Use of hashtags to improve coverage of social networks

More than 60% of the world’s population uses social networks. One way to improve your coverage is to integrate a hashtag campaign into your social media strategy. Hashtags can help increase coverage and participation in social networks. However, it takes more than the simple addition of #THrowBackThursday to your messages.

What is a hashtag?

Hashtag is one of the easiest symbols to recognize social networks today. Many people have heard of him, but I really don’t know what a hashtag is.

So, what is a hashtag, more precisely?

A hashtag is a metadata label widely used on social networks to classify content. It mainly contains a keyword or a sentence preceded by the hash symbol (#), also known as Nestorp.

The hashtag appeared for the first time on Twitter (now known as X) in 2007. Chris Messina’s web marketing specialist invented the hashtag to «allow people with similar interests to meet». According to Messina, he designed to create a link between the platforms between people with common interests – and worked!

Today, the hashtag transcends platforms and is widely used worldwide. People now use it for marketing campaigns, to express their support for a cause or to start engagement conversations on social networks.

Why should you use hashtags?

The hashtags were invented mainly to place the order in social media chaos. By grouping similar conversations, the public can easily find the content that counts for them.

Today, its use cases have evolved, by transforming it into a powerful tool to increase your online presence. But what should the hashtags do? Although this does not directly increase your number of followers, you can always improve your coverage on social networks in:

• Touch the most popular messages for a particular subject • Obtain visibility in people’s flows

Here are other ways to benefit from the inclusion of a hashtag campaign in your social media strategy:

Add context to social networks publications

Short content is the king on social networks, hence the popularity of Tiktok, Instagram Reels and YouTube Shorts. This also applies to descriptions on social networks. When short content is preferred, hashtags help you add a context to your messages. Using hashtags, you can generate more impressions on social networks without counting on a wall of text.

Help your audience find yourself

The public can follow hashtags on social media platforms to find the content that interests them most. For example, I can see #travel for videos and instant travel with the most beautiful places in the world. Or they can also consult #Food for trend recipes or restaurants.

You can also use hashtags to make your business easier to discover. The creation of beautiful content and label it with folk hashtags can considerably increase the coverage of social media and get closer to the target audience.

Increase engagement with pursuers

Articles of involvement on social networks, such as subscribers or the organization of competitions, can be an excellent way to generate an involvement with your brand. But these messages generally work when your brand already has a considerable number of followers.

However, you can increase the coverage of social media involvement articles using hashtags to participate in larger conversations or trends. These hashtags allow your articles of involvement on social networks to appear in front of a wider audience.

Return the degree of awareness of the brand

In addition to pursuing popular hashtags, you can also use brand hashtags to increase the brand’s notoriety rank. These can be the name of your brand or a brand slogan.
Some of the most famous examples are:

• #Jifrapchallenge jif
• #NationalFriedchickenday of the KFC
• #Shareacoke Du Coca-Cola
• #PlaySide nike
• #Letsdolunch Domino pizza

While using hashtags on a particular subject, it also includes brand hashtags in your articles on social networks. In addition to increasing the brand’s awareness rank, this also helps your audience find specific messages that you have carried out in the past.

Choose the right hashtags: the four qualities of an effective hashtag

To learn how to effectively use hashtags for commitment on social networks, you should know which hashtags to choose. Effective hashtags must have the following qualities:

• Relevant: Your hashtags should correspond to the type of content you mark. Otherwise, it will seem spam and it could make your audience completely avoid your brand.

• Miscellaneous: Look for hashtags popular enough to have a large number of messages, but not so popular as your content is lost. Then diversify your hashtags to amplify your range.

• Active: It is not enough to choose a popular hashtag. It must also be active, which means that new content is always added to be considered relevant. For example, # ChristmasDay2020 could have millions of messages, but will not influence your impressions on social networks.

• Accessible: Good hashtags can be dominated by popular accounts. Therefore, it is essential to choose hashtags which generally have a popularity similar to yours to reach a more favorable position.

How to find the right hashtags for your social media campaign

Now that you know what types of hashtags you have to search, it’s time to consider how and where to look for them.

Here are some ways to find hashtags adapted to your hashtags campaign:

Use the tools to listen to social networks

You can use social media tools such as Hootsuite or Sprutsocial to identify popular hashtags relevant to your content. These tools allow you to monitor the conversations made by your target audience to see the most interested subjects. Analysis their performance to find investment opportunities with a particular hashtag.

Analyze your previous messages

Sometimes the best place you can search is your social media profile. Look at your previous items and identify the subjects that have worked for you in the past. He establishes which hashtags have generated a greater commitment and impressions in social media. If they did not have hashtags, you can still get precious information by identifying which subjects have worked for your audience. Then explore popular hashtags in this specific subject.

Watch your competitors

The search for your competitor’s strategy is a great way to inform you of your own strategy. It can be very useful for finding popular hashtags relevant to your brand. Start by identifying the popular company in your industry. Then analyze the hashtags they use in their messages and organic.

Trendy research hashtags

You can also use specific platform functions to find trendy hashtags in your industry. For example, you can find popular hashtags on Twitter or hashtags for Instagram Reeles using the search bar. Take a look at the hashtags they use to find additional investment opportunities for your commitment publications on social networks.

How to use effective hashtags on each social media platform

«What is the hashtag?» It was a question asked in the first days of social media. Then, the hashtags were used mainly on X, the site previously known as Twitter.

But today, they have become a popular tool on social networks that transcend platforms. Although they are mainly used in the same way, there are nuances involved in the use of hashtags for specific platforms.

Here are some tips on using hashtags for social media engagement publications for each network:

How to use hashtags on Facebook

• Use them anywhere in the text on Facebook.
• You can use hashtags to organize group subjects.
• Use the search bar to find publications under certain hashtags on Facebook.
• Use the URL Facebook.com/hashtag/_ With the keyword you use to measure your performance.

How to use hashtags on Instagram

• Includes hashtags in organic and post descriptions.
• Add hashtags for Instagram jostles to make the rolls easier to discover.
• You can use hashtags in the comments when you interact with subscribers.
• Use hashtags to add context to the stories.
• Look for hashtags using the tags tab in the Explorer section.
• Access the performance of hashtags using Instagram information.

How to use Tiktok hashtags

• Add hashtags to the description of your content.
• You can display popular hashtags on Tiktok on Discover or other subjects using the search bar.
• Combine niche and popular hashtags for maximum visibility.

How to use hashtags on Twitter or X

• Add a hashtag anywhere in your tweet.
• The location of the hashtag serves different objectives: at the beginning (to emphasize), in the middle (to highlight a keyword) or at the end (to add context).
• You can find popular hashtags on Twitter on the right side of the page.
• Write the keyword with hashtag in the search bar to find other tweets.
• Always consider the character limit when using hashtags.