After Twitter and Instagram, Facebook also has #hashtags since 2013. So, let us see how we can leverage them as an effective social media marketing tool….
First, what are hashtags?
As defined on Facebook itself:
“Hashtags turn topics and phrases into clickable links in your posts on your personal Timeline or Page. This helps people find posts about topics they’re interested in. To make a hashtag, write # (the number sign) along with a topic or phrase and add it to your post. For example:
I just saw the cutest puppy! #dogs
When you click a hashtag, you’ll see a feed of posts that include that hashtag. You may also see some related hashtags at the top of the page.”
FB has also given some points to keep in mind:
- A hashtag must be written as a single word, without any spaces
- You can include numbers in a hashtag, but punctuation and special characters (like $ and %) won’t work
- You can search for a hashtag using the search bar at the top of any page
- You’ll only see posts that were shared with you
Who can see my posts when I use hashtags?
As given on Facebook:
“When you add a hashtag to your post, the people you’ve shared your post with can also see it in that hashtag’s feed. For example, if you share a post with a hashtag with Friends, they can see your post in that hashtag’s feed.
Keep in mind if you use a hashtag in a post you share to Public, and allow people to follow you, your post will appear on your public profile and in that hashtag’s feed.”
As given on www.socialbakers.com
Basic Hashtag information:
- Click on the hashtag to get redirected to its feed. You can also click on hashtags that originate on other services, such as Instagram.
- Every hashtag on Facebook has its own unique URL.
- Search for a specific hashtag from your search bar, for example, #NBAFinals or type facebook.com/hashtag/xxx into your browser (replace the x’s with the tag you want to look up).
- Compose posts directly from the hashtag feed and search results.
As you decide, how to use Facebook hashtags on your business page, here are some points of advice from the media experts as given on www.postplanner.com
- Use hashtags (1 or 2 only) when they make sense and when you use something relevant that people can filter on to find more relevant conversation — Ian Cleary
- I recommend industry specific hashtags and creating your own if they will be relevant to your audience — Peg Fitzpatrick
- You can’t really go wrong by using them — Mike Gingerich
- If you are currently using hashtags in a campaign on Twitter or Instagram, start including those hashtags in your Facebook content — John Haydon
- For some reason, Facebook hashtags have no significant impact so far, at least for marketers — Francisco Rosales
- Hashtags can help your posts be more searchable on Facebook — Zsuzsa Kecsmar
- Use tools like Hashtagify.me to find other trending hashtags related to your specific tag — Janet Johnson
- As a business, cross social platform branding is important — Collin Cottrell
- If you really want to make an impact with your social media marketing, sharing other people’s great content is the way to do it — Jenny Brennan
- One of the best ways to find out if a hashtag has any traction is to simply do a hashtag search using Facebook graph search — Ravi Shukle
- If you’re not going to use them correctly, then please stay away — Rosh Khan
- Hashtags on Facebook have not caught on like they have on other social sites — Andrea Vahl
- Knowing precisely what you want to achieve will help determine how you use hashtags — Jo Barnes
As given on www.socialmediaexaminer.com, here are the points how you can take the advantage of #tags
- Expand Your Reach
- Amplify Your Brand
- Cross Social Platforms
- Promote Specials and Events
Conclusion:
It is necessary to test the hashtags and use them as Facebook Marketing Strategy. It is equally important to measure your results out of it as well.
- Do not use them often. Use them once in a while that is do not use in every post.
- Do not stuff your posts with #tags
- They are highly used by various businesses, so do not overlook the importance of #tags