Do you use custom branded hashtags in your marketing?
What is a custom branded hashtag, you ask? It’s just a hashtag that you create that incorporates your business name or tagline or services that people can follow on social media. Hashtags increase social media engagement and brand awareness, according to Sprout Social (read the article HERE).
When you create a custom hashtag and ask people to follow it, you give them an easy way to find all your content amidst all the noise and information overload on the internet. Make it so unique that no one else is using it and you have a handy way to stand out. Mine is #SandeeSolves if you’d like to follow it.
When You Should Use Hashtags
Custom hashtags are a great way to group posts together around an event or topic on a platform like Twitter. Let’s say I was running a marketing conference. I could create a hashtag like #SandeeSolvesConference (I know – not very original. Don’t judge! ? ) Then I would invite everyone participating in the conference to post to Twitter using that hashtag. It generates a buzz on Twitter and also enables people who want to follow the conversation and fast and easy way to sort out the right posts.
Other reasons to use custom branded hashtags include contests, promotions, and product or service launches. The idea is to get people talking. Google loves engagement so the more you can encourage conversation about your brand, the better your visibility in search results.
If there is a hot topic that is relevant to your business, you can jump on board to use a custom hashtag to draw some of the traffic to you, but do so carefully and sensitively. Understand that you will only use this hashtag for a short time, and that’s fine. Most brands use many hashtags over time.
Creating Your Own Hashtags
Before you start using your own hashtags, I recommend doing a little research first. Do a Google search to see what comes up. Check social media platforms, too, and see who else is using that hashtag. If no one is, you’ve struck gold and can dominate that hashtag by being the first to use it.
Make sure whatever hashtags you create fit in with your overall branding strategy, too. The wording wants to be on point for who you are and what your brand stands for. And watch out for any terms that might have double meanings or some kind of cultural insult you didn’t see at first. You don’t want to give yourself a social media fail!
An example of a brand who didn’t do their homework first is Entenmann’s. They ran a campaign using #NotGuilty as a way to promote their low-calorie offerings. Unfortunately, at the same time, the Casey Anthony verdict was running using that hashtag. Entenmann’s issued a sincere apology.
To make sure you have success with your hashtags, keep them shorter to make them more memorable. Rhyming or repetition of initial sounds might sound childish, but let’s face it – we remember rhyming words much better. Make sure the hashtags are consistent and exclusive to your brand. Keep your message simple and memorable. Think like Nike’s Just Do It. Yes, they also use their slogan as a hashtag. It makes sense for their branding and marketing.
Using Your Hashtags
Each platform has different requirements where hashtags are concerned. LinkedIn, for example, will hurt your post reach if you put more than five hashtags. Three is best. Choose one of your custom branded hashtags, one that your ideal prospects follow (research your connections to find out), and one relevant to the post.
Facebook doesn’t limit hashtags but most experts agree there is not much advantage to using them there. On the other hand, Instagram encourages using whole lists of hashtags. Instagram statistics indicate that posts with hashtags perform better so there’s some motivation to add the right ones to your IG. (For more tips on using hashtags on IG, check out this post and this one.)
Twitter also likes hashtags but you have to deal with the character count, too. One way to get more space is to Tweet a graphic with your messaging and save the character count for an intro comment and your hashtags. (To read more about using hashtags on Twitter, check out this marketing post by Twitter.)
Track your metrics with a tool like Sprout Social to really determine the effectiveness of your custom hashtags.
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