It’s hard, if not impossible, to log-on to social media platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram, and not see a hashtag. The symbol once known as the “pound sign” has taken on a life of its own in the digital age and now has many helpful qualities for businesses. The symbol was first used on Twitter as a way to categorize messages and highlight keywords and topics. Placing a hashtag in front of a word or phrase serves to aggregate all mentions of a tag on whatever social media platform it is used on.
Hashtags can be very beneficial to any business if used properly. Strategic hashtag use on social media can help engage consumers, draw attention to your brand, and help your business keep a pulse on consumer trends and tastes. In this post, I will outline these benefits and why the use of hashtags is important, particularly on Twitter.
Engage with Customers
In this day and age, customers crave availability from their favorite brands. Customers want to be able to reach out to businesses and receive information, or help, with customer service issues. Twitter offers your business another avenue of communication and using a hashtag makes your mentions even more visible.
For example, this year Coca-Cola launched the very successful #ShareaCoke campaign and had people all over the world buying and sharing the soft drink with their names embalzoned across the bottle. However, not everyone had the same luck finding their name. When a customer tweeted the company about it, they responded telling her how she could get her hands on a personalized coke bottle. Without the hashtag, this customer’s concern would have likely gotten lost in the Twitter machine and her relationship with the brand would not have been strengthened by this direct contact.
Draw Attention to Your Brand
Hashtags make you visible. They are easy to share and by simply “clicking through”, they make it easy for customers to learn more about a new brand initiative or announcement. Hashtags help you to not get lost in the Twitter machine and allow users to spread your message for you. Twitter users enjoy using hashtags because this makes them feel involved in a larger community and makes them more visible as well.
For example, Dunkin’ Donuts created a contest around a hashtag as a way to raise awareness about the iced tea the company sells. Users were asked to tweet their iced tea personalities along with the hashtag #DDIcedTeaSweeps in order to be considered to win free iced tea for a year.
The contest got users excited to share the different kinds of tea they like, and gave Dunkin’ lots of exposure on the timelines of the users’ followers.
Keep a Pulse on Consumer Trends and Tastes
One of the most important ways businesses should use social media, but often forget to, is as a listening tool. With hashtags, customers can tell you anything you want to know about how they view your product or service. Is there a defect with a product? Are your employees not delivering good customer service? Customers will tell you. They will also tell you if they are particularly satisfied with what your brand is doing.
Take for example, the launch of Uber’s new food delivery service UberEATS. Twitter users have been encouraged to use the hashtag #ubereats when referring to the service. A quick search of the tag offers many reviews. If you work for Uber, seeing that customers are largely satisfied with the delivery times and convenience of the service is an encouraging sign. If there were negative reviews or complaints in the tag, they would be direct insight into what the company needs to fix in order to satisfy customers.
Though not as visible or easy to sift through as hashtags, keywords can also be searched on Twitter. Search keywords or phrases that are relevant to your target consumer and always be aware of trends and tastes.
Contact Us Today
Now you’ve have a rundown on what hashtags can do for you and your business. If you would like to leave the technical work to a professional service, contact us for our social media services or give us a call at 855-599-9998.
