Recently I was assisting my daughter with a task on her phone which suggested a pin followed by the pound sign (#). Remember that? Pound. Number. That one.
She sighed and promptly retorted, "Oh, you mean the hashtag?"
Not exactly.
Regardless of the generational gap, this symbol does hold the key to your business being discovered in areas where you may not typically be found. By including hashtags in your posts you are contributing to a conversation happening on a particular social media platform. More vital, it makes your posts visible in that conversation. Leading to prime reader engagement, which will boost your brand’s social media engagement through likes, shares, comments, and new followers.
Here's the scoop:
Hashtags start with # but they don't work when you use spaces, punctuation, or symbols.
Your accounts need to be public. If not, your hashtagged content won’t be seen by any non-followers.
Too many words. Just don't. The best hashtags tend to be relatively short and easy to remember.
Use relevant and specific hashtags. Obscurity will lead to lost readers and often leads them to non-relevant content.
Less is more. The use of too many hashtags will come off as desperate and spam-like.
There is a bit of science involved or perhaps strategy. Regardless, before you aimlessly wander through the navigation of proper hashtagging, spend some time researching the process.