The importance of # Hash-tags

When a new company or person starts a Twitter, Instagram, or Google + account many are confused about the use and meaning of the "hash-tags."

One of the most asked questions I get when I work with companies with no social media background is about hash-tags. Some commonly asked questions from clients regarding hash-tags are.

-Do they serve a purpose? 

-Is it mandatory to "hash-tag" every word?

-Is it professional? 

-What key words do I hash-tag?  

A lot of my social media skills over the past six years have come through trial and error. One of the biggest mistakes I made when I first created a Twitter account was not using hash-tags. If you scroll through your Twitter list, look at Instagram pictures or certain articles on Google +, you see that some words are being hashed. The reason behind this is simple, yet complex.

Once you hash-tag a word with Twitter, Instagram and Google +, all account users can see it. In my own words, or lack their of, it basically goes into the world of hash-tags. This allows users who are not following you to see your tweets and content that you put out on various social media sites. So to keep it simple, people are only one hash-tagged word away from possibly being seen by thousands, if not millions of people through social media.

Now with this being said, it is recommended that you only use hash-tags for 1-3 words per tweet. I suggest only using it for 1-2 words if at all possible. You don't want to flood your tweets with hashed words that make your brand or company look like spam. You want your tweets to be simple and filled with content to direct the user back to your website or link that you are promoting more times than not.

So there are such things as twitter etiquette, so to speak, on how to use hash-tags. For example:

This would be a good use of hash-tags if you were tweeting about sports. For instance I was tweeting on National Signing day about one of the most highly sought out basketball players not committing to Michigan State. 

The tweet is simple. To the point. And at that moment in time, the sports nation was tweeting about Jabari Parker and him committing to Duke opposed to Michigan State. So thousands had the potential to see my tweet when I hash-tagged #MichiganState and #Jabari.  












Here would be an example of a over hashed, in my opinion, flooded bad tweet. 

With this tweet and use of hash-tags you see that almost every other word is hashed. It makes the tweet more flooded with hash-tags opposed to getting your content across. Although this tweet might not be meant for content, it has a hard time getting the point across due to the reader focusing on the hash-tags. 

Hash-tags are used for many different reasons. And it can help you in many different ways. Some people use hash-tags for fun. Others use it to help brand their companies and to keep track of their brand through social media. And some business go viral off of hash-tags and get nation wide attention just from their brand through a hash-tag. Look for whats trending and get involved with the conversation through a hash-tag. Some of the best information I get is when I Twitter search a certain hash-tagged word like #socialmedia. 

Find the key words in your tweets that have potential to go viral and to help you brand and hash away. This is always the first thing I tell my clients I work with.

So ask yourself. What's your hash-tagged word/tweet of the day?

Thank you for your eyes that allowed you to read.

 ~ James Harper

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