Did you know a social media post with at least one hashtag averages 12.6% more engagement than posts without a hashtag? ?
Businesses often underestimate the importance of hashtags (and getting it right). Hashtags should be more than just an afterthought to your social media caption. A hashtag strategy not only builds your brand’s online presence, but it also helps you grow your account (yes, we’re talking extra followers). So how do you build a hashtag strategy in 2020?
Let’s start with a quick history lesson on the humble #hashtag. ?
Twitter started the trend in 2007 when the platform began using hashtags as a way to index trending keywords. Since then, nearly every social media site has leveraged hashtags as a way to make trending topics and content more easily searchable.
Now, when someone types an update on a social media platform, there is often a hashtag present in the post copy. This is particularly true with Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest and LinkedIn. While Facebook uses it too, hashtags are not as popular on that platform.
While hashtagging every word under the sun may be tempting, it’s not the most effective way to have hashtags work for you. Instead, here are 3 reasons to use hashtags in your social media posts and how they will influence your hashtag strategy.
1. Increased Engagement
Using hashtags in your social media posts will greatly increase brand awareness and more importantly, engagement. Twitter reports that businesses and brands that use hashtags have a 50% higher rate of engagement than those who don’t.
2. Brand Engagement
A good hashtag strategy is key when it comes to brand engagement but you want to use the right hashtags and use them in a way that is relevant. Doing so leads to increased engagement with your brand, and in turn, builds your audience. Implementing a solid brand hashtag strategy will help you serve more relevant content to the audience that is #searching for it.
3. Finding Your Audience
A good hashtag strategy in 2020 is not only great for user engagement, but it can help you find a target audience. Using relevant hashtags that your audience can connect with is a perfect way to make your brand searchable to them.
At The Copy Studio, we specialise in social media strategy, this includes hashtag strategies! If you want a few more tips, why not get in touch with us?