Since the introduction of hashtags, we’ve seen them spread like wildfire. Unfortunately, there are still plenty of ways in which hashtags are being misused, making them ineffective and somewhat obnoxious.

Hashtags were created in order to track what social media users are talking about and to connect those discussing similar topics and trends. Through this, a Twitter user could click on the hashtag and find others who are talking about #OfficeSupplies or #CampusLife. This encourages more communication between profiles and increases engagement for businesses.

Many times, in order to track a campaign, companies will create a hashtag. They can use this to implement contests (use #companycontest to be entered to win) or follow consumer engagement (use #companycampaign when posting about our new products).

Hashtags That Don’t Work:

Although hashtags can be useful in these ways, many companies continue to post using hashtags that have no benefit to the business. Hashtags should not be too long, personal or unique. Long hashtags can be confusing to consumers with multiple words squished together, while personal and unique hashtags will not encourage interaction with others discussing the same topic.

Similar rules apply to personal posts, as well as company posts. If I were developing a tweet about spending time at work, I would not want to use #RachelAtWork. If I wanted to keep track of every tweet I made while at work, I could use this, but that is not my goal while tweeting. I would want to use more generic hashtags such as #WorkingHard, #Marketing or #TheGrind. Each of these hashtags would lead me and my followers to a discussion about similar topics. I could also use #Orbit or #OrbitDesign to find others who are discussing my business!

The 2014 Superbowl was the year of the hashtag, with almost every commercial promoting one hashtag or another. Most of the hashtags were specific to the ad’s theme, but had greater meanings behind them that the general public wants to discuss. Budweiser’s #BestBuds and Coca-Cola’s #AmericaTheBeautiful tap into deeper feelings, starting a conversation with the ad viewers and other social media patrons.

Using hashtags are easy and quick ways to engage others with similar interests as your company, but it’s important to know how to use this tool. Remember to keep them short and sweet, as well as generic enough to connect with a large audience.

Orbit Design can help you determine exactly which hashtags and other social efforts can help your campaign!