A Hashtag is made by putting a pound sign (#) before any word or expression with no accentuation or spaces. The hashtag goes about as a record of the keywords used on a social media platform.

Technically, a hashtag must not have punctuation or special characters like $, %, & etc.

Even if multiple words have to be written, they should be written together without spaces. For instance, #ThisIsAHashtag is the right way to write it instead of #This is a hashtag.

If you want to use numbers, make sure to use them with letters and not alone.

On almost every social media platform, putting ‘#’ before any word(s) makes it a searchable link on that platform.

• Classify topics on a social media website which makes it simple for the users to look for content on their desired topics.
• Limit the discussions to any subject
• Group conversations

A hashtag brings together the conversations of the same topic posted by various users in a single stream. In the event that you incorporate a hashtag in your tweet, users who are looking for that hashtag will see your tweet.

• Hashtags were introduced by former Google designer Chris Messina in 2007 when he asked his followers in his tweet if they want to use the pound symbol (#) for grouping their conversations.

Brands, media agencies and users like you and me. Anyone can create a hashtag by writing a keyword or a phrase without spaces after the “#” symbol.

You can include these Hashtags anywhere in a post. These are not case sensitive. For example, both #ILoveNY and #inlovewithapple are valid hashtags.

But it’s better to capitalize the first letters of words in a hashtag as it can be easily understood in case multiple words are used.

Different social media platforms have different ways to display the results when a hashtag is searched on them.

For instance, most of the social media platforms show posts with greatest popularity are on top while on Facebook, posts by friends containing those hashtags are displayed before public posts.

The hashtag was introduced by Twitter hence this is where it’s used the most. Trending hashtags are displayed on the left side of the Twitter stream. By clicking on the hashtag, all tweets, photos, videos, GIFs can be seen.

You can find others sharing the same interests in that specific hashtag’s stream even if they aren’t connected with you.

Hashtags on Facebook also bring posts shared by different people into a single stream. However, unlike Twitter, a lot of people on Facebook have private profiles.

Their posts aren’t displayed in the hashtag stream. On the top right corner, the trending hashtags are visible.

Hashtagging on Instagram works similar to other platforms. Photos having the same hashtag appear in its stream. One can scroll through it and view photos of the same theme.

Google+ adds hashtags on the upper-right side of the post and other posts having the same hashtag can be viewed on the same page. It also suggests hashtags which can be added depending on the content of the post.

Tumblr has a separate field for adding hashtags labeled as ‘tags’. Hashtags and keywords can be entered in those fields without the # symbol as Tumblr adds them on its own.

Adding them in the content doesn’t make them clickable. Unlike other platforms, spaces, apostrophes, commas, dots, and many other symbols can also be used on Tumblr.

Pinterest allows hashtags to be added in the pin description only. Related content can be found by clicking on the particular hashtag.

Youtube uses hashtags a little differently. They can be used in the comments section and clicking on them will lead to the specific streams containing videos with titles having those hashtags.

1. Brand – Brands build hashtags around their taglines to form a community of people connected with the brand like the customers, suppliers, influencers etc.

2. Campaign – Hashtags generated by brands are used for their campaign strategies. They help the users in interacting with the brand and engaging with the campaign. It’s also a great way to keep track of the campaign’s reach and engagement using hashtag tracking.

3. Event – Just like brands, hashtags are used by major events to start the conversation, let everyone connect to it easily and increase its popularity.

4. General – These are added to the tweet to add context to it and describe it better. They can be used to reach a wider audience if common hashtags are used.

5. Common expressions – These are sentiments which people express via short forms using hashtags. Some common expressions are TGIF (Thank God It’s Friday), #YOLO (You Only Live Once), #TBT (Throwback Thursday).

6. Trending hashtags – These are those hashtags which have been generated organically and have gained traction pretty quickly. They can trend for days or even just for a few minutes.

1. Choose right topic – Before you start tweeting on a topic, look for something relatable which will definitely start a conversation because if people can relate to the topic and think they can add to that conversation, they will use the hashtag.

2. Pick the right audience – Target the audience which would be interested in the conversation you want to start by tagging and inviting agencies and groups to bring in more followers to join the conversation.

3. Pick the right time – After identifying the right audience, it is very important to pick the correct time to connect with them for maximum reach and engagement. You can extract the best time to post the content by using third-party tools.

Above screenshot  is a part of hashtag analytics report showing the pattern of tweets posted by users with the searched hashtag.

4. Keep updating – Adding something new to the conversation keeps it going for long. Keep updating with new information, stats, events that are happening right now.

5. Social Media Influencers – Even if you create entertaining content and manage to coin a nice phrase for a hashtag if you don’t promote it properly, it won’t trend.

6. Track Metrics – It’s important to figure out what works with your audience. So, once the campaign gets wrapped up, fetch the data to know what tweets went out and how much engagement they gained.

Sometimes hashtags can be underutilized or misused. It is important to know the dos and don’ts of how to use a hashtag.

Dos

#1. Be specific – Be very specific while using hashtags. They should be relevant to the content being posted. The more specific the hashtag is, the more targeted the audience will be. Whether it is the description of the content or the reaction towards it, all of it needs to be relevant.

#2. Keep in mind the social network you are using it on – Hashtags have varied functions on different social media. Hashtags on Instagram are used to describe the content posted, hashtags on Twitter are used to refer to the topic of the conversation while hashtags in WordPress are used as tags to categorize the topics of the articles.

Do get familiar about how the hashtags function on different social media platforms before start using them right away.

#3. Use new and innovative hashtags – It’s better to be original with hashtags and make sure that they haven’t been used too recently. This could be the campaign’s or brand’s tagline. Be creative while brainstorming because in a world replete with hashtags, you need yours to stand out.

#4. Promote them – If there’s a hashtag which matches your brand or perfectly encapsulates what you stand for then it needs to be promoted well so people can find you and your community easily. It should be used on every social network and promoted offline as well on your business cards or brochures.

#5. Check For The Same Username – Always check if there’s an existing username already exists for the keyword you intend to include as a hashtag. For example, it may cause confusion if there is already a user with the name @sweethome for the hashtag #sweethome.

Don’ts

#1. Use too long or complicated hashtags– Hashtags need to be short and sweet so they can be easily read hence, easily used. It needs to be simple so that there’s a chance that people may search with similar terms.

Since Twitter allows just 140 characters, if the hashtag itself is too long then most likely, it won’t be used because people would have to cut short their message and no one would want to do that.

#2. Use too many hashtags – Using too many hashtags can be simply lethal because although it means more reach, the reach could be of the wrong kind.

#3. Use trending hashtags because they are trending – Trending hashtags should be used after proper research. Using a hashtag simply because it’s trending even though it’s irrelevant to the content posted wouldn’t achieve the desired results.

#4. Use special characters or spaces – Hashtags support alphanumeric characters only without spaces. Avoid using special characters like ‘&’ ‘-‘ ” because then only the first word will be considered in the hashtag.

Using hashtags can be extremely advantageous to brands or individuals who want to promote themselves on social media.

Following are some of the top advantages you can capitalize on if you use hashtags:

1. Brand Identity – Brand identity is how a brand wants its customers to perceive it. Hashtag enables a brand to project itself the way it wants to be projected as it can coin a hashtag related to its name, tagline, USP etc.

2. Get Viral – Using a hashtag ties your content to its stream thus allowing people to find it on social media when they search for it. You can instantly become more visible and part of a trending conversation.

#nomakeupselfie was picked up when a novelist Laura Lipmann used it as a caption for one of her photos with a different hashtag which wasn’t related to cancer at all. People attached the idea of cancer  to the hashtag themselves and it went viral when thousands of people started tweeting with it.

3. Connect Target Audience – Brands can engage in relevant conversations of trending hashtags. This allows them to connect to their target audience and discover their views and opinions thus, they can cater to them better.

Certainly, there are some disadvantages too if hashtags are not used properly. Some of them are listed below:

1. Privacy breach:A hashtag campaign is a course of action in which hashtags are created on the social media platforms to achieve defined objectives of marketing, public relations, helping shape brand image and increase engagement.

2. Hashtag hijacking or hashjacking: Hashtags can geet hijacked when someone else includes your trending hashtag in their own post in order to increase their reach by taking advantage of its virality.

3. Trolls: Hashtags can be attacked by trolls who are people who post content including target hashtags, based on their personal sentiments, bad experiences or with the intent of ridiculing and making fun of the message.

An amusing example of being trolled is that of Susan Boyle’s tweet.
Her PR group tweeted the hashtag #susanalbumparty to promote the launch of her new album but very soon they found Twitterati having a field day with Susan Anal Bum Party!

• Avoid vague, open-ended question type hashtags – Don’t create hashtags which can be interpreted according to someone’s own convenience. It needs to be to-the-point and unambiguous.

• Give people a specific reason to tweet – Make a hashtag and specify the reason to the audiences to use it. For example, if they need to use it in their tweets to avail discounts or participate in a challenge then it is less probable that they will be hijacked. If the users are motivated enough to tweet using it, they will.

• Think of your company’s overall situation – Do consider your company’s existing situation when the hashtag campaign is started. If the company is already being criticized and getting negative publicity then starting another campaign will just invite people to criticize further.

• Try to include your brand name – Many times, brands purposely pick hashtags without including their names in the it. On the other hand, they should do that as such hashtags are less likely to be ridiculed.

Hashtag campaigns are used to gain attention towards new products, popularize existing ones, and/or disseminate content to build brand awareness and increase sales. They can also be used as a part of contests or giveaways.

A hashtag campaign, if carried out right can bring all the attention your brand needs. Below are the guiding steps to create a successful hashtag campaign.

1. Analyze your own and your competitor’s presence on social media – Analyze metrics such as your current followers, reach, contributors, impressions, top sites & content, influential users. List the main keywords and associated keywords which are relevant to your brand and niche.

2. Set an objective– Before you start strategizing and implementing, it’s important to know the objective which you want to achieve with the campaign. It can be increasing brand awareness, followers, customers, app downloads etc. Depending on the objective, the strategy can be effectively planned.

3. Strategize– The entire structure and idea of the campaign needs to be outlined before you start working on it. It needs to be:

• 1. For promoting offline, you can take to print or digital media depending on the budget, goals and target audience.

• 2. Cross-promote on all social media sites which allow hashtags. Just because your campaign is running on Twitter, doesn’t mean you can’t promote it on Facebook, Instagram etc.