Hashtags

Hashtags & Facebook

Hashtags & Facebook (Plus Proper Use of Tagging & @Mentioning)

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Use of Hashtags with Facebook

Most people don’t use hashtags with Facebook because they aren’t as useful as Twitter, LinkedIn or Instagram. I believe they are making a comeback.

Businesses can benefit from using hashtags with Facebook in subtle ways. What if your company has one person specifically searching for what your business offers and you gained an extra fan, lead or sale from that? It would be worth that extra step, wouldn’t it?

A Few Quick Tips for using #Hashtags with Facebook:

1. Use relevant keywords to your business and the audience you are trying to target. (If you are a local business, use the name of your city, too).

2. Use tools like Hashtagify.me to find other trending hashtags related to your specific tag.

3. Don’t put your #hashtag in the middle of the #sentence. That makes #reading the sentence #annoying. Instead, write out your whole post; at the bottom of the post, add the hashtags.

4. Use only 2 hashtags at a time.

Tagging People or Companies with Facebook

While there is no such thing as hard and fast rules for social media, and guidelines keep changing as the platforms and their features evolve, there are still some essential accepted guidelines for tagging on Facebook that every business owner should know.

Let’s start by defining what tagging is. When you ‘tag’ someone, you are creating a link to their profile. It is different from simply “@mentioning” someone by name because with a tag: (1) you can click on the name and go to their profile, (2) your post may be added to the person’s timeline (depending on their settings), and (3) your post becomes visible to the friends of the tagged person.

You can tag in posts, status updates, pictures, videos, links, and comments. You can tag your ‘friends’ on Facebook, as well as people in your groups. And besides tagging people, you can also tag certain pages, events, and apps.

Tagging is simply done by typing someone’s name in the status or comment box and selecting the right name from the drop-down menu that shows up:

Facebook-tagging-example
Tagging/Facebook

Facebook Tagging has many great uses for business when used properly. You can tag your team in the photos to showcase them. You can tag partners in a post when you are promoting them. You can tag a colleague to bring them into an ongoing conversation as an expert. You can tag event participants in the photos from the event. You can tag people or pages in acknowledgment when you are sharing their content. Or you can tag to give credit to someone for their ideas, help, or support.

There are endless positive and appropriate reasons to tag, but you will notice that they all have one thing in common—there is a very apparent reason behind the tag.

The downside of the tagging feature is that you cannot prevent being tagged on Facebook. You can choose to review tags before they appear on your timeline, you can hide the posts you were tagged in from your timeline, or you can remove the tags (but not your name) from posts. But there is nothing you can do to block people from tagging you in the first place beside unfriending or blocking them.

Let’s take a moment to review some of the inappropriate tagging behaviors that will make you appear ‘spammy’:

1. Do not tag motivational quotes or similar posts with multiple random people.

Yes, it’s a fact—by tagging 50 people in your photo, you are hugely increasing the reach of your post because it becomes “visible” to all of the friends of people that you tagged. You should never use this method to increase your Facebook reach. For example, doing it once a year to wish a “Happy New Year” to all of your clients is okay. But if you are doing it on a regular basis with a sole purpose of getting more views on your posts, stop it immediately! It’s a classic spammer technique that you don’t want to be known for.

2. Do not tag people or pages to imply endorsement.

Tagging should not be used to solely promote yourself, your business, or your services. Do not tag people who have a higher reach or more influence simply to get more attention to your promo. This kind of tagging essentially puts an advertising link on a person’s timeline for your product. Being tagged in a pitch without permission and without any sales or affiliate relationship creates a false endorsement and violates basic principles of doing business.

3. Do not tag people to get their attention to your offer.

Whether it’s a new program, book, class, or something else you are trying to promote, do not tag people to attract their attention to it. I see it all the time—business owners uploading a picture of a flyer advertising their upcoming event, webinar, or program and tagging every other business owner they know to invite them. This kind of tag is usually done without any ill intent, but in essence, it’s a variation of rule #2 discussed above. People don’t like being associated with an event or an offer without a prior conversation, and tagging them does just that.

Instead, you can send a private message, you can send an email with the link to your post, you can create a Facebook event and invite people to it, or you can even mention someone’s name in the comment under your post. It’s all much better than tagging people directly in the post.

The rule-of-thumb is: If your post is self-promotional, there is usually no reason to tag other people in it unless they are part of your event or your team.

Quite simply, think before you tag. If you don’t, you can quickly lose not only the trust of your Facebook friends but also loads of followers and fans.

Use of @Mentions with Facebook

It’s okay to “@Mention” other Facebook pages in posts to be shared to a Facebook page. To mention a Facebook page in your post, type in the @ symbol and start typing the first few letters of the Facebook page you’d like to mention. Matching results will be returned and you can click on the page you’d like to include.

Please note, it is not possible to “@Mention” Facebook Profiles, only Pages. Additionally, it is not possible to “@Mention” Facebook Pages if you’re posting to a Facebook Group.

We, at Apis Productions, will be putting together one more in-depth article about Instagram hashtags. As always, if you need help with your social media management and/or graphics creation for your custom-branded posts, give us a shout! #wearelistening

Understanding Twitter Hashtags - Apis Productions

Understanding Twitter Hashtags

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Hashtags are one of the most important and efficient ways of organizing information on Twitter. Anyone can make a hashtag at any time, simply by typing a phrase of the form “#topic” in a tweet.

  • For example, if you were tweeting about reading this article, you might say “Reading #apisproductions article on using #hashtags with #twitter.” Then, anybody searching for #apisproductions, #hashtags, or #twitter would see your tweet.

  • After a hashtag has been created, other Twitter users can use that hashtag in their own tweets to add to the larger conversation about that topic. Hashtags can be as general as (#twitter) or as specific as (#twitterhowto). They are completely organic forms of organization, created and managed by Twitter users, not Twitter itself.

A Couple Rules about Twitter Hashtags

  • Make sure your spelling is correct and that there are no spaces between the words you wish to include in the hashtag. Capitalization, however, does not matter. Thus “#apisproductions”, “#Apisproductions”, and “#ApisProductions” will all produce the same result.

  • As a best practice, it’s recommended to use no more than two hashtags per tweet.

  • A tweet cannot contain punctuation or symbols.

Create Your Own Hashtag

The form for doing this is exactly the same as for including an already existing hashtag. Simply type a phrase of the form “#topic.” When you click “Tweet”, your new tweet will appear in your list of tweets, and the hashtag you created will appear in blue. Scroll over it and click on it to be redirected to the page for the hashtag. If you have really created a brand new hashtag, your tweet should be the only one on the page. Now, every time someone includes your hashtag in a tweet, it will be added to the page.

Include an Existing Hashtag in your Tweet

You can do this simply by typing a phrase of the form “#topic” within your tweet. After you click “Tweet,” your tweet will appear in your list of tweets with the hashtag in blue type. Scroll over the hashtag and click on it to go to the page for that hashtag. Your tweet will now appear when other users visit the hashtag page.

Navigate Twitter using Hashtags

Clicking on a particular hashtag (in blue) will send you to the search results page where you will see other tweets that contain that hashtag. Near the top of the page, you can select “Top”, which shows tweets containing the hashtag that has been retweeted numerous times, “All”, which shows all tweets that include the hashtag, and “People you follow” to see only tweets from people you follow who used that particular hashtag.

  • You can also get to a search results page by entering the #searchterm in the search field above the list of tweets.

  • In the “Trends” sidebar on the left, you can view the hashtags that are currently the most popular throughout Twitter. Clicking on one of these will take you to a page of search results for that particular hashtag.

Find Hashtags that Interest You

As Twitter continues to grow, so does the number of hashtags. There are many ways to find hashtags related to subjects that you are interested in. Read through the Twitter feeds of people you follow, and click on any hashtags that you find interesting.

Look for Hashtags in Everyday Life

Use of hashtags is a growing trend in advertising that can be highly entertaining, as anybody can—and will—piggyback on the marketing hashtag to say anything they want. To use one, simply add the hashtag to your tweet, and you will be joined in the conversation.

Similarly, live events like awards shows or trade shows include hashtags so that the participants can easily join in live discussions.

We, at Apis Productions, will be putting together more in-depth articles about hashtags in the near future. As always, if you need help with your social media management and/or graphics creation for your custom-branded posts, give us a shout! #WeAreListening

How to use Hashtags in LinkedIn

How To Use LinkedIn Hashtags

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Hashtags are a relatively new feature on LinkedIn, just added in 2018. LinkedIn is a very different social media platform than more casual social sites like Twitter and Instagram, so the purpose and usage of hashtags is different as well.

How Do Hashtags Work on LinkedIn?

Similar to other social media sites, you can create a hashtag on LinkedIn by using the hashtag symbol followed by your choice word or phrase. Hashtags can be used on LinkedIn updates or on articles published on LinkedIn. You can also follow hashtags on LinkedIn, allowing top content related to that hashtag to show up on your feed.

Follow these rules to ensure that your LinkedIn hashtag works properly:

  • Do NOT use spaces: Like other social media hashtags, LinkedIn hashtags cannot include spaces or it will break the link and cut the tag short, potentially changing its meaning or creating confusion.

  • Do NOT use punctuation: Punctuation, just like spaces, breaks the hashtag off at that character, shortening it and changing its meaning.

  • Make it public: If your profile is public, you’re already set. If your profile is private, however, you’ll need to make your post or article public. Otherwise, your post will only reach your existing network and not the larger online community following the hashtags you include.

To add a hashtag to an update, simply type your update and then type in your chosen tags after the # symbol. LinkedIn will offer suggested hashtags for you to click to add, or you can type in your own.

To add a hashtag to an article, you can type and edit your article on LinkedIn and click the Publish button. A window will pop up before it publishes, and here you can type in your hashtags in the field that says “Tell your network what your article is about.” These hashtags will appear above your article and will share your article with users following the hashtags you included.

You can also weave LinkedIn hashtags into your profile so that someone searching for that hashtag can find you, leading to new connections and opportunities. Include your most relevant hashtags in your headline or summary on your profile.

Hashtags also work in comments on LinkedIn – these can be used to further attach your name to a specific hashtag, branding your profile. This will categorize the original update into that hashtag, so use this feature sparingly and be sure to only comment relevant hashtags.

How To Follow Hashtags on LinkedIn:

You can also follow hashtags on LinkedIn, allowing posts with that hashtag to show up on your feed for you to interact with. Follow hashtags related to your field, industry, or brand. You can also pin your favorite hashtags to your homepage, making it easier to find related content. Your pinned hashtags will appear on the left side of your homepage under “Your Communities.” Click the pencil button to edit your pinned hashtags, or click “Discover More” to find similar hashtags that may be of interest.

Once you follow relevant hashtags, you can engage with the content that appears on your LinkedIn feed. By exploring content related to your interests, you can find new users to connect with or join in the online conversation about your industry.

Why Should I Use LinkedIn Hashtags?

Whether you’re using a personal account or a company LinkedIn page, using hashtags will help your updates and articles reach a larger audience, helping to expand your LinkedIn network! Hashtags can show that you are engaged with the content you’re sharing and connect you to similar content or users in your field.

Use popular hashtags on LinkedIn to reach a larger audience, but you can also target a more specific demographic by using more specific hashtags related to your content. Don’t use too specific a hashtag, however, as the purpose of using hashtags is to reach more users who will like and comment on your post or connect with you or your company. Original hashtags are only useful if you’re creating a brand hashtag for your company.

Hashtags will make your updates and articles more discoverable for other users, increasing visibility on your post or article and profile.

LinkedIn Hashtag Tips:

LinkedIn, unlike other social media, is a professional network. This means that your content and hashtags should be professional. You should also avoid confusing text talk or acronyms – not all users on LinkedIn will understand this shorthand.

If you’re unsure which hashtags you should use, search through similar posts or related hashtags to see what other users have tried. You can also look at a more established LinkedIn profile similar to your own to see what worked for them.

LinkedIn recommends using no more than three to five hashtags per post to avoid looking spammy or getting marked as spam by the website.

If you want your update or article to reach a specific geographic area, use a location hashtag to target your post to that specific area. You can also add a location hashtag if your post is about a certain location.

You can also weave LinkedIn hashtags into your profile so that someone searching for that hashtag can find you, leading to new connections and opportunities. Include your most relevant hashtags in your headline or summary on your profile.

We, at Apis Productions, will be putting together more in-depth articles about hashtags in the near future. As always, if you need help with your social media management and/or graphic creation for your custom-branded posts, give us a shout! #wearelistening

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