Improve the awareness of your brand with a well thought of hashtag.
Hashtags can be a great addition to your social media posts but it is important to understand the different types of hashtags that can be used by your brand. Follow these hashtag strategies before adding a hashtag to your next post to make sure you are getting the most from your hashtag efforts.
Hashtags can be very beneficial to increase the recognition of your brand but it is important to understand how to implement a successful hashtag marketing strategy. For a successful brand hashtag strategy, it is important to understand that too many hashtags in a post are not the same number on every platform. It is also important to establish goals of any strategy before you begin your campaign efforts. Branded hashtags are a great way to increase the awareness of your company’s brand and here are some hashtag campaign ideas that will help you achieve this recognition.
Hashtag Strategies to Boost Brand Awareness
Branded Hashtags
This is the most basic hashtag strategy of 2018 and the best way to create a branded hashtag for your company is to make it short, memorable and to include the brand’s name in some form. It can sometimes be difficult to come up with a branded hashtag so the best thing to do is to research what’s already being used for your brand to get ideas. While you might be using this hashtag to promote a certain sale or product it is important to remember that branded hashtags will be used on an ongoing basis, so don’t make the hashtag specific for a one-time event. Many branded hashtags come from a company’s audience who have taken it upon themselves to create a hashtag so do some research and see if you can find one that has already been created for you. You never know, your audience could already have a branded hashtag tending without your company knowing.
Community Hashtags
Community hashtags are a version of branded hashtags but more often used by larger brands to engage their customer base. This type of hashtag still uses the company name but then tacks on the word ‘at home’ or ‘community’ at the end to speak to their brand community. This hashtag is often used by customers on their own photos that include the brand. The brand can then go and choose their favorite customer photo to add to their own feed. Community hashtags have a way of allowing customers to feel like they’re part of a larger community while also giving your company many user-generated content options to add to your own social media pages. User-generated content is a great way to allow your brand to feel authentic and a community hashtag allows your customers to connect with like-minded users, all while spreading the awareness of your brand.
Campaign Hashtags
Unlike branded hashtags, these hashtags are not meant to be ongoing hashtags and have a start and end date. These hashtags are used with a campaign or contest because they can easily be used to track contest entries and measure conversation around your campaign. This type of hashtag may include your company or brand name in them but the most important aspect to include is the campaign slogan or message. Before launching any campaign hashtags, do your research to ensure that the hashtag isn’t already in use and test it out to see how it looks in different iterations. Make sure you’re not creating new words in your hashtag to take away from your campaign and make sure your hashtag doesn’t unintentionally have any double entendres.
Event Hashtags
These hashtags, like campaign hashtags, have a start and end date. This type of hashtag is often used each year if the event is held yearly but it is important to make the hashtag specific to the current year, to separate any new posts from the last year’s event. These hashtags are used to allow attendees or anyone interested to join in a conversation about the event and to spread the news about when and where the event is happening. Many brands use this type of hashtag to live tweet or stream while at the event to create a bigger buzz and spread brand awareness.
Hashtags are excellent additions to posts to help spread awareness about your brand but it is important to decide which type of hashtag you wish to use before you put your hashtag strategy into action. If you follow these hashtag marketing examples, though, you are sure to make your next company post a huge hit.