How To Hashtag Your Business Or Trending Niche Idea

Pat Walls

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Updated: September 12th, 2024

What Is A Hashtag?

Hashtags are an essential part of any social media marketing strategy. Businesses and social media users apply hashtags as a way of labeling their content and make the content discoverable by other social media users.

When done right, hashtagging could generate exposure and the right kind of audience engagement

In this post, we tell you why hashtagging your business name or a trending topic within your niche is a great way to get others to start using that very same hashtag.

Hashtagging: Key Takeaways

Relevant and targeted hashtags increase the chances of reaching your target audience
Keywords that you are using provide a great place to kick off hashtag research
Long-tail hashtags can generate more targeted engagement
Double-check any acronyms you use in hashtags for any potential double meanings

Understanding How Hashtags Work

Hashtags serve as an indication that a piece of content relates to a particular topic or belongs to a certain category.

Since hashtags increase the reach and engagement of content, they are a great way to increase traffic on Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, and other social media platforms.

Here is a brief overview of how hashtags play an important role in social media content

Hashtags are a great way of **labeling and finding niche content on social media.
Using hashtags allows social media users to find and engage with content relating to your company or products
Hashtags can make your ads more discoverable
Hashtags also propel content to reach more people and be discovered by relevant users

Twitter: For the best engagement, avoid using more than 2 hashtags per tweet
Facebook: Use 2 hashtags on Facebook one popular hashtag and a custom hashtag for your brand
Instagram: Allows up to 30 hashtags, but Keep it to no moiré than 9 per post for better engagement
LinkedIn: Limit it to a maximum of five hashtags or the LinkedIn algorithm could mark your post as spam
Pinterest: Apply 2 hashtags on Pinterest to help pinners find relevant content
Tiktok: Use 4-5 Hashtags on TikTok to boost your reach on the platform

Here are examples of brands using hashtags to drive engagements and increase brand/content discovery on social media

1. David Lombardo, Founder of ATC Memes Discusses The Importance Of Using Hashtags:

Getting a hashtag trending

I also have tried to get hashtags to trend, such as our #squawkdirtytome (“Squawk” is an aviation term used in air traffic control to identify an aircraft).

This has become synonymous with ATC Memes and RadarContact.

That is one of the most powerful things you can do: get people to identify things with your brand/page.

Consistency and personality

You have to stick with what works, and when it comes to social media, this means being consistent with your posting, and not being afraid to bring your personality into the content.

Not only will this grow your page and following, but it will also help inspire other people to jump into the action as well. That’s really when you know that you’ve reached the next level of content creation and entrepreneurship. But that’s just my opinion.

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It’s important to stay consistent and try to continuously produce new and exciting content, but it’s equally as important to try to have fun with whatever it is you’re doing.

Next time you’re feeling stuck, maybe think of a hashtag that you can run with. As always, keep creating content, always, and don’t take it personally if it isn’t an immediate hit!

2. Toronto Raptors Uses Branded Hashtag To Build Brand Awareness

Toronto Raptors, the 2019 NBA champs created a branded hashtag (#WetheNorth) to promote their brand awareness during the 2019 NBA season.

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Since the hashtag had a universal appeal, it was one of the most-used hashtags by Canadians in the first half of 2019.

Since then, the Toronto raptors became a popular NBA team in Canada.

How to Make Great Hashtags For Your Brand

coming up with a custom hashtag may seem to be a simple process. However, you ought to follow these tips to make sure the hashtag is engaging.

1. Start With the Obvious words Associated With Your Brand

You can use your brand name, a product name, or a word related to your industry. Play with the word and use different phrase combinations to come up with a branded hashtag.

2. Define the Intention

What do you intend to achieve by using the custom hashtag?

You could be wanting to get your brand popular or to promote engagements or social media.

Put yourself in the customer's shoes and focus on creating a hashtag that they will be comfortable associating with.

3. Keep Your Audience in Mind

The whole point of creating a custom hashtag for your brand is to earn the attention and engagement of your customers.

By keeping them central to your efforts, you stand a good chance for coming up with a hashtag they will talk about and using it when engaging their audiences on social media.

4. Aim for a short and sweet hashtag

When coming up with a hashtag, remember clarity is key! Most effective hashtags are easy to understand at a glance.

Remember you may not have time to explain your complicated hashtag. It would help if you focus on keeping the hashtag brief.

5. Choose a Hashtag That Evokes Audience Emotions

Although we said hashtags should be simple and short, that does not mean you should not explore some complex emotions or experiences.

Often, hashtags that feel memorable and powerful, are those that toy with the emotions of the target audience.

Conclusion

Before settling on a hashtag for your brand, look for potential problems that might arise the moment you start using it.

Remember that controversial phrases could hurt your social media strategy.

Therefore, aim at using the hashtag that will represent your brand in a positive manner, and not result in a negative vibe that hurts your brand authenticity.

Case Study

David Lombardo, founder of ATC memes discusses the importance of using hashtags: