You are posting to social media to help promote your company, but you notice your views and likes aren’t measuring up.  You need to get your companies message out there so you decide to employ a powerful tool, the hashtag.  But what is the hashtag, and how can you use it to effectively increase your posts’ reach?  Well with a little research you’ll soon be grateful the pound key has transformed into the wonderful hashtag.

So what is a hashtag, and what is its history? When should you use it? How often should you use it? How does this tool work to increase site traffic?  These are all great questions I hope to answer for you.

The generally held belief for when hashtags first started being used for categorizing subjects, was in a tweet to Chris Messina. But it wasn’t until the San Diego fire in 2007, that they were used to a large degree using #sandiegofire.  In 2009 twitter officially implemented using them to group together subjects, making them easier to search for.

By using hashtags, studies have shown that engagement increases on average by 12%.  Almost every company that uses social media includes one with their posts.  Combining hashtags with links generates the greatest growth in post activity.  As someone who makes a living off of social media you will want to employ hashtags on every post.  Sometimes you can sneak it right in the middle of a post, but for the most part it’s best to wait until the end and list one or two.  The goal is to make it look clean and professional.  One to two hashtags is the optimal amount.  Any more creates an ugly post that actually lowers engagement numbers.

Social media savvy people will know that content can be filtered using hashtags.  Simply by clicking on one will take you to a page where you can see everyone who posted using that hashtag. You can even search for them in the Facebook search bar.  This is how using the right hashtags can generate post traffic.  For example, #wod is used for “workout of the day”.  Fitness enthusiasts will search using #wod to find out an exercise to try out that day.  I use this for my exercise demonstration videos that I post to the Y’s Facebook page.   People who are social media impaired will simply see them as odd symbols.  This is why its always best to limit their use to one or two.

The next time you post to social media, try using a hashtag using these tips. There is a certain art form to using them in your posts, and with all art forms there is room for interpretation. Some people love to list off ten or more hashtags, while others prefer the cleaner look. Which way do you prefer to hashtag? Please comment below on how you like to use them in your own posts, or talk about any thing I missed. Don’t forget to hit the share button below because gaining knowledge is the first step to wisdom; sharing it is the first step to humanity.