Hashtags have been in use online since 1988 when they were used on IRC. They first appeared on Twitter in 2007 and have since completely changed the way that social media works.
These days you’ll find hashtags being used to great benefit on most major social media sites.
Trending hashtags can make a global impact. Remember #metoo and the positive change that it created?
88% of brand posts using at least one hashtag see a 12.6% lift on engagement.
A few letters and a hash symbol can make a considerable difference to your marketing strategy. What’s not to love when it comes to hashtags?
But what’s the difference between a keyword and a hashtag? Both are vital parts of any modern digital marketing campaign. But knowing how to use them to their full effect can make the difference between your content reaching a sizable audience.
In this article, we’ll talk you through how to to use creative hashtags and keywords to build your audience and traffic.
What are the Benefits of Creative Hashtags?
Hashtags provide users with the ability to search posts for specific topics. They are made up of a hash symbol (#) followed by a keyword. Using hashtags on social media can make the difference between your posts only being visible to your users and reaching the eyes of millions.
In the quick-moving world of social media, hashtags provide significant short term gains. Particularly on sites like Twitter, which see a higher turnover of trending topics.
Hashtags on Instagram see a slower turnover. Hashtags such as #love have well over one billion posts. While this is obviously a well-searched term, the turnover of posts using this hashtag will be swift. Your post will often be lost within seconds, and the hashtag won’t bring you much attention.
This type of hashtag has its uses, but often you need to employ greater creativity with your hashtags.
Creating catchy hashtags that resonate with particular news or cultural events can propel your posts and content to a much wider audience. But in order for your posts and content to actually benefit from the use of that hashtag, it needs to add value.
Hashtags Vs. Keywords
In many respects, hashtags and keywords are similar. They are both digital marketing tools that rely on search terms. Both are tools that you need to be using to drive more significant audiences.
Hashtags are essentially keywords with a hashtag in front of them. Instead of being used in a search engine, they are used within a specific social media platform.
Search Engine Optimization is reliant on keywords. Keywords relate to search terms and are vital for driving traffic to your website.
Keywords are more static than hashtags. They provide longer-term digital marketing benefits. Hashtags can often be much more ephemeral than keywords.
Keywords are not immediate. They take time to filter through to search engines. It could be several days before search engines crawl your site and find any new content.
When it comes to hashtags, because posts go up immediately on social media, they work fast.
Using Keywords as Part of Your Digital Marketing Strategy
One of the best SEO tips for ensuring your keywords are correct is to explore the questions that people are asking on Google. Answering these questions in your content and including the questions in your keywords will help you to rank for them on search results.
Use tools such as SEMRush to help you to identify the types of keywords related to your subject that you should be using.
Insert keywords naturally within the context of your website content. Don’t stuff them. You may need an algorithm to spot their presence in order to boost your rankings and get you seen, but you need your content to be read by real people.
The more related keywords you can use in your content, the more chance you will have of ranking.
Research Popular Hashtags
Engaging social media users to read your content can be achieved through the use of hashtags.
Picking the right hashtag can make the difference between your posts reaching a much greater audience. Knowing which hashtags to use is vital.
Monitoring trending topics is going to help you understand the right hashtags to use at that particular moment. But this is only part of the research that you should be doing.
Use a hashtags search engine that will show you how popular a hashtag is and how many posts per hour are created using that tag.
Develop a Hashtag Marketing Strategy
Whether you run a business or are trying to market anything at all via social media, you will need a strong hashtag marketing strategy.
If you are trying to create brand recognition, your marketing strategy will help you.
Create a brand hashtag that you will use with consistency.
Use focus hashtags that are specific to your brand. A great example of this would be #shareacoke. Use your hashtag on all of your marketing, especially on offline campaigns, and on your website.
Use A/B testing to compare the success of brand-specific hashtag use. If you have a few ideas, you can measure the success of each before fully committing to driving that hashtag.
Identify key trending hashtags that you have synergy and relevance to. If something is happening in the world, and you have a solution or a product that can help, using hashtags can help you tap into public consciousness on the topic.
Spark Conversations With Hashtags
Now you’ve explored the way that hashtags and keywords can benefit your brand through the use of a marketing strategy; you’ll want to get out there using creative hashtags.
You can use these hashtags to open up conversations with your hashtags.
Create hashtags that bring users in and ask questions of your audience. By asking questions, you will prompt comments which help widen your reach further.
What questions would your brand ask to engage its audience?
Liked what you have read? Keep coming back for more tips on driving your SEO and social media.
Namaste UI collaborates closely with clients to develop tailored guest posting strategies that align with their unique goals and target audiences. Their commitment to delivering high-quality, niche-specific content ensures that each guest post not only meets but exceeds the expectations of both clients and the hosting platforms. Connect with us on social media for the latest updates on guest posting trends, outreach strategies, and digital marketing tips. For any types of guest posting services, contact us on info[at]namasteui.com.