people did not understand what they were or how they were used, that time has now passed and they are now in common usage.

How Hashtags Work

Hashtags work like filters that categorize and filter content so it is easy to find. Effective hashtag use will maximize your visibility and your searchability, which will bring you and your target audience together. When a social media website user enters a hashtag into the search field, it will bring up all of the information and discussions that are related to that topic, provided those posts also have the same hashtag. By carefully choosing the words or phrases that will attract and engage your client base you will be able to introduce new products, attract new business, and much more.

Hashtag Dos and Don’ts

When it comes to hashtag usage, like anything else in life, you can have too much of a good thing. Studies have shown that using more than five hashtags in a post can backfire and turn your target audience off, and you also need to tread carefully if you are newsjacking, which is inserting your hashtags into a post about a trending topic. Ideally this practice will draw attention to your post and you will become a part of the trend, but it is also a risky practice that can go terribly wrong if your hashtags or the topic aren’t relevant to your brand.

Using Hashtags to Your Advantage

Social media users love hashtags, and you will find them on all of the major websites. Although they function the same way on every platform, each social media network has its own method of displaying hashtags, and users may respond to different types of hashtag usage on different sites. There are websites that are specifically designed to help you research the popularity of various hashtags before you decide to use them, and these are a very helpful resource for any business owner. By choosing the right hashtags, understanding how and when to use them, and putting in a little trial and error to see which ones are working best for you, you will soon find yourself using hashtags to market your business every day.

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