Marketing Tip: Utilizing Hashtags to Increase Small Businesses Discoverability

Every business uses social media platforms to promote its products and services. Social media help businesses to connect with potential customers through unique and interesting content. For small businesses, this is a tool to boost their reach and broaden their audience without having to pay for promotions.

Hashtags have evolved over the past years and their popularity has insanely increased. It is not only used to effectively communicate but to increase the discoverability of business content on social media platforms. 

THE POWER OF HASHTAGS

In business marketing, hashtags are widely used on platforms such as Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. These are essentially keywords used to organize content on social media platforms, boost a brand or business awareness, and tap into trends and social movements. 

Even with the widespread utilization of hashtags many businesses are still unsure of the purpose it can serve them. Here, we give you some advantages of using hashtags for your business:

• Audiences can discover new content by browsing specific keywords on social media or by expanding their network by using hashtags in their content.
• Make it easier for the targeted audience to find your business content and increase the likelihood of engagement on your social media. 
• It can be used to monitor trends in your business and industry

HOW TO EFFECTIVELY USE HASHTAGS 

Hashtags can help businesses reach new audiences and increase opportunities to connect. But if used incorrectly, it can be an effort that was put to waste. It can be very tempting to use too many hashtags in your content, believing it can make your content easier to discover. But the visibility of your business content isn’t always better. If you are using too-popular hashtags, that don’t even relate to your business, won’t help you ‘connect’ with your targeted clients. 

Another thing about misusing a hashtag is that people can be too creative in making one. While there are no strict rules in conceptualizing one, it is best suggested not to use long hashtags. Simple, short, easy, and relatable to content tags are more remembered and used by followers or customers.

Knowing what are the things you should avoid doing with hashtags, the next question is how to implement the hashtagging. Here are some ways in creating an effective hashtag that connects:

Identify your ideal client

This first step is the most important but sadly underperformed part of content marketing. The goal of every business is to build connections and relationships with clients through your content. It is a part of your content marketing. Before using a hashtag, we recommend you do some homework and research your ideal client's needs and activities. If you will use popular hashtags, make sure to understand their context and usage correctly. And if you’re creating your own, do some research to check if it is already being used or not.

Create Caption Categories

The goal here is to keep things relevant. Try to focus on tags that are relevant to your content. Start by categorizing and making a set of interchangeable hashtags in each category. Do not copy and paste the same words to avoid being shadow banned on social media, especially on Instagram.

Use Visual Hashtags

Visual hashtags are the use of things that people can see in your post/content. Visual, from the word itself, tells the audience that when the content shows up in their feed, the hashtag you used basically makes sense. 

Interact with Hashtag Users

Aside from using hashtags for your content, it is best to search the words you use and interact with people who are using them. Examples are #Bakersofinstagram #weddingphotographers and etc. Reaching out will lead to conversations with your target audience, and from there you can start building a community of users who are highly engaged with your business. 

Hashtags are the perfect complement to every business marketing strategy. If used correctly, it will help small and starting businesses increase their chance to be discovered by a new and wider audience. Although there are some catches in creating and using one, experimenting is always welcome until you find the best hashtag for your business. By monitoring your analytics, it can help you identify which ones are successful in generating engagements and expanding your audiences. 

If you have a business and struggle to utilize hashtags to boost your content, you can have the option of outsourcing a team that makes this work done for you. 

Here at KLB Solutions, we turn your business vision into a reality. We specialize in Digital Marketing and have a team of experts that can help deliver your business goals. 

Get started today! Schedule a call for a free quote at: www.klbsolutionsllc.com