Facebook introduction of #hashtags came into force in June 2013, with the aim to ‘tag’ onto what the rest of social media sites have been doping for years…
As a new introduction from Facebook, hashtags are still somewhat incomplete with many users still not able to fully gain access to the searchable and clickable links, having only rolled out the upgrade to a portion of users to ‘test the market’, which has become well known as a Facebook tradition now.
Could this rollout mean the saviour of Graph Search, the recently launched Facebook search feature?
Graph Search is a solution on Facebook that returns search results based on the social graphs of your friends, fans and followers. This means you tend to see search results only for those friends and businesses with whom you are already closely aligned.
If you use Facebook for outreach and marketing, the new hashtag feature will no doubt extend your reach, increasing both risks and rewards, so choose your hashtags with care.
Here are our tips to using Facebook #hashtags for your business:
1. Avoid spam marketing
This happens frequently on Twitter and Instagram already with inexperienced users, and due to the recent changes in Facebook we have already seen this follow suit…
These are known as hashtag spam – where posts have multiple #hashtags within it, creating a real mess and is sure to annoy anyone you presumably actually want to engage with..
This is a great example of desperation marketing too, when you use several hashtags in a sentence, you are actually telling social media sites like Facebook or Twitter that your post has no focus; all you do is spam your friends and fans. Don’t do it.
2. Hashtags are keywords
This has a lot to do with the lack of understanding about hastags as a whole across the internet.
Unfortunately small businesses are ‘tagging’ onto it, seeing the trending and exposure that can be gained, but not truly understanding the risks either.
Facebook hashtags can be a useful way to track content and widen your exposure to your audience, particularly considering the inaccurate search facilities offered currently, however, it will NOT work if you use broad keywords such as #business
A broad keyword tag or hashtag is the same as no hashtag at all. As we all know, “one size fits all” means it doesn’t fit anyone.
If you do use hashtags for your accounts, they must be specific, the best are:
- Personal to you (Your business name, product etc.)
- Trending keywords in your sector, geographical location or niche market
- Researched by you and created with a broad market to attract engagement
Overall, it needs to be a link to your business and be relevant and it must be specific.
Brighter Directions are an experienced and professional social media agency, helping organisations from small businesses to large identities create exceptional customer experiences through social media engagement that accelerate business growth
For information about how to use social media commercially, call the friendly team on 01246 252855 or visit our website on www.brighterdirections.co.uk
