Using #Hashtags to boost traffic and leads

For those of you who use social media regularly, you are likely to have seen hashtags a lot. They are literally everywhere on Twitter, sometimes they can be helpful other times extremely annoying.

However, the reason hashtags are everywhere is because they can generate a lot more traffic and leads (if used correctly).

Why should you use hashtags?

Hashtags expose people to your content that have an interest in your hashtag, even the people outside of your followers or network. Hashtags help expand your reach to an audience that may not have ever heard of you before, enabling you to reach new potential clients, not only expanding your reach but also increasing your engagement, traffic and leads.

How should you use hashtags for the best results?

The rules on hashtags change for each social network. For Twitter and Facebook we would recommend you use between one and two hashtags. You should use one broad hashtag and one more targeted.

Broader hashtags have the potential of generating many views but will have more competition so is likely to get buried on the Twitter feed.

More targeted hashtags are obviously less popular so will generate fewer impressions but will be visible for longer and because it is more relevant to the tweet it has more of a chance of generating engagement.

For example a broad hashtag for this post might be #hashtags, whereas a targeted hashtag may be something like #thebenefitsofhashtags.  

As for social platforms like Instagram, a higher number hashtags are more acceptable. A study has suggested that interactions are highest on Instagram posts with 11+ hashtags.

Google Plus is again completely different. Google Plus automatically hashtags your posts based on the content, however you are able to edit these and add your own.

Google Plus also allows you to add hashtags in the comments section and the hashtags are built right into Google searches meaning they have a huge potential of expanding your reach.

 

Hopefully this will help with your hashtag strategy. Give it a try and see what sort of impact it has on your social engagement, however be wary of how many hashtags you use as too many will generally annoy your followers.