Monday, February 9, 2015

Tips From #SproutChat on Creating Successful Hashtags

Posted on 10:45 AM by FilMovize





Tips From #SproutChat on Creating Successful Hashtags



Tips From #SproutChat on Creating Successful Hashtags


We’ve already covered the basics and there’s no arguing that hashtags, when used strategically, play a vital role on social media. Today hashtags appear in everything from daily online conversations to national commercials and billboards. They provide you with an easy way to reach people you aren’t directly connected to and help to deliver content to groups of people who may not be actively looking for it.


With useful benefits and virtually no barrier to entry, it’s not surprising that nearly everyone is using hashtags. But for every hashtag that takes off and makes the trending list, there are literally thousands of others that fall flat. So what gives? What defines good hashtags, and what factors decide whether they trend or flop?


During a recent #SproutChat, we asked our community to weigh in on good hashtags and we’ve collected some of their feedback and key takeaways for you below.


Developing a New Hashtag


Creating a new hashtag is as simple as placing the # symbol in front of any word, but creating a successful hashtag requires a lot more work.


The first thing you’ll want to consider is whether a new hashtag is necessary. There are times when it will make sense to craft content around existing hashtags — for example, #SB49, #SDCC, or #Oscars. While often a few variations of popular hashtags exist (#Oscars2015, for instance), if everyone tried to create a unique version of it, then social networks would be over-saturated and too cluttered for productive conversations.


When crafting an original hashtag is the way to go, there are a few best practices you’ll want to observe. For starters, you’ll need to make sure that the hashtag you have in mind isn’t already being used by another person or brand. Hashtag hijacking shows that you didn’t put much thought or effort into developing the campaign and can direct unnecessary negativity toward your brand.



And while you’re researching the originality of your hashtag, try to anticipate your community’s reaction. Does the term you’re using have any other connotations? Does it mean something else to different age groups or cultures? If you’re using a phrase, do all the words make sense together? These are simple elements that are easily overlooked, so plan to have another person (or two) review the hashtag before it goes live.




When you’re creating a new hashtag, make sure that it stands out from existing ones to avoid confusion. If you’re a home improvement brand and you have a new kitchen DIY series coming up, but someone is already using #KitchenDIY, adding a few more characters to it won’t make the hashtag unique enough for you to use successfully. Mistakes are made with hashtags all the time. A customer might tweet using #BrandXKitchenDIY and think that they’re responding to the other company and vice versa.


At the same time, don’t choose a term that’s so generic anyone can join the conversation and end up leading it. #Kitchen or #DIY, while both great terms to tag for search and discovery, shouldn’t be the primary drivers behind your hashtag campaign.



You’ll also want to settle on using a hashtag that relates back to your brand in some way, shape, or form. #TaylorSwift might be trending, but unless you are Taylor Swift, work for her, or referenced her in a valuable way, there’s no relevant reason to tag her in your post. Not only are you misleading audiences who come across your post, but most people will view it as deceiving and sneaky. Some other hashtag do’s and don’ts that you should consider include:



  • Keep it short, especially on Twitter where you’re limited to 140 characters. If your hashtag takes up one-third of your tweet it’ll be too easy for people to leave out for the sake of space.

  • Make sure that your community knows the story behind the hashtag, especially if it’s related to a specific campaign or based on an industry term.

  • While maintaining relevance and originality, you should also try to create hashtags that your audience will find relatable.

  • Keep your username out of it. It’s redundant and takes up valuable space.

  • Try to avoid referencing inside jokes. Building a hashtag around an internal joke only works if your community is in on it.


Recovering From a Hashtags Gone Wrong


While you have absolute control over creating a hashtag, you lose a lot of that once it hits the Internet. If you applied the tips above then you should be in good shape, but every once in a while things still go wrong.




One example of this was a hashtag created by JP Morgan which was intended to inspire a positive image for the brand. Unfortunately, it backfired and attracted snarky tweets and hostile questions. Although this is only one example, it’s not the only time that a social network’s members have turned the tables on a hashtag campaign’s original intent.


So while you can’t control what people do or say using your hashtag, you can control how you react and respond. The worst thing you can do is ignore the situation, so the best course of action is to own up to the mistake.






Depending on the severity of the blunder, sometimes it can be remedied with a simple apology and well-timed humor. In some cases, especially those involving insensitivity (regardless of how intentional or unintentional it was), you’ll want to provide more transparency around what you’re doing to remedy the situation.


Next steps will vary depending on your company and the type of plan you have set in place for a social media crisis. That said, remember to be humble and sincere in your response. Additionally, don’t let one bad egg ruin the whole thing. So this hashtag didn’t work out. Learn from the experience and apply those lessons to your next campaign.


Hashtag Overload: Is There Such a Thing?


The short answer: Yes.


Although there aren’t any set rules regarding hashtags on social platforms, using too many can actually hurt your engagement. At least that’s the case on Facebook. The social network recommends using no more than two hashtags per post in order to receive optimal engagement. In a 2014 study, brands using two hashtags received an average of 593 interactions per post, while that number dropped to 416 for those using three to five.


On the other hand, a different study found that Instagram posts with 11 hashtags received the most interactions. The two platforms, of course, work very differently. Hashtags on Instagram are great if you want to see photos similar to the ones that you’ve taken, whereas on Facebook, hashtags are used to categorize topics and identify trends.



As a rule of thumb, only include hashtags that are relevant to your message. Like we said earlier, #TaylorSwift will stand out — and not in a good way — if worked into a tweet about the latest tech innovations from Intel. The only way that hashtag would make sense is if Taylor Swift influenced or inspired the new tech, or was spotted using it.




And even if there are 27 terms that you feel are relevant for your message and brand, choose the top three. Too many hashtags can make your post feel cluttered or spammy. Consider the people who will be searching for those terms as well. Are they part of the audience that you’re trying to reach? Will gaining them as followers help you achieve your goals? If you’re looking to pad your follower count, hashtag away. But if you want to grow an engaged community, be selective and strategic.


For more tips on creating good hashtags, check out the recap from the #SproutChat. You can join us every Wednesday from 2 p.m. to 3 p.m. Central on Twitter. For more topics and follow-up discussions, visit the #SproutChat community on Google+.


The post Tips From #SproutChat on Creating Successful Hashtags appeared first on Sprout Social.






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