How to Use Hashtags: The Power of #Hashtags in Social Media Marketing

When it comes to social media marketing, or even just social media in general, we should all know what a hashtag is. #AmIRight?

All joking aside, hashtags are a great way to boost your brand’s social media engagement. Incorporating hashtags in your staffing firm’s social media posts should be mandatory. In this blog, we are breaking down what a hashtag is, what they do for your staffing firm, and how to use hashtags effectively for your social media marketing.

How to Use Hashtags: Back to the Basics
First things first, what is a hashtag? A hashtag is a metadata tag that is prefaced with a hash sign, or pound symbol (#). In other words, it’s a word or phrase used on social media sites and apps to identify digital content on a specific topic. Hashtags were first brought to light in 2007 when web marketing specialist Chris Messina thought up the idea to group related tweets together.

how do you feel about using # (pound) for groups. As in #barcamp [msg]?

— ⌗ChrisMessina (@chrismessina) August 23, 2007

Since this tweet, hashtags have become a normal routine in social media marketing on many different platforms.

When using a hashtag in your social media posts, it’s important that you know the ground rules for this specific type of tagging. First, you cannot have any spaces, punctuation, or symbols. For example, #socialmediamarketing or #socialmediastrategy are a great use of hashtags for this specific topic.

Second, your hashtags should not be too long and should be relevant and specific to the topic you are sharing and want to be found for. For instance, #staffingfirmsocialmediamarketingandstrategy is NOT a good use of hashtagging. The problem with this is that it’s too long and obscure, meaning not many users are going to be able to find it or use it. Not to mention it’s very hard to read. A good rule of thumb is that a hashtag should be short and easy to remember.

Third, be sure your social media accounts are public so your hashtags are seen by other users. If you have a business account for your staffing firm, it’s likely your account is public, meaning that anyone is able to see your profile, view your posts, and find you through hashtags.

The Importance of Hashtags and Ways to Use Them
Hashtags are very important when it comes to social media marketing because it helps to promote your social posts to your target audience. There are many ways to use hashtags that are very important for your social media strategy. Let’s break it down.

Grabs User’s Attention
A great trait about hashtags is that they stand out in your social posts. Generally, hashtags are in a different color than the rest of your post’s text, allowing it to pop out to users as they quickly scroll through their feeds. If utilized correctly, it can grab the attention of users and encourage them to further interact with your posts.

Increase Visibility
The use of hashtags allow for your posts, and therefore your organization’s page, to become more visible to your target audience. Hashtags are very similar to keywords in SEO. When it comes to keywords, people are searching in Google for what they are interested in by using specific keywords. Similarly, users search for specific hashtags on various social media channels, giving them all of the posts that have used that hashtag. Using hashtags that you know your target audience is interested in makes your posts more visible to them.

Increase Engagement
When your staffing firm is posting a relevant hashtag, you are greatly increasing your chances of engagement. Utilizing hashtags contributes to a greater conversation in the social media world. It brings together many different posts that all share a common thread. Using the right hashtags attracts your target audience, which also encourages more engagement such as liking, sharing, commenting, and following your page.

Contributes to Your Brand
Social media, in general, is great for your staffing firm brand. Your social media platforms are a great way to spread your content across to your target audience. To avoid getting lost in a sea of posts, use hashtags! Using hashtags is a great way to promote your business and drive further conversation among your audience and potential leads.

Encourages Social Awareness and Supports Social Causes
As mentioned earlier, hashtags are a great way to contribute to a conversation. It does this by adding your post to a thread of many other posts using the same hashtag. This is great when it comes to social awareness. Hashtags go beyond promoting your brand, as it also acts as a way to contribute to important causes and create more social awareness.

Adds More Context to Your Posts
Sometimes, hashtags speak louder than words! Depending on what you are posting about, sometimes long-tailed captions are not the way to grab your follower’s attention. This is where hashtags come in! Using a hashtag to contextualize what you are talking about in your posts is a great way to make your intentions clear to your followers and potential leads.

Hashtags are a great addition to your social media posts and should always be utilized. They are a great way to increase engagement and post visibility. If you have any more questions on how to use hashtags or on your social media strategy, please feel free to contact us.

Sources:
https://www.cofmag.com/2021/04/the-power-of-hashtags-in-social-media/
https://blog.hootsuite.com/how-to-use-hashtags/
https://wpmanageninja.com/power-of-hashtags-in-social-media-marketing/

About S.J.Hemley Marketing
S.J.Hemley Marketing is a marketing and sales consulting firm focused on driving tangible results for professional services firms. Brand matters, but not without ROI. With over 20 years of sales and marketing experience within staffing and recruiting, we have helped to drive successful branding, sales training, lead generation activities as well as defining marketing strategy for top organizations. www.sjhemleymarketing.com