You see hashtags everywhere. They are most common on Twitter, but they have become widely used on Instagram and Facebook as well. They are the digital world’s way of saying “this is important.”
There is a misconception that hashtags are a form of shorthand, but their purpose is to make a post searchable. This means that people can search for specific words, and all the content with that tag and everyone who has used it will be grouped together – much like doing a web search, but on social media.
Your goal is to make your posts show up in as many related searches as possible. Here are seven things to keep in mind to make your tags relevant and not annoying.
- It can be anywhere
You can hashtag any word anywhere in a sentence. You can even add a specific tag to the end of a sentence.
- Avoiding a #Divorce Hazard
- Cross Ownership of the Life #Insurance Policies #lifeinsurance
- No punctuation or spaces necessary
Do not use punctuation with tagged words, and remove all spaces.
- Incorrect: keep #up-to-date
- Correct: keep #uptodate
- Make it relevant
Don’t hashtag article titles or non-specific words, and save tagging for relevant and targeted terms. The long and crazy tags have a very low probability of ever being a target from someone’s search. By being specific and relevant, your tags will show up in more common searches.
- Incorrect: #Non-LifeInsuranceConsiderations: LongTermCare
- Correct: Non-Life Insurance Considerations: Long Term Care #ltc #longtermcare
- Maintain structure
The structure of the tag will determine where your posts will show up. A search for “financial solutions” will produce posts that contain the hashtag #financialsolutions, not the ones tagged as #financial #solutions. The latter will actually show in every search for “financial” and every search for “solutions” – and that’s a lot!
- Incorrect: #wealth #management
- Correct: #wealthmanagement
- Avoid spamming
Most people will ignore a tweet containing only hashtags, and they will dismiss it as spam. Don’t let your useful information be regarded and discarded as trash.
- Incorrect: #Learn #about #investing in #uncertain #times
- Correct: Learn about #investinginuncertaintimes.
- Customize tags
Create a custom tag specific to your or your business. Prior to committing to a tag, search what you have in mind to make sure another individual or company isn’t already using it and that your tag doesn’t produce junk results. Every time you post something you can include your unique tag and make it searchable for later reference.
- Incorrect: #wealthadvisor
- Correct: #[YourCompanyName]
Hashtags are commonplace on social media. They are very useful, but they can also be disregarded if overused. Do a little homework, and be thoughtful about your tags, and your posts will start to fill up searches everywhere.