Social Media Specific: Tags and Hashtags

It’s somewhat hard to believe, but two little symbols can really make a significant difference when crafting social media posts. Tagging and hashtags are easy ways to group social media posts and connect different social media accounts, but what are they exactly, and how do they work? Read on to find out more.

Tagging

When you tag another account, whether you are using Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram, you are linking directly to their profile. This is a simple action, but it does several things. First, the organization, business, or person that you are tagging is notified that you have tagged them, which allows them to enter into a conversation or interact with your post. This is especially important if you are working on a joint project with another group and want to make sure they are included in your social media promotion. Second, this allows readers of your post to click on the tagged profile and be taken directly to that profile. This enables readers to immediately get more information about the tagged profile.

How is the action of tagging performed? When crafting a post on any of the three social media platforms, just add ‘@’ before you begin typing out the name of the profile you are aiming to tag. Once you begin typing the name, a list of profiles should pop up beneath your typing, and eventually, the profile you are looking to tag should become one of them. Click on your preferred profile, and the tagged profile should automatically appear in blue text as a part of your post.

Hashtags

By using one or a group of hashtags, you mark your post to be grouped in with other posts that feature the same hashtag. For example, if you use #localbakery in your Instagram post about your small business, that post will be grouped with other posts that use #localbakery. This ideally makes it easier for users to search for posts featuring certain things, which can in turn mean that it is easier for potential customers to find your posts and business information. Hashtags are more often used on Twitter and Instagram over platforms like Facebook.

Like tagging, type ‘#’ and then begin typing your hashtag to bring up a list of suggested hashtags. Type out your hashtag without spaces and select it from the list to add it to your post. Once your post goes live, it will appear when you or another user searches for a specific hashtag.

What else should I know?

There are a few extra items of note about tagging and hashtags.

• There’s an etiquette to tagging someone or using hashtags.

When adding tags or hashtags to a post, less can be more. The more links and hashtags that appear in a post, the greater the risk for the post looking spammy, or like an paid advertisement. Be sure to tag all those involved if your post references a project or event, but otherwise, keep your tagging to a minimum, and only tag those who are featured in the post. The same goes for hashtags; if you’re including hashtags in the body of your post, try to keep the number of hashtags between 1-4. (However, if you’re on Instagram and you’re grouping your hashtags at the end of a post or in the comments, you can generally use more.) Focus on the hashtags that you think will be most popular or attract an audience that is more likely to interact with and be interested in your business.

• Recent/most popular posts are more likely to appear first when searching for a hashtag.

You might have a great post that is super relevant to a specific hashtag, and that’s wonderful. However, on social media, new posts are being added every day, and typically, search results for hashtags are organized by how popular the post is or how recently is was posted. Because of this, it can be easy for your post to get overshadowed within a week.

That’s why it is important to use hashtags consistently. Aim for an even mixture of using a handful of the same hashtags and adding new ones into the mix with each post. Your regular hashtags should be specific to your business, while your new hashtags could be specific to a certain post. This way, you’re casting a wide net with each post and keeping your posts relevant in the process.

Trial and Error

You might not hit a home run with every post you upload to social media, but tags and hashtags are a good way to try and reach your target audience and connect to new users. Pay attention to how people respond to your posts, and adjust your strategies accordingly.