The world we live in today is extremely different from the one even just a decade ago. The Internet has become an integral part of our everyday lives as technology has taken over society. The virtual and the real are steadily merging together, creating a nice seamless blend. This is why a lot of concepts relevant just a couple of years ago either cannot be used entirely or require some serious adjustments before they can prove helpful again.
A great example of a sphere that has been changed a lot due to technological progress is marketing. In the old days marketing used to be mostly one-way, aimed at delivering a single idea to the customer without expecting any feedback whatsoever. While it could have been effectively put down to lack of alternatives, such an approach would fail miserably today. People are sick and tired of aggressive marketing and want it to be subtler. Therefore, every successful marketing strategy involves establishing two-way communication between the business and the customer that would eventually result in a long-lasting business relationship. One of the factors that have made it possible is the popularization of social media and its ever-increasing role in the lives of modern people. Every day 3.2 billion people worldwide log into their social media accounts to like, post, share and discuss! A pretty impressive reach so to say.
Through Social Media Marketing businesses can significantly boost their brand awareness and brand loyalty as nowadays customer does not view brands separately from its profile on major social media. Therefore, whenever there is a choice to make between two similar brands, they would always give their preference to the one that has a better online presence and thus appears to be more familiar to them.
One of the best ways to increase business’ online presence is to use hashtags and use them strategically. In fact, Social Media Marketing delineates 3 key hashtag strategies:
- Brand Campaign Hashtags
- Content Hashtags
- Trending Hashtags
The names of the aforementioned strategies seem to be self-explanatory, yet if you want to apply them correctly, you need to be aware of all the peculiarities each of those has.
Brand and Campaign Hashtags
The first group of hashtags that businesses can use to boost their customer relationships would be brand and campaign hashtags. These two are in the same directory as they raise brand awareness and are specific to the brand.
So, brand hashtags are specific unique hashtags that are associated with your business (whether that would be your brand name, slogan or just a catchy tagline you use in your commercials). This type of hashtags helps to market your products or services to your target audience as well as to promote it online.
In fact, creating a brand hashtag that customers could use in their publications is extremely beneficial to businesses: not only it acts as a free advertisement, but also creates a solid bond between the business and its customers. A recent poll has shown that 4 out of 10 people feel a stronger connection to those brands that allow its target audience to get involved with content, especially through inviting user-generated content.
Moreover, besides spreading the word about your business across the platform, user-generated content can also make your brand appear more trustworthy in the eyes on your customers (granted the posts users mark with your brand hashtag are positive) as 67% of consumers state it created a more authentic shopping experience.
Campaign hashtags are similar to the brand ones as they are, too, are unique hashtags associated exclusively with your business to promote it. The only difference is that campaign hashtags have shorter longevity as they are explicitly aimed to facilitate a current marketing campaign. An excellent opportunity for a business to create and use campaign hashtags would be when carrying out an online contest.
Tips for Using Brand Hashtags
- Create a catchy hashtag;
- Keep it short;
- Make sure it does not have any hidden meaning that can be inappropriate or offensive;
- Be consistent in your hashtags;
- Interact with the people who use your brand hashtags to boost the relationship.
Trending Hashtags
Trending hashtags are the hashtags that users of the platform are mentioning a lot in their publications at the given time. Trending hashtags are not constant and may change in a matter of hours if not minutes with people changing the topic of their discussion when something new comes along.
However, despite their short lifespan, trending hashtags are quite effective in social media marketing and can get your business a significantly increased engagement. Whenever you see a trending hashtag that is relevant to your business, join the wave and post something that would not only contribute towards the general discussion but also remind everyone in it about your brand. You can get your message seen by a massive audience, even those who do not follow you!
Moreover, your customers will appreciate your involvement with the latest trends, which would definitely add some points and make you stand out among the competitors who missed out on this opportunity.
How to Find Trending Hashtags
To find trending hashtags, you can either monitor the trending sections on social media platforms or, alternatively, use some tools designed for this purpose, like Hashtagify.me
Tips for Using Trending Hashtags
- Be quick in using the trending hashtags as they may not be popular later;
- Use tools to identify the appropriate trending hashtags.
Content Hashtags
Content hashtags are different from the brand hashtags as they are not branded and do not define your business. They might not even be trending at the moment, but they are still rather popular among the social media platform community.
Content hashtags are the common hashtags that you can add to your posts to address the field your business operates in, or the lifestyle it is relevant to, or even just to mention the type of product you sell. These hashtags are the ones all of your competitors would have as you all produce the same kind of product.
These hashtags are mostly used to make the business identifiable to the large masses that use social media platforms to search for certain things and explore the general scene.
Tips for Using Content Hashtags
- Do not include too many hashtags as it can come across as spammy;
- Engage with people using the same hashtag to expand your target audience.
Author’s Bio:
Cheryl Hearts is a talented journalist from Boston, Massachusetts. From an early age, she was into writing so she decided to make it her career. Obtaining a Master’s Degree in Journalism has boosted her desire to grow as a journalist and currently she contributors to major media publications. Cheryl also runs her blog CherylHearts.com where she shares her opinion on topics trending in modern society.
