Hashtags have solidified their hold into how we market business. They may have started as a fad but they’ve stuck around. They are a way of categorizing social media content and are searchable on all platforms. High-value keywords that help your website get found in search results also make great hashtags. The searchability of hashtags is a great thing, you can search for exactly what you want with great specificity.

You can rev up your content by including hashtags that already have traffic, but are not supersaturated. Using a specific hashtag your business has the potential to be seen by anyone looking for content on that topic. If you can be that source, it can have pretty great results for you. Here’s a fun fact for you to show the importance of hashtags, a post with at least one Instagram hashtag averages 12.6% more engagement than posts without a hashtag.

One of the challenges faced on social media is knowing what hashtags to use and how many. Each channel has its own “best practice”, however, nothing is set in stone. So, how do you know what to use? One word of warning we can give right off the bat is don’t over-do it, if someone sees a post with 30 hashtags they’re just going to assume it’s spammy and not really pay attention to it.

Types of Hashtags

Brand Hashtags

Sometimes it’s good to have generic hashtags and sometimes it’s good to use a branded hashtag. Branded hashtags are unique for your business brand and allows your customers to a place to share relevant content. For example, #Nike is a brand that promotes its own hashtag. Users that share content with this hashtag are also able to search the hashtag itself to see what others are posting about their Nike gear.  

So what’s better – Popular vs custom hashtags?

Be intentional when deciding to include a custom hashtag. Choosing popular hashtags means people are already using and following them, thus the potential for your content to be discovered is higher. A  branded hashtag, on the other hand, allows you control over what people see but it’s up to you to promote it so people know to follow, you won’t initially be starting with much or any audience.  

Hashtags on social media are clickable so include your branded hashtag in your bio on Twitter and Instagram. This gives anyone viewing your page a quick refrence for your own branded hashtag and somewhere they can click to see everything using that hashtag. Following a hashtag works just like following a user’s profile; open the hashtag page and tap on the follow button.

Community Hashtags

Community hashtags, like branded hashtags, are hashtags that connect like-minded users around a specific subject. But unlike branded hashtags, community hashtags don’t need to be directly related to a business — they can be broader and much less focused. These are meant to last and be used by many outside of your business. These are more for interest and hobbies.

When selecting a community hashtag to use, the narrower the scope of the hashtag, the more engaged the users tend to be! As you dive into the deeper depth of a subject, the population of interested parties drops, but the attention goes up drastically.

Campaign Hashtags

Branded and community hashtags are meant to be used for a long time, however, campaign hashtags are usually shorter-term and run for just a few days, a season or a year. They are similar to an event hashtag and perfect for use inside stories or live videos. They can create hype around an event and be a way to refrence any content about that event.

If you are running a contest or hosting a challenge, you could have people include your campaign hashtag on their post to be entered. The campaign is for a short duration and easily aggregated for your audience to engage with. In doing this all of the people that follow them will see the hashtag and chances are good at least a few are going to be curious enough to come click on your profile.

Related Hashtags 

https://keywordtool.io/ and https://hashtagify.me/hashtag/tbt are tools to help you find hashtags that are “related” or “similar”. Researching related hashtags provides insight into current trends and “bordering” concepts. This is particularly helpful in spotting niche slang & geek speak. It’s not comprehensive enough to just go onto Twitter and try to find the hot hashtags yourself. Twitter is crafted to each user so chances are good you’re only seeing hashtags that they want you to.

Local Hashtags

Using hashtags that are relevant to your local area helps people find your business. There are not many tools to help you find local hashtags but a good knowledge of your area and Google Maps will work. Something as simple as #Raleigh or #Fresno can give you that local relevance you want and another cool hashtag to add.

On Instagram, you have the option to add a location when posting but it’s still a good idea to include a hashtag for your area. If you have multiple locations, make sure to include area hashtags for each one. Don’t throw in every city within a 50 mile radius, but if you’re nearby don’t be afraid to add it on there.

You can localize by including:

• Neighborhood & City Names
• Community Names
• Popular Sights / Landmarks
• Restaurants & Shops

Event Hashtags

An event hashtag is customized to a specific event and needs to be broadcast to attendees. All content posted on social media will be aggregated by using this custom hashtag. Attendees and those not present can follow what’s going on in realtime. These hashtags really do make people feel more inclined to post and share things with other people that are there.

Tip:  For your next open house, try and promote an event hashtag.  Tell your customers to follow for secret specials.

Holiday Hashtags

There are a lot of crazy “holidays” that people have started.  Check out this list: https://nationaldaycalendar.com/. The major holidays are easy to create content around, but what about Nurses Week? This is an opportunity for your business to create something special just for nurses. By using the holiday hashtag #nursesweek2019, you can get in front of a new target audience and show people that you are passionate about things like this.

Pro Tip:  Find the top hashtags here http://best-hashtags.com/hashtag/medspa/. Remember, each platform has its own suggested number of hashtags to include on each post for optimum engagement. It’s a good idea to test your profiles and see what works for you. 

If these tips were helpful or insightful for you, you have got to check out our free medspa marketing ebook. It’s absolutely stuffed full of great marketing tips and ideas, all free for you to download!

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