As our agency conducts social media training sessions, we’ve noticed many Twitter users do not understand the benefits of the platform’s hashtag capabilities.

Designated by the pound sign or hash symbol (#), this is a tool that even the most active social media enthusiasts haven’t had the time to wrap their head around. However, hashtags can be powerful resource in a marketing and communication arsenal.

What is a hashtag?

Any word or phrase can become searchable when a hash symbol is placed as a prefix. For example, to make a tweet about marketing easier to find, simply put the hashtag in front of the key term. Let’s use a tweet about greenhouse grower Eurofresh Farms as an example:

Did you hear the news about Eurofresh Farms’ new #marketing efforts? I’m really impressed!

The hashtag can be lumped together in the message or set as a search term to ensure the tweet can be found. For example:

Did you hear the news about Eurofresh Farms’ new initiatives? I’m really impressed! #marketing

Why use a hashtag?

A hashtag will help you spread your message to people who may not be following your Twitter account, but may find your tweet relevant and interesting. Such a simple action can help attract more followers who want to receive information from you because you are just so darn insightful.

Participating in hot topics on Twitter can also bring in followers. View Twitter’s homepage and you’ll see a list of trending topics being actively tweeted about. Most of these terms have a hashtag in front of them. So, if a marketer wants to make sure people find out about his or her Valentine’s Day sales, it may make sense to put the term #V-Day in tweets to be a part of this hot topic.

Hashtags can also be very useful at conferences. Let’s say you’re listening to a keynote presentation with more than 500 people, but your colleagues and friends couldn’t make it. Simply tweeting the presenter’s salient points and including a unique hashtag will help colleagues find out what’s happening at the conference and encourage others at the conference to join their tweets with yours. By the end of the day, one could review the consensus of what event goers experienced.

Hashtag.org is a good resource to see the impact of popular hashtags on Twitter’s community and the conversations in which it participates.

For information on a Caliber Group Social Media Boot Camp for your company or organization, call (520) 795-4500 or e-mail socialmedia@calibergroup.com.

(Thanks to matthamm for the drawing)

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