I don’t usually use my blog to “teach” a blatant “lesson”. BUT, recently I’ve noted way too many of my fellow social media users misusing hashtags. Now, maybe they don’t care how they use hashtags in their posts. Maybe they just like seeing the little # symbol sprinkled in their post. Maybe they just haven’t been educated on how to use a hashtag. Yet, it still irks me that such a tiny symbol can’t be used correctly. Well, friends, let me show you!
Firstly, a hashtag is defined “(on social media sites such as Twitter) a word or phrase preceded by a hash or pound sign (#) and used to identify messages on a specific topic.” Think of a hashtag like a search tool. Do you want people to find your post and get more views? Then use a hashtag. Want to join a conversation on a specific topic? Use a hashtag.
My job is to maintain the social media sites for the resort I work for. I constantly use hashtags to bring new eyes to various posts that I update. On my personal Twitter page, I want to bring more eyes to my page and blog, so I use hashtags like “blog” or “WordPress” so that people searching those terms will come across whatever I post. Recently, Facebook has added a hashtag feature but with sites like Twitter and Instagram which are more geared towards reaching the public, hashtags seem to be more helpful. So, unless you want a lot of strangers seeing your personal Facebook post, refrain from using hashtags. They’re great for business pages though!
Another great rule of thumb is that hashtags serve no real purpose if your page is private. If the purpose of a hashtag is to bring people to your page and view your posts, how can they view your page if it’s private? This is one thing that really bugs me. DON’T DO IT! It just adds weird clutter to your posts.
Don’t use symbols in your hashtags, either. It breaks the hashtags, rendering it useless. For example, the hashtag #ADog’sLife is incorrect, while #ADogsLife is correct. It’s not grammatically correct, but it is correct in the world of hashtags. Numerical units can also be used in a hashtag (#TaleOf2Cities)
Also, using nonsensical hashtags like #OmgIJustLovePizzaItsMyFavoriteFoodEverYumYum is SO wrong! Why not just type that as your post in the first place?? If you do need to use multiple words in a row, make sure you capitalize words as you normally would (#SeeWhatIDidThere). It makes the hashtag MUCH easier to read.
Don’t use too many hashtags in your posts. It makes you look spammy and makes the overall post hard to read. I try to stick with 1-5 hashtags depending on the message I want to convey. Many sites will even cut you off after you use too many!
Examples: Are you watching #TheWalkingDead right now? / What should I make more dinner? #vegan #CleanEating / Check out all this snow! #Blizzardof2015 #Winter
You’ll see that following these simple rules helps bring more views to your social media sites. If that’s not the intent you want, then stop using hashtags. Plain and simple. 🙂
Dreams of Bold 