How to Use #Hashtags to Grow Your Business

I’ve noticed something about businesses/websites that never grow a following on Twitter or Instagram. I’ve seen so many that stay at about 80 followers, for years! They aren’t using #s!!! Hashtags can grow a following on social media faster than you think, even if you don’t know a single person on those platforms.

In my niche, if I post something on Twitter without a few hashtags, nothing will happen. Nothing. My blog is a humor/spiritual blog, and NONE of my friends Tweet. Zero. Therefore, I have to find the people who are interested in what I write about. It was a beautiful day the day I discovered hashtags.

People go on Twitter and are looking for people like them, so they will type in subjects to find people tweeting about that particular thing. An often used mom tweet hashtag is #momlife or #toddlers or #whyme. Okay, I’m kidding about #whyme, but I bet that would be a fun one to search for!

See, hashtags aren’t just there to help you add witty remarks to the end of your tweet. They are providing a searchable index. Hashtags are your keywords, or for you web geeks, hashtags are your SEO for social media. They are a fantastic way to bring new eyeballs to your name, your brand, and your website.

Don’t skip the hashtags!

 

 

Which hashtag you use matters too!

By the way, it doesn’t do any good to use hashtags that have nothing to do with what your business is about, unless it has a lot to do with the customers you are trying to attract. If I tweeted this particular article and then put #crafty #momlife. Those # followers would be like, “Wha?? I don’t care about this.”

But if I tweet this with #bloggers #hashtagsmatter #howtousehashtags, then we would attract new readers who were actually interested in what this article had to say.

And believe it or not, it has actually converted to more page views from Twitter. Facebook is my number one traffic driver by far, but Twitter is my #2, after search engines, of course.

Here are some examples for businesses:

For chiropractors:  #chiro #myachyback #chronicpain

For local offices: #yourcity #yourstate #citiesaroundyourcity

For bloggers: #yourtopic #funny #crafts #momlife #dadlife #Fridayreads #websites #computergeek #giftideas….The list is endless. Just think of what YOU would search for if you were searching for your blog article.

For churches: #yourcity #yourstate #Jesuslives #Jesussaves

For freelancers: #willworkforfood……kidding I’m kidding… #freelancewriter #freelancedesigner #designer #writer…Those would be what you’d want to put in your profile description.

Other social media platforms may only require a keyword.

Use your hashtags on Twitter, Instagram, and even Facebook now.

WordPress works the same way, only with wordpress you don’t have to use #s, only “tags.” I get equal numbers of people from WordPress and Twitter.

Now, I know for many of you this is elementary. But make sure that you vary them up to bring in new people. If you always use the same #s, you won’t see as much growth.

Do you know what helped me take Twitter to the next level? Crowdfireapp.com It’s a free app that will show you who you are following that isn’t following you, who you are following that has an inactive account, and suggests people to follow that tweet about your keywords. It will also schedule tweets for you. Try it out. More Twitter followers does equal more Twitter traffic to your site, but only if you regularly share your material and mark it with the right #s.

 

 

One last tip: Pinterest is now highly searchable as well, so make sure each of your pins has all the keywords in the description of the pin that might bring people to that particular article. Hashtags aren’t required, but keywords are.

Hope this was helpful! I’m off to get into the Christmas candy. #yum #chocolate #toffee!!!!

Need more tips for social media? Here are a few articles to check out:

Social Media Marketing Plans

Tips to Running a Successful Social Media Marketing Campaign

What Social Media Has in Store for 2017

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