The power of the #hashtag
The hashtag has pretty much taken over social media, they are everywhere! In just a few years they’ve been heavily incorporated into social media and are now one of the most powerful tools around.
Hashtags instantly link a social media post to a group of others about the same topic and update a group of like-minded users on that topic in real time. While #hashtags are now used on a variety of social networks, they were made famous by twitter.
For small businesses, the #hashtag represents an important social media strategy. A relevant tag can help drive brand recognition, boost the reach of an advertising campaign and positively impact customer loyalty.
Unfortunately, there are a lot of people out there who just don’t seem to understand the hashtag. They misuse it thinking that it’s simply a means of attracting attention to their content.
The Basics
The hashtag isn’t meant to be used for every word in your post. The point of it is simply to organize content and make it easier to find. Use the #hashtag symbol (#) before a relevant keyword or phrase to categorize tweets and help them easily show up in a search.
#Hashtags can occur anywhere in the Tweet, at the beginning, middle or end and will not appear in search if your account is protected or private.
It will be important to test each social media platform you intend to use and see what resonates the best with your patients. With sites like Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram and Google + all using the #Hashtag…
Twitter of course is where hashtags first became about. They provide a remarkable tool for delivering highly targeted brand messages. You and your targeted audience can join in on trending conversations.
It took a while for Facebook to catch onto the hashtag craze. Just like Twitter, Facebook provides a unique URL for each hashtag that you and your targeted patients can click on and get connected with.
Pinterest is a fast growing social network that has already joined the hashtag bandwagon. Your content is tagged with a unique hashtag visible to Pinterest users searching for a particular topic when they click on the hashtag on your profile or from another user.
Hashtags make your Instagram photos discoverable, otherwise your photos will just remain private. Use of hashtags in photos provide businesses with an effective tool for influencing and creating brand followers.
Google +
Even Google+ is jumping into the hashtag bandwagon, providing a way for your Google + posts to get better results in the search results.
Best Practices
- #Don’t#spam#with#hashtags
Don’t over-tag a single tweet. Typically, you don’t want to use more than one or two hashtags per post, with one hashtag being the optimal choice.
Using too many hashtags devalues the strength of the hashtag and makes each additional one more meaningless than the last. It could lose you followers and permanently cheapen your brands social media reputation.
- Brand awareness
Hashtags can help increase brand awareness! The power of social media marketing relies on how well you can create engagement and conversations between your business and your targeted patients through your content. This is turn will create greater brand awareness that will eventually boost your profitability. Choose just one #hashtag to speak to your brand and strengthen consumer awareness.
- Building Relationships
Hashtags can provide your business with insights on what your patients are interested in as well as what they are talking about. You can do so by simply clicking on a hashtag that you think is related to your business and your brand can get connected and be able to interact with targeted patients.
- Offline exposure
Even though #hashtags were born online, they can generate giant accounts of buzz outside of the internet as well. Placing a #hashtag in a public location or somewhere that will be seen on TV can drive #hashtag use.
- Be clear
Choose a #hashtag that is both easy to remember and clear, complicated #hashtags often don’t work as well.
If you would like any further information then give the Dental Design team a call on: 01202677277.
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