How to choose the best hashtag for your marketing strategy:

We’ve all been there, we’re about to post a really good looking selfie or a hilarious tweet and before we hit the ‘post’ button we find ourselves pausing for a moment, stumped at the thought of the “perfect hashtag” to post alongside our absolutely perfect post!

Choosing a hash tag to compliment your comedic tweet is similar in choosing the right hashtag for marketing your brand or event. The goal is to draw attention, broaden your audience and ultimately spread your message. Hashtags bring different communities together who share similar interests on a relevant topic and create a fun forum to discuss a particular trend, discount, news, or event.

Before choosing your hashtag, take into consideration the Do’s and Dont’s of #Hashtagging. Below you will find some of the best practices to help you choose your perfect hashtag.

#DoYourHomework

You wouldn’t create a presentation for school, without doing your research on the subject first, right? The same goes for when you are creating a hashtag. Research your desired hashtag to confirm it hasn’t already been used. If it is being used already you may find your hashtag getting lost amongst a topic space that has no relevance to your subject matter.  Next, test your hashtag with a few users before launching it all over your marketing strategy. You don’t want to find yourself in an unfortunate situation like the Dallas Cowboys. When trying to promote their trip to the UK, they decided upon the hashtag #CowboysUK. When you look at it closely, you can see why rival fans had a field day! Be careful when figuring out your strategy, as it can be used against you if you don’t verify every angle properly!

#ShortandSweet

Time is of the essence.  With Twitter’s character limit, it may seem obvious that brevity is the answer, but not everyone understands the question. Lengthy hashtags are harder to remember and leave little room for the objective of the message you are trying to convey.  Smaller hashtags allow social fans to share on different networks and they are easy to fit on multiple marketing channels from digital display ads to print and billboards.

#BeYOUnique

Stand out from the crowd. When choosing a hashtag, the more unique it is, the more it distinguishes itself from general named hashtags such as #cat which are filled with various kinds of posts that could fall under a broad category.  A hashtag should narrow down the subject matter under your brand while keeping it fun and creative.

#MakeitMemorable

One of the best practices is to provide an incentive. Creating a contest or promotion around an event is a good way of engaging people to use your hashtag. It provides a product or service that people desire while creating a conversation around your brand. For example, Domino’s Pizza in UK offered a solid reasons for people to join in there hashtag campaign, cheaper pizza! The promotion cut the price of their pizza every time someone tweeted the hashtag #LetsDoLunch. The campaign reached a total of 85,000 tweets. Pizza fans were ecstatic when the price dropped from £15.99 to £7.74, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. that day.

Speaking of memorable, how could anyone forget Jimmy Fallon and Justin Timberlake’s ode to hashtags.  Check it out below!

There you have it, a simple guide to conquering the world of hashtags! What is your favorite hashtag?