Hashtag marketing: increase reach and interaction on social media

Starting in 2007, the microblogging platform Twitter popularized hashtags by making them a basic feature. Now, over a decade later, it’s hard to imagine the internet without the nifty pound symbol (also called the number sign), which is used for tagging across all major social media channels. Not too long afterwards, hashtag marketing surfaced: a strategy whereby companies use hashtags to increase the reach of their content and maximize interactions. Keep reading to find out more about this form of marketing and how you can successfully integrate a hashtag campaign into your social media marketing mix.

As its name suggests, the fundamental element of hashtag marketing is the hashtag. Hashtags are keywords that are marked with a pound symbol at the beginning. Tagging posts in this way enables users to search websites for the content or topics that are interesting to them. And using the right hashtags can significantly increase the reach of your posts.

Hashtag marketing has proven handy in the implementation of guerilla marketing strategies, because there’s always the possibility that a hashtag could go viral. Observing hashtag trends also allows companies to keep tabs on which topics are currently of interest, and can use this information to develop an appropriate content strategy.

Implementing a successful hashtag marketing strategy requires comprehensive keyword research. Depending on the nature of the campaign and your goals, you’ll want to consider using existing hashtags and creating new ones. Usually, a combination of various hashtags makes for a successful marketing strategy. In general, hashtags can be categorized as follows:

• Popular hashtags have a large reach, but will put your content in competition with a large number of other posts.
• Trending hashtags about topics that are currently relevant or popular give you the chance to enter a wider discussion.
• Newly created hashtags have a direct connection to your company and increase the visibility of your brand.

Hashtag marketing has become an important part of most social media strategies and is used across channels ranging from Twitter and Facebook to LinkedIn.

Not all hashtags are created equal. Different types of hashtags can be used to achieve different goals within your hashtag marketing strategy. Some keywords serve to increase the reach of your posts, and some improve your brand’s visibility. Next, we’ll introduce you to three popular types of marketing hashtags and show examples of how companies have successfully integrated them into their posts.

Some large companies have created their own online marketing hashtags. These hashtags are usually short, easy to remember, and contain the name of the company or brand. Sometimes customers even develop the right brand hashtag themselves, which the company then makes use of. This increases the interaction rate for the company and motivates its fans to use the hashtag as well. Of course, it also automatically increases the reach for those posts alongside brand awareness.

Event hashtags have a relatively short lifespan in comparison with brand hashtags. As you can probably guess from the name, event hashtags are used for either one-time or recurring events. They are normally used before an event actually takes place, as companies spread the word about it using the hashtags. At the event itself, there’s a good chance that visitors use the hashtag to post live from it. You can also effectively use event hashtags if you’re not organizing the event.

Community hashtags are similar to brand hashtags and are mostly used by large companies and well-known brands. These hashtags call on the fans of a company or brand to post their own content and tag the brand. This strengthens the connection that the customer feels with the brand and increases brand awareness. These online marketing hashtags are also an important tool for word-of-mouth marketing. Some companies share user-generated content on their own page, which provides users with extra motivation for using the hashtag.

The world-famous franchise Starbucks strengthens its relationship with its partners and employees using hashtags like #tobeapartner and #tobeincollege. These hashtags are aimed at existing and future employees.

The strategic use of hashtags has become a fixture among social media marketing strategies. Especially on Instagram and Twitter, hashtag marketing can significantly increase the reach of your posts. Keep reading to find out how you can effectively implement hashtags as a part of your marketing strategy.

The first step is to perform thorough research on fitting hashtags. Important information includes how many posts are tagged with your hashtag and how often it is used. This research should be carried out continuously. That way you can be sure to stay on top of trends and relevant topics.

What underlies most hashtags are trends, which are often short lived. Hashtags that are based on trends offer the chance for large reach and a rapid increase in followers.

Part of comprehensive hashtag research is an analysis of your competition. Which hashtags are used by companies with similar target audiences? Interaction rates for competing posts can provide insights into whether a company’s strategies are worth drawing inspiration from.

There’s no final word on what makes for a successful hashtag marketing strategy. However, the combination of diverse hashtags tends to produce good results. Most companies combine general, popular hashtags with hashtags that are specific to their brand and company-specific keywords.

Influencer marketing can provide a chance for new companies to quickly increase their reach. In order to implement hashtag marketing in cooperation with influencers, be sure to develop a targeted campaign, a shared communications strategy, and branded hashtags.

Defining your goals makes it possible to measure the success of a campaign and adjust your strategy if need be. Common goals of a hashtag campaign include increasing reach, growing the number of links to a site or account, and expanding the number of website/shop visitors. In order to evaluate your success, simply compare these numbers before and after a campaign. Keep in mind, however, that hashtag marketing is a constantly changing area and requires continuous adjustment of your strategy to the interests of users.