Using effective hashtags can help you boost your reach and visibility. They enable you to reach out to audiences who care about your niche.
But that’s not all.
Hashtags can also help you:
- Reach your target audience
- Give context to your content
- Increase your engagement rate
- Build a recognizable brand image
To reap the benefits, you need to be strategic about using hashtags in your posts. In this post, let’s take a look at how you can use hashtags to improve your branding and promotional efforts.
How to Leverage Effective Hashtags to Improve Your Branding and Promotion Efforts
Effective hashtags are critical for any business looking to find success with their social media marketing strategy. They can drive better engagement and increase exposure on the posts you share on social networks.
But there is a catch.
If you use hashtags incorrectly, you may never derive any benefits from their use. To get more visibility, here are some of the strategies you should try out:
1. Use Branded Hashtags
Typically, branded hashtags consist of your tagline or company name. They are also memorable and unique. The purpose of branded hashtags is to showcase your brand identity.
But it’s not always easy to come up with a memorable branded hashtag.
Here is how you can find a great branded hashtag:
First, search for your brand name on social media. You may find that customers already have a hashtag they use for your brand. If you find a catchy hashtag, use it for your posts. Also, take a look at some of the effective hashtags that your competitors are using.
Once you’ve found the right hashtag, it’s time to amplify its usage.
You should encourage your followers to use your branded hashtags in their posts. They can use it to tell the world how they feel about your brand.
Branded hashtags can help you build a community around your brand. It’s also a great way to help your target audience learn more about your products and services. Those who use your hashtag can also help you draw attention to your products or services.
Example:
KitKat uses a branded hashtag that features its tagline #HaveABreak on most social media platforms. They have built a community around the hashtag, and their customers use it to engage with others on the various platforms.
You can also find different variations of the hashtag. These include #haveabreakhaveakitkat, #haveabreakhavekitkat, and #haveabreakwithkitkat. Using different variations of your branded hashtag can stick in people’s minds and expand your reach.
2. Create Campaign-Specific Hashtags
Campaign-specific hashtags run for a specific duration.
Most marketers use them to track conversations around a campaign or track contest entries. You can use your brand name in these hashtags, but you need to make sure that the hashtag you choose conveys your campaign message or slogan.
To find memorable campaign-specific hashtags, you can use tools that generate hashtags for research. These tools can help you find catchy hashtags that may also help you promote your campaign.
Example:
Think that toilet paper and wet wipes are boring products? American toilet paper manufacturer, Charmin managed to get people tweeting about their product via their #TweetFromTheSeat hashtag.
They encouraged customers to share tweets while on the loo, and the response was massive. To amplify their visibility, Charmin also published posts with the same hashtag.
3. Call-to-Action (CTA) Hashtags
Did you know that you can use hashtags to encourage customers to act? Yes, they can double up as effective CTAs.
How? Create a short CTA that encourages your audience to take action. Make sure it’s something that your audience can easily do.
You can use such a CTA as an effective hashtag for your campaigns. It can encourage your audience to participate in a fun activity or contribute to an important cause.
Example:
#ShareACoke was a fun CTA that drew in lots of success for the company. Coca-Cola created cans that encouraged customers to share a coke with their friends. They also encouraged users to share pictures with their campaign hashtag as they shared drinks with friends.
Apart from the huge engagement they got, the company was also able to leverage user-generated content to boost their reach.
4. Collaborate With Influencers
Influencers are people who have the power to influence public opinion. An influencer in your niche can help you reach out to your target audience.
By collaborating with them, you can also boost the reach of your hashtag campaigns. What’s more, they can boost your brand credibility and help you get more engagement.
But how do you find the right influencer for your hashtag campaign? There are several ways to do this:
The first one is a manual search on social media. You can use hashtags related to your niche to find relevant influencers. Also, keep an eye out for people who promote products in your niche.
The second method is less complicated than this.
All you need to do is register on platforms that help you find influencers. Most of these platforms have advanced filters that help you find influencers using hashtags, keywords, audience demographics, etc.
Once you find the right influencer, approach them for a collaboration, and kickstart your hashtag campaign. Influencers can help you reach out to a huge number of followers and build trust.
Example:
Over the years, Calvin Klein has partnered with many influencers and celebrities for their #MyCalvins campaign.
Their “I Speak My Truth” campaign, for example, had celebrities and influencers tell their stories. The brand also invited their fans to speak their truth using the #MyCalvins hashtag.
5. Create Effective Hashtags Related to Your Content
These are effective hashtags that are relevant and fit well in the context of your published content. And the best part?
They do not have to be trending or campaign-specific.
So, they are super easy to pick.
Plus, these hashtags can help your audience find your content when they conduct general searches on a specific topic.
Hashtags related to your content can help your target audience learn about a specific topic, so being on top of their search results can help. Having the hashtags on your Stories can also optimize your content more.
Example:
Hashtags like #TravelPhotography and #LuxuryTravel are quite popular on social media platforms.
By leveraging these hashtags, travel brands can get high engagement rates and drive potential travelers to their website.
You can also pair a content-specific hashtag with a location. This way, users who are looking for information related to a location can find your content.
6. Monitor Your Hashtag Performance
Test, track, experiment, and monitor the effectiveness of all your hashtags campaigns. The data you get can help you understand what’s working so that you can tweak your strategy if needed. This process is instrumental in increasing your reach and engagement in the long-term.
So, how can you track hashtags?
Most social media platforms offer insights into the performance of each of your posts. However, insights from these platforms may be limited. Instagram for example, allows you to see metrics for only 14 days for Stories and seven days for your Instagram feed.
For more in-depth insights, you can use third-party social media tools.
Specialized tools like Ritetag, Hashtagify or Tweetreach can help you manage your social media campaigns on various platforms. You can use them to analyse and monitor your hashtags posts across the social media.
Once you find a good tool, make sure you continually track all of the hashtags you use. Take note of those that bring in the most engagement, and attract new followers. Test, and experiment with these hashtags on the various platforms to amplify your reach.
Monitor brand mentions to find out what people think about your brand. This can also give you ideas for your upcoming hashtag campaigns.
The insights you get from tracking and analyzing your hashtag campaigns can help you improve future campaigns. They can help you promote your brand message better and have meaningful conversations with your target audience.
Are You Ready to Amplify Your Hashtag Campaigns?
As you can see from the above examples, using hashtags can help you with branding and promoting your business. You just need to research your hashtags thoroughly, use them strategically, and create social media posts that boost engagement and reach.
You should also learn from the hashtags you use by continually experimenting and optimizing for better results.
Have you ever tried using any of the hashtag campaign methods mentioned above? Let us know in the comment section below.
Shane Barker is a digital marketing consultant who specializes in influencer marketing, content marketing, and SEO. He is the co-founder of Attrock, a digital marketing agency. He has consulted with Fortune 500 companies, influencers with digital products, and a number of A-List celebrities.
About the author
Hashtags are an important component with social media marketing. However, it is important to get it right. You need to ultimately find hashtags that will connect your brand with the right people!
Hello Nick,
Thank you for stopping by and sharing your thoughts on the importance of hashtags in social media marketing with us.
I absolutely agree with you that it is important to find the right hashtags for the people you would like to target. They need to be well-conceived to connect them with your brand.
Thanks again and all the best!
Sabrina