Tuesday, December 4, 2012

Using Hashtags for Branding


Originally posted by awkwardimages.com

A few weeks ago, we revealed the mystery of hashtags to explain what they are and how to implement a hashtag strategy on Twitter. But did you know that hashtags are also very useful for other social media sites, such as Instagram, Pinterest and Google+? They are becoming so popular, one couple recently named their newborn daughter Hashtag!
You use hashtags on other social networking sites in much the same way you do on Twitter. Simply add a # symbol in front of the word or phrase you wish to tag (without spaces) in your post. You can also add hashtags to words in comments, although you must be the original poster for this to work on Instagram.
So how can your brand benefit from using hashtags? You can run a promotion asking users to upload photos of your product or from your event with a specific hashtag and use the content in later promotions. (See this Mashablearticle for some examples of branded hashtag contests on Instagram). The best thing about hashtags is that you can be really creative in coming up with ways to use them for your brand – and let your fans get really creative with the implementation!
Please share your hashtag success stories with us in the comments below.