No matter what your ecommerce company deals in, using hashtags can be a boon to your business. Hashtags are a major part of our social media culture, and anyone who regularly uses a variety of social media networks as a consumer can find them, but there are still many business owners who remain unaware of how hashtags work and what added value they can bring to a digital marketing campaign.
Hashtags are phrases or acronyms filter the content on social media posts, linking those that share a common hashtag to one another. Consumers who click on the hashtag will be taken immediately to a page that groups together all posts using that hashtag. This makes hashtags particularly useful for ecommerce dealers looking to grow their following, build their brand, extend their reach, and convert sales. Because they are inexpensive, simple, and easy to use, they can be a vital element for small business marketing campaigns. They attract and direct customers to your site, allowing them to engage with you, your company, and your product.
If you’ve given some thought to how to boost your advertising campaign, but aren’t sure how to use hashtags effectively, we’ve gathered some dos and don’ts here for you.
DO carefully choose your company’s hashtags.
No matter what product or service you sell, you are working with a specific audience or catering to a certain demographic. The more specific you are able to be with your company’s hashtag, the more particular your audience will be. The more engaged the community, the greater your influence. Develop a hashtag that is unique to your business or brand, and is specific enough to tell potential consumers what you are about and what your company stands for. Tags that are too generic will give results that are entirely too broad. The goal is to find something that markets itself to your users so that it filters their posts about your store, product, or service and anything that directly relates to it. If you aren’t sure where to start, a service like Hashtagsforlikes will help you find trending hashtags and provide services that will grow your business more quickly.
DON’T use hashtags only for business information.
Many enterprising entrepreneurs have found that hashtags that introduce a giveaway or promotion can create a flurry of interest and interaction. Businesses can announce events over social media networks, as well as share stories of humanitarian efforts worth bragging about. Encourage customers to visit your business site by developing a hashtag others will find fun, unique, interesting, or heartwarming. Online garden supply companies, for example, might use a hashtag that announces a charity event for the development of green spaces in an inner city, or a framery business might use one to encourage local artists to enter an art contest. Make sure your promotional hashtag rings true, whether it’s for a discounted item or an exciting giveaway.
DO use hashtags differently on different social media platforms.
While hashtags serve the same basic purpose regardless of where they are used, the rules and methods of using them vary from network to network. Whether you choose to use promotional Instagram hashtags or generate bragging hashtags for Facebook, you will want to research the proper way to use them. Twitter hashtags, for example, tend to focus on a particular conversation or a group of people. Instagram, on the other hand, tends to focus on descriptions of the content. On Instagram, you can use up to 30 hashtags on a regular post, but only 10 in a story. It’s important to follow hashtag guidelines for use on each of the social media networks your business intends to keep up with in order to get results.
DO keep it simple and mix it up.
Hashtags that are too long, too obscure, or too complicated are difficult to remember and use. Whether your hashtag is a call to action, a bragging hashtag, or a custom hashtag, be sure to keep it simple. Hashtags should be interesting and memorable, but consumers won’t want to use it if it takes forever to type it in on a mobile device. Try not to be too clever or too offbeat, as people may find it difficult to find if it isn’t something that they would naturally search for because they are not already loyal consumers. Remember that there are many types of hashtags, and there’s no reason why you can’t use them all to reach different consumers who may be looking for different things in your business.
Do you have any suggestions for building a business using hashtags? Feel free to share your ideas below.
