Tuesday Tips: Don't Make These #Hashtag Mistakes

Are you making these common mistakes in your Tweets?  Check this list out and try to eliminate some of these common mistakes from your Tweeting habits:

• Using too many hashtags.  There should be 1-3 hashtags per tweet. Tweets with one or two hashtags have been seen to receive 20% higher engagement, according to Passion Digital.
• Using inappropriate hashtags. This can kill your target audience if you aren't targeting with the right tweets. Be sure to check out posts similar to the hashtag you are using to be sure what you're posting is relevant and similar.
• Using a Trending Hashtag when your post has nothing to do with that trending hashtag. It might be very tempting to do this, but if your post has nothing to do with a trending hashtag, just don't use it. Pro Tip: Don't try to create a post about every trending hashtag either just to get noticed. It's poor marketing and Twitter etiquette.
• Use appropriate hashtags with your pictures! Some people, myself included, often forget to hashtag their photos when they share them.
• Don't hashtag every word in a tweet. Refer to the first point in this post - that would be using too many hashtags and is a sign of a novice user. Pick important, relevant terms and hashtag them.
• Check what other posts are listed with your hashtag(s). It's often good to see what other tweets and conversations are being had with similar hashtags. You might even learn a thing or two.
• Do not hashtag more than two or three words combined. More than that becomes obnoxious and annoying. In that same line of thought, hashtagging all capitalized words is also obnoxious.

Hope these tips help!

Tuesday Tips are a series of tips released on Tuesday each week regarding a hint or tip to help you manage and market your social media presence better.  You can find all the Tuesday Tips by clicking on the Tuesday Tips tag below.

Friday Facts: The Power of the Hashtag

Another excellent infographic - this time from the Huffington Post - regarding the Power of the Hashtag.  This offers advice from not abusing hashtags to other best practices regarding hashtags with the various sites that use them. It also explains why using hashtags is important and how you should pick/set up hashtags for your brand.

Check it out here: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/227431849909451172/

You might also want to check out their sources for the article. There may be additional useful information there.

Saturday Sharing: Everything You Need to Know About Hashtags

Over the past few years we've covered quite a bit on hashtags in a number of articles, including these articles:

• Friday Facts: The History and Power of #Hashtags
• Tuesday Tips: Don't Hashtag Every Word in Social Media Posts
• Wednesday Words: #Hashtags
• Tuesday Tips: Use Hashtags

I will, however, admit I may have missed some things. That's where the article I am sharing comes into play. Check out The Beginner's Guide to the Hashtag on Mashable found here: http://mashable.com/2013/10/08/what-is-hashtag/?crlt.pid=camp.Gxjj4sXBL6v0

While the article covers some of what I have covered above, it also contains other useful information to consider, especially if you are new to hashtaging and social media.

Check it out! You may find it useful.

Friday Facts: The History and Power of #Hashtags

Did you know there was a history behind hashtags before Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, Google+, etc. (all of whom use #hashtags to denote topics)?  It started back in the early days of the Internet on mIRC then in 2007 spread to Twitter and grew from there.

Check out this awesome infographic on the Power/History of Hashtags and how trending topics are important too.

Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/pin/418412621604584947/
Original article: http://www.business2community.com/infographics/history-power-hashtags-social-media-marketing-infographic-0997768

Tuesday Tips: Don't Hashtag Every Word in Social Media Posts

We've all had a person, or two (or more) that we've followed on Twitter that has committed the social media sin of hashtagging every word in their post.

Not sure what I mean?  Let me give a fictional example.

#WOW #SocialMedia #issocool #Checkoutmyblog.  #writer #blogger #socialmediablog #blogging

Don't be one of -those- guys.  And if you're guilty of being one of those guys, especially when you didn't understand the purpose of hashtags, you're forgiven.  Just don't do it again.

Hashtag only important words or phrases.  Hashtag what pertains to your post.  And definitely don't hashtag every word.  That's a bad, BAD idea.

If you aren't sure what hashtags are out there, search for them.  if similar posts match what your tweet is about, use it.  This rule also applies to Pinterest, Google+ and Facebook.  Just because you can add hashtags to everything doesn't mean you should.  Go for quality over quantity.

Have fun!

Tuesday Tips are a series of tips released on Tuesday each week regarding a hint or tip to help you manage and market your Facebook presence better.  You can find all the Tuesday Tips by clicking on the Tuesday Tips tag below.

Tuesday Tips: Use Hashtags

#hashtags are everywhere now.  If you want your social media content to be seen by new users, be sure to include pertinent hashtags.

Hashtags become clickable links on Twitter, Facebook and Google+, which allow users to click on them and see a plethora of other posts using the same hashtag.  This allows users to see new posts by new folks they don't follow in addition to posts by people they do follow.  Basically it's subject grouping for social media.

A great example is Kickstarter.  A lot of folks will use @Kickstarter to tag them and #kickstarter when they're talking about their social funding project.  This allows everyone to see, at a glance, all the posts about Kickstarter while posting it to the wall of Kickstarter too, who may share it.

Tuesday Tips are a series of tips released on Tuesday each week regarding a hint or tip to help you manage and market your Facebook presence better.  You can find all the Tuesday Tips by clicking on the Tuesday Tips tag below.