Assuming you already have a Twitter page for your business, hashtags should also be a big part of your social media marketing strategy.
But in case you are not familiar with hashtags, let me give you a brief definition. Hashtag is a word or phrase followed by the hash or pound symbol (#) in order to identify messages around a specific topic or category of interest. Clicking on a hashtagged word in any message shows you all other Tweets using that same hashtag.
Now that you have an idea on what hashtags are, let’s dive in to how you can use them to market and grow your business:
- Use them to be found: Make sure to use commonly used hashtags in your tweets so they are easy to find and show up on searches. Keep in mind that your hashtags need to be relevant and simple. My favorite tool for determining which hashtags to use is Twitonomy.com, you can type in the Twitter handles of the leaders in your industry and Twitonomy will give you a list of their top 10 hashtags. Why reinvent the wheel?
- Use them to monitor your online reputation: Search for hashtags related to your brand or product on a regular basis. This will allow you to see what users are saying about you. People will have conversations about you, your service or your product. You might as well be in the know and part of the conversation.
- Use them to target your best audience: You can send your message to a specific audience by using relevant hashtags. For instance if you are a real estate agent, you can use a hashtag like #homeforsale, then anyone who’s searching Twitter for that hashtag will be able to see your message.
- Use them to keep an eye on your competitors: Search for hashtags with your competitors’ brand, product or service. It’s always good to see what people are saying about them and how they’re handling their customer service through social media. This will allow you to find ways to set yourself apart and provide a better service/product to your customers.
- Use them to promote your events, deals or contests: Come up with a catchy, easy to remember hashtag for your event, promotion or contest to make it easy for people to share. Have your followers use that hashtag in their tweets, this will also make it easy for you to track your campaign.
I want to leave you with one final tip; when it comes to social media marketing, consistency in delivering value to your followers is a big key to success. Have fun tweeting!
