Today, hashtags have become an integral part of Twitter. You just can’t imagine Twitter without hashtags. However, it wasn’t always the same. In this post, we are going to discuss what are hashtags and how to create a Twitter hashtag strategy that actually works.
What is a Hashtag?
Social media users post a bunch of things. As the userbase increased, so did the content on these platforms. It became difficult for users to navigate through the massive pool of content to find relevant content. Twitter was facing the same challenge, users weren’t able to find relevant content without wasting a whole lot of time. Chris Messina, an avid Twitter user, suggested using hashtags.
The first-ever hashtag (#barcamp) used on Twitter was on August 23, 2007’ by Chris Messina.
Twitter has a history of adopting user suggestions, the terms, ‘tweets’ and ‘retweets’ were actually user suggestions adopted by Twitter. Twitter adopted hashtags too, it helped users categorize content with hashtags and made it easier for users to find relevant content. Today, hashtags have become an important and irreplaceable part of Twitter. In fact, hashtags are most popular on Twitter. While other platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn do use hashtags, they aren’t as widely used as on Twitter.
Why are Hashtags Important?
Hashtags help in categorizing content, it also increases the SEO authority of your tweets and makes it easier to find. But most importantly, it helps you get into trending ongoing conversations. Twitter thrives on real-time conversations. You can group your tweets to a certain topic with the help of hashtags. People searching the hashtag can find relevant results including your tweets. Hashtags can help you build conversations around a certain topic and make it easier for other users to contribute to the conversation.
Soon after Twitter introduced hashtags to the platform as an official feature, they were quickly adopted by the userbase. Brands and marketers also started using hashtags to increase reach and overall exposure. Today, thousands if not millions of tweets are posted with hashtags to help audiences with similar interests find relevant content.
What are Trending Hashtags?
What is a trending hashtag? Hashtags help you categorize content and increase SEO authority. But using trending hashtags can help you reach and target highly engaging audiences. Every industry, community, or niche has some hashtags that are often used by the users to post relevant content or to build conversations. When you log into your Twitter profile, on the right-hand side, in the, ’What’s happening’ section, you can find the most trending hashtags or topics. These hashtags are being widely used by users to build conversations and engage.
But new trends emerge rapidly, you never know what kind of content or topic might gain momentum. The same goes for the hashtags dedicated to these trends. But you just can’t use any trending hashtag you find. You have to be sure that it is relevant to your domain. You must know what you are getting into. If the hashtags are used in the wrong context, the Twitterverse will surely remind your that. It can damage your brand’s reputation. Failing to interpret a hashtag before using it can cause a great deal of embarrassment for your brand or business.
That is why using an effective Twitter hashtag analytics tool is essential to find the relevant trending hashtags to promote your brand. These tools can help you build a Twitter hashtag strategy that increases your brand’s visibility and target the right audience.
How to Search and Identify Trending Hashtags?
Native Twitter Analytics
The native Twitter analytics is one of the best features or tools that can help identify the latest trending topics and hashtags. Just log into your Twitter account, go to the ‘#Explore’, click on ‘Trending’. There you have it, a list of the most trending hashtags in your region. You can also customize your search queries to find more relevant topics and hashtags to use. The Explore section also provides more trending topics and hashtags for different areas such as news, sports, and entertainment.
Twitter analytics also provides a ton of analytical insights. You can use it to track the performance metrics of your brand’s Twitter profile. You can track engagement metrics to measure the impact of your implemented strategies. Although, the limited statistics are not enough to help you plan a successful Twitter hashtag strategy. This is where more comprehensive and specialized third-party Twitter analytics tools come into play.
TrendsMap
TrendsMap is an amazing hashtag tracking tool that can help you identify trending hashtags as per region. You can get access to loads of hashtags related to every industry or niche. You can choose from various hashtags, just make sure that they apply to your brand or industry. It also helps you analyze the conversations related to the hashtag. You can look at the most performing tweets for any hashtag to check the relevancy of the conversation or hashtag. When coupled with Twitter analytics and Twitter advanced search, you can extract lots of actionable insights that can help you plan an effective Twitter hashtag strategy.
TrackMyHashtag
TrackMyHashtag is a paid Twitter analytics tool that can track, monitor, and analyze the performance metrics of any hashtag. It can help you identify the most trending but relevant hashtags that can boost your brand’s social media image. Get comprehensive analytics related to any hashtag in real-time. Monitor the performance of your hashtag campaigns and improvise strategies if needed in real-time. Find influencers that are using a specific hashtag You can also use it to monitor your competitors’ Twitter hashtag strategy and get comprehensive analytical insights.
Key features of TrackMyHashtag,
- Real-time hashtag tracking
- Measure and analyze hashtag campaigns
- Identify key influencers
- Analyze your competitors’ hashtag campaigns
- Analyze historical Twitter data
The premium monthly and yearly subscription plans start at $49 and $299, respectively.
Hashtag Best Practices
Analyze engagement metrics: Analyzing the performance metrics of a hashtag is essential to identify the most effective hashtags to increase your brand’s reach and exposure. Analyze the metrics of the most trending hashtags related to your domain.
Make sure they are relevant: There have been cases where brands have used several unrelated hashtags which later resulted in outrage from the community. Trending hashtags can increase your brand’s presence, but using any trending hashtag without thinking through can be disastrous.
Don’t overuse hashtags: Using hashtags can double engagement, but using too many hashtags can decrease engagement. Tweets using more than 2 hashtags draw 17% less engagement. Use 1-2 hashtags, any more than that can shrink engagement, users could also see it as spam and unfollow you.
Identify hashtags used by influencers: Another great way of finding relevant hashtags is tracking influencers to identify the hashtags they use. Influencers often use hashtags, you can use these hashtags to target their followers, increase reach, generate awareness, and find future prospects.
Optimize posting time: Twitter is one of the nosiest social media platforms. If you post tweets randomly, you won’t ever reach your target audience. Analyze the performance of your tweets and identify the time frame when your users are online.
Track Hashtags: Keep tracking your hashtag metrics. Leverage the insights to further tweak your hashtag strategy and boost engagement.
Closing thoughts
Hashtags are highly effective in increasing the organic reach of your content. Leverage advanced Twitter analytics tools to find the right trending hashtags that you can use to increase your brand’s social media presence. TrackMyHashtag is an amazing AI-driven hashtag analytics tool that can help you get crucial insights to enhance your Twitter hashtag strategy. Do try it!
Shivam is a capable substance essayist who enthusiastically makes enlightening and intriguing articles. Shivam has a curious psyche and a hunger for learning. Shivam is a reality lover who loves to uncover captivating realities from a large number of subjects. He solidly accepts that learning is a deep-rooted excursion and he is continually looking for valuable chances to expand his insight and find new realities. So make a point to look at Shivam’s work for a brilliant perusing.
