There are many ways to show yourself on the Internet. Many options work in promoting goods and products. Therefore, a logical question arises: why is a hashtag needed? Having understood this, you will find out what the power of the “grid” is in a company with a couple of words.
The concept
Before you figure out why a hashtag is needed, you need to explain what it is. This is an English concept, which consists of two words: "hash" - "lattice" and "tag" - "label". Many people think that the “#" symbol is called exactly that, but this is only its first half.
A hashtag is a keyword or a few words that users use on microblogs and social networks. It is generally accepted that such a tag is used to simplify the search for certain words, subject and content. The hashtag can serve as a reference to a new trend, or it can become one itself.
Appearance
Why do we need a hashtag, they did not understand right away. For a long time no one even thought about such a combination. It is believed that the IRC has become the labeling ground to label groups and discussion topics there. On this network, a hash symbol was used to designate the channels, while local servers promoted the ampersand.
But in the current sense, the hashtag was born on Twitter. Chris Messin was the first to think of using a tag. Some curious people found his tweet dated 2007. In it, he suggests followers to use the “grid” as a label for groups. The Twitter users liked this idea, so they quickly spread the idea.
Features
Why is a hashtag needed? To find the answer to this question, you need to understand its features:
- the tag highlights the main idea of the message and consists of keywords;
- the symbol groups information by topic;
- It provides a quick search of messages of interest.
These are the basic properties of a tag. But thanks to the development of this symbol, it became clear that his role could be completely different.
For what?
So, as we have already figured out, hashtags are labels for identifying topics and events. Some sites use this method of disseminating information, but it usually implies that the symbol will be hidden behind the code of the web page. But there are such resources that do not hide the "grid", which means that the tag itself becomes visible. This includes social networks and some blogs.
Someone may say that the only purpose of a tag is to search for information. On the one hand, it is, but the development of Internet marketing has given this symbol a new meaning.
Hashtags now play a role in commerce. Suppose you are selling children's toys. You don’t have the opportunity to open your store, so you are working on the site, but do not forget about promotion on social networks. You start a page on Instagram and begin to lead it.
Each SMM specialist will tell you that hashtags are an extremely important element for social media marketing. Thanks to him, potential buyers can find you. You post a photo of the doll, but how to talk about the product to those who are not subscribed to you? In this case, you can use special tags. Which ones to put specifically, one can argue for a long time, and this is the work of the destroyer directly. But the first obvious hashtag under this post will be # doll. It is by clicking on this tag that users will see all posts that have this tag.
How to work with him?
It is extremely important to understand how to use hashtags correctly, especially if you want to move on them in social networks. Surely you have already seen the pound symbol, after which a word is written or several words are merged. This is exactly what the label looks like, which, due to the hash, turns into a link.
If you are interested in buying flowers in Moscow, you can go to any social network, for example, VKontakte, and enter # colorymoskva in the search. The system will find all posts that are dedicated to this topic. But remember that not all users of social networks understand how the tag works, so even those who do not sell flowers in Moscow can write a similar combination.
How to write it?
So, you already realized that for a full hashtag you need the pound symbol and the words after it. But inexperienced users often decide that a hash character before any expression instantly turns it into a tag. In fact, it is, but it makes no sense.
So, the hashtag can be written in Latin and Cyrillic letters. There should not be a space between the pound symbol and the word, otherwise the link will not appear, and accordingly, the label will not work. Very often you can see on the Web like this: # New Year. Remember that in this case the hashtag will be “new”, and accordingly, only by this word will other users find the post. Therefore, if you want to put a label with several words, use two spelling options: # new year or # new year.
Also, do not forget that there must be a space directly between the hashtags so that the text does not turn into a mess.
Social networks
Now this is the main field for using hashtags. It’s difficult to overestimate their role, because thanks to them you can really find people according to their interests, track events (and you yourself know how fast any event in the world is being covered now), make purchases, etc. But it just so happened that the most popular social networks do not are similar to each other, therefore, the use of labels in them is perceived differently.
For example, Twitter works with tags as it pleases. Of course, tags are often used here to cover important events: elections, tragedies, incidents or holidays. On them you can read the opinions of other people regarding certain situations. But most often the tags on Twitter play the role of self-expression and attract like-minded people.
Why do you need hashtags on Instagram? Here the situation is presented somewhat differently. A lot depends on the page itself. If this is a personal account, then the hashtags here will be devoted either to a specific topic or to common topics.
For example, if you have a personal account, but in it you talk about music, then it is with her that you will have tags associated with it. If you just post a photo for friends and acquaintances, then you can not use tags at all, or you can draw the attention of users to the image itself.
On Instagram, there are often tags that help sell a service or product. For example, realtors often use the hashtag # of the apartment and the city where they work. The peculiarity of this social network is that you can come up with your own tag, according to which only your posts will be available. This is often traded bloggers, creating name tags.
Why do we need hashtags in VK? Here the situation is similar to Instagram. Despite the fact that the social network itself is slowly losing its popularity, many still try to promote their goods or services here. Accordingly, in their feed or in their community, they publish posts using appropriate tags.
Thanks to the tags, it’s easy to sort thematic posts on the wall, but for this you will have to use a unique tag that no one else uses.
Proper use
When you understand why hashtags are needed in "Contact" or other social networks, you can use them correctly. They will help your target audience find you, increase the reach of your publication that goes beyond your subscribers. Tags will keep you up to date with all the events in the world, classify content or promote your personal event.
Remember that using tags can really help in marketing, but don't abuse it. There are many ways to get into trouble. It is extremely important to read out the phrase that you got. Some tags become ambiguous when there are a few words in them (for example, many remember the story with a beautiful photo from Bali and the strange hashtag # fabulous bali).
Do not use labels for quantity. It is very important that these are the most successful phrases. Now SMM experts do not recommend using more than 10 tags under a post on Instagram, and in other networks 2-3 will be enough. You should not use a label through the word, because it looks unnatural, strange and distracting.
You will also have to get rid of very popular hashtags. For example, if you make music, the tag #music can harm you, as it is considered extremely popular. Instagram algorithms can send you into a shadow ban for frequent use of very popular tags.