Have you ever thought about adding a hashtag strategy to your digital marketing plan?
A hashtag strategy is where you’re mapping down the hashtags you’re going to use for your content on social media. You have to ask yourself if you’re going to use hashtags for measurement or community building. It could be a bit of both.
So how do you develop a hashtag strategy?
There are several different layers to it. The first is to figure out what hashtags are the most used on social media on a global level. Here you can see the most used hashtags on Instagram and Twitter. In my opinion, these two places make hashtags best for brand building and community building.
After you’ve printed these hashtags in your mind, it’s time to get closer. Especially if your content is localized, and you’re not communicating in English on Instagram or Twitter. Try to check Instagram and Twitter and see if there are any hashtags that are localized that people use? Localized can also be within a certain theme or subject.
I have done a bunch of work for a record label lately (community building and digital strategic consulting). For a record label, some of the best hashtags aren’t #love #instagood or #tbt. Those hashtags are known to be the biggest. They should rather use hashtags such as #nowplaying and #listeningto that people use to find new music suggestions. So even though you know what hashtags are the biggest, they might not be relevant for you and your brand.
Create Your Own Hashtag
You can also develop your own hashtags. It’s a great way for people to hook up with each other if they are at the same event, or if they are interested in certain topics. Even if n you want to create movements and get people to post images or tweets about certain discussions or on certain days. Hashtags are a fun way to engage, and a great method to build digital communities and have people connect offline at events as well.
When you’re done researching hashtags and have created your own – you can always keep track of the impact they have on a service such as hashtracking.
All in all, hashtags are a community builders game out there, but it’s such a creative thrill to work with them.
