Grow your brand with this hashtag guide

Hashtags - your way for exposure

What social media do you use? Are you on LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook, or any of the others? Great!

I’m sure you have seen at least one hashtag. Here is a post on Instagram which uses hashtags in the comments:

You have the option to use many of these hashtags (usually up to 30). My advice is to use them all. Keep reading and you’ll understand why.

Every hashtag is like a huge profile. Anyone can post pictures on this ‘profile’ and make even more unique. If you want your photo on the hashtag’s page, you need to add it to your posts. But why do some posts appear on the top of the page?

Users have the option to follow the hashtags they like. When you follow hashtag posts which on them will appear on your feed. The more people engage with a post, the higher it ranks on the page.

What are the benefits of having a popular post like that? The best things are:

• Gain followers
• Get likes
• Get comments
• Get more referrals
• Get more conversions
• Get more website visitors /if you have one/
• Get more subscribers to your email campaign /here is how to create a great email campaign in only 8 steps/

As a brand/business owner, you want to engage with your audience and reach it in the most efficient ways. Hashtags can be one of your greatest assets if used right.

Why you need your own hashtag?

Marketing strategy. Two words one way to success. Exposure is your brand’s life's juice. There are many ways to get your brand out there:

• Paid ads
• Sponsored posts
• Joining communities
• Hashtags

In this article, we are focusing on creating the perfect hashtag and using its full potential. Before using # in front of random words was considered the nerdy thing. Now things have changed.

The most popular hashtags have millions of pictures using them. Those who rank in the top get the most likes, follows, and exposure.

How to create the perfect hashtag for your brand?

Creating a hashtag for your brand/business can be a dream come true and a nightmare at the same time. Like every other part of a marketing strategy you need to do several pieces of research, a few A/B tests, edit if needed, and so on.

A hashtag campaign performing well on one social media may not have the same results on a different platform. Thus, you’ll need to customize your hashtag for every social platform.

You don’t have to appear everywhere. 1-3 social media are more than enough. There are enough people everywhere. If you do your job well, things will work out.

But how do you create the perfect hashtag for your brand? This article will guide you through the steps of creating a successful hashtag campaign.

What does your brand stand for? Get away from the early ideas

You need to specify your brand's purpose. What does it stand for? Every tag has a meaning. Let’s take Modcloth for example:

They use fashion-related tags because the company sells unique, vintage-inspired clothing and accessories. These are called content hashtags. They’re used by everyone and give you the chance to stand out.

Hashtags like #modcloth, #shareacoke, #YesWeCan are called branded or brand. At first, they can be a slogan, hashtags for events and later turn into the brand’s trademark.

When you’re creating your campaign, you’ll come up with a lot of ideas. Here is a little tip. Get rid of the early ideas. When you do brainstorm the first ideas usually aren’t something unique. There’re lots of:

• generic hashtags
• some that can be misunderstood
• too long
• too short

What is your hashtag’s core function?

If you like some of your ideas, keep them on your list for later review. The beginning isn’t always pretty so don’t get frustrated.

Determine your hashtags function. What is it about? Are you going to use it?

a) an event

b) A product

c) A new trend

d) Pieces of content

e) A campaign

These cases need different hashtags each with unique characteristics.

Brand & Campaign

These specific hashtags you make for your business. People use them to market their promotions, products, brand.

As we said brand tags are your company’s name or slogan. They are unique and are designed to represent a company. They play the role of a signature for you. #HaveABreak with KitKat:

Brand tags are easy to remember, easy to use and can go viral. Do research on several social media before you use your hashtag. If it’s too common, create a new one.

Campaign tags are used for campaigns /how oblivious/. Coke’s #shareacoke hashtag is one of the most popular. The company designed its products to have a name on them. That way you can share a coke with a goat if you want.

Trending hashtags

Trending hashtags are based on topics that have become viral. One of the biggest cons is that trends can change within minutes.

When you see a famous hashtag related to your business take the chance. Use it in your posts and there is a chance to get yourself a massive exposure.

Quick Tip: Don’t spam your publications with too many trending hashtags. It is a big turn off for your audience and may get your Twitter profile suspended.

Follow these companies' choices. Make your hashtag usable. You can go with your company’s name. With the right promotion, it could still be the best choice.

Do it for your audience

This rule applies to everything marketing related. Put your audience first. Lay’s hashtag #SmileWithLays is the perfect example:

It engages with the audience. They are encouraged to comment /call to action/ about what makes them smile /they are in the spotlight/. The product’s design is very creative, and people will rush to take pictures and use the hashtag. Great job!

If you have a hard time defining your audience, you can:

• Make a survey
• Look at the stats
• Understand demographics

Create a hashtag that is relevant to your community. Otherwise, you’re risking getting your authority ruined.

Go with the small one! Keep it short and creative

Popular hashtags are short and easy to remember. The longer it is, the higher the chance to get misunderstood

If you’re thinking of giving explanations, forget it! The average attention span is around 8 seconds. If you love a phrase but it’s too wordy, try to express it differently. Play with the words for a while.

Encourage emotions

Emotions play a big role when you want to gain a lot of social shares and create a popular hashtag. People are more likely to engage when you evoke high-arousal emotions. These make a piece of content/hashtag more powerful and memorable.

In 2015, REI closed all its’ retail shops on Black Friday. Every employee was given a day off to #OptOutside. The company encouraged everyone else to do the same. Within 24 hours the brand social media impressions jumped by 7,000%! The rest is history.

REI's action evoked strong emotions of surprise, confusion, and interest in people. The initiative grabbed their attention and the hashtag went viral. Aim for the same effect.

Segment your hashtag list

After you’ve come up with ideas for your hashtag you’ll want to narrow down your focus. Reduce your long list.

Your hashtag has to resonate with your ideal client and with what they’re going to search for. Once you have a selection, go to social media platforms. It’s time for some research.

Do your research – don’t work unprepared

There are two things you want to research:

• Your competitors
• Other hashtags

Take your list with hashtags and run a search on the platforms you’ll use for your campaign. If some of the hashtags already exist, try to tweak them differently. You’ll also find similar tags to yours. Use them to understand how popular a certain topic is.

Look at your competitors’ activity What hashtags are they using? I’m not telling you to copy the competition but rather track their stats. Maybe some well-performing hashtags are relevant for your brand as well.

A few more things to include in your research:

• Making sure that your hashtag cannot be mistaken
• Test it on your friends/audience. Make them write it, say it, and explain it.

You may be thinking: "Why am I supposed to do al of these?" Because you don't want your hashtag campaign to be a failure.

Look at Entenmann for instance. They used the trending #notguilty to promote their baked goods. It’s the perfect hashtag to use with their food but not in those circumstances. The hashtag was used to discuss the Casey Anthony case. Without proper research, Entenmann made a huge mistake.

After realizing it, the company apologizes sincerely. Yet, this fail leaves a big black spot in its’ record.

The lesson is to make sure the hashtag is appropriate, can’t be misused, can’t be misspelled.

PRO TIP: Test the hashtag to a few people outside your team. A/B testing is another option. Monitor how your audience responds to different variations of the hashtag.

Promote your hashtag campaign

Great job! You’ve mastered the art of writing the perfect hashtags. Your first post with the campaign is live. Now it’s time to relax. Not so fast!

The time to promote has come. Customize your email signature to show off your perfect hashtag. Put it on your website. Post on your targeted social media platforms. Let people know about you!

Conclusion

Creating a hashtag for your business can be a fun thing to do. But you need to know the key take-aways:

• Understand your brand's core function. Start brainstorming and get rid of the early ideas.
• What is your hashtags’ core function? Create a clear “call-to-action”.
• Don’t make a too-long hashtag. People have to remember it with ease, understand it, and enjoy using it.
• Evoke emotions in your audience. Love, happiness, interest all these will encourage people to take action.
• Do your homework! Don’t create a hashtag campaign without doing s thorough research. You can't afford to make any mistakes.

So, what is your experience with hashtag campaigns? Share with me in the comments below.