Hashtags are a great way to build your brand and reach new customers, but they can get overwhelming if you don’t know how to use them. Hashtags are everywhere on social media. Using hashtags as a search tool is also common. You may have thought about using them for your business and wondered how. This guide will show you 15 ways to use hashtags in your business to increase engagement and reach your target audience faster than ever!

1. Figure out a hashtag for your brand.

You may reach a wider audience and increase brand awareness by using hashtags to promote your business. 

Unsure about how to use hashtags and how it works? Here’s a quick explanation: the word “hashtag” is derived from the hash, which describes both a digital fingerprint and the process of cracking them (computers do this). Since hashtags were first utilized as unique post IDs on messaging apps like Twitter and Facebook Messenger, if someone sent me a message with the hashtag #ImHungry, I could click on it to view all of their most recent updates in one place!

Tips when selecting hashtags:

• Pick ones that are highly relevant to your business.
• Avoid using any that become too well-known/broad because doing so makes it difficult for people who aren’t interested in what you have to say about the topic.

For instance, if everyone used the hashtag “#fitness” as their primary hashtag, all content relating to fitness would be lost

2. Create a hashtag for each campaign.

Hashtags are a great way to organize content, track the success of a campaign, and receive feedback from your audience. The number of people you can reach on social media with a hashtag campaign is far more than a regular ad or organic campaign. 

• The followers that use your hashtag and share it in their posts can help you boost engagement. So, you’ll need to add hashtags on the caption page when creating a post on social media platforms like Twitter, Facebook, or even LinkedIn. You can also use them on Instagram Reels, which are very popular, especially if you want to reach Gen Z.

3. Use hashtags for social proof.

The concept of social proof was founded on normative social influence, which claims that others would follow to be liked, similar to, or accepted by the influencer (or society). 

• An example of social proof is when you’re looking through a landing page and come across a testimonial from an industry expert or user reviews, often found elsewhere, like on review sites (Yelp). It will help both attract new followers and keep current ones interested in what’s going on at your business or brand.

4. Include a hashtag in your bio.

Including a hashtag in your bio can help you generate more engagement, exposure, and followers. 

The most common reason people use hashtags is to search for content related to a topic using relevant keywords. When someone searches for something on social media, they usually include all relevant hashtags at the beginning of each search query. By adding hashtags to your social media bios, you have already increased the chances of getting engagement from people interested in your business page or brand pages on different social media platforms such as Instagram and Twitter.

5. Use hashtags in your content.

Use hashtags to help you find content related to your business, they also help you to find people who are interested in the same topics as you, and they are a great tool to use to reach the right people for your business. For example, if you’re selling a product or service online, use #Buyitnow or #buymyproduct now to attract people looking for products or services like yours.

6. Use hashtags in paid ads.

You can use hashtags in paid ads on social media, search engines, and billboards. Hashtags help people discover each other through conversations on social media. The more you use, the more likely your audience will find and engage with you.

If you’re running an ad campaign, it’s helpful to leverage the power of hashtags so people can find your site and view your content.

7. Tag industry experts or influencers in your posts.

Industry experts or influencers are knowledgeable in their specific niche, with a large to medium following on social media. 

If you want to promote your brand by tagging them in your posts and using hashtags related to your campaign, it’s worth reaching out to these influencers and asking if they’d be open to working with you.

8. Promote a hashtag with user-generated content.

People can use hashtags being promoted by your healthcare business by sharing user-generated content. It can include anything from stories about your product or service, its use in real-life situations, memes, and jokes about it.

You can also use this opportunity to promote your business directly by using hashtags in comments or replies under any posts that feature user-generated content related to each other (such as conversations between two users). By doing so, you’re giving potential customers another reason why they should follow you on social media – and possibly even buy from you!

9. Create Q&A posts with hashtags.

Q&A posts are a great way to interact with your audience. Use Q&A posts for:

• Asking questions and inviting people to participate in the conversation
• Creating a community around a topic
• Promoting other posts that weren’t by the Q&A post (e.g., if you have an interview, there’s no need to include everyone who was interviewed on your list of people.)

10. Create a sponsored campaign with a guest.

Through sponsored content, you can put your business in front of consumers where they are already looking. It’s a persuasive technique to share more about what you do because it contains relevant information and feels appropriate for the setting.

• If you want to use this as part of your social media marketing strategy, make sure you choose someone who aligns with your brand. In this arrangement, you’ll partner up with another bigger brand for them to feature, and using your hashtag, they will promote it to their followers. It works well since it enables you to increase brand awareness while starting an organic conversation about your business.

11. Encourage users to post user-generated content with your hashtag.

According to a survey, 85% of consumers believe that user-generated content (UGC) is more convincing than brand images or videos. User-created material is recognized in content marketing because of this.

Encouraging anyone to post about your business is challenging. But if you want your audience to talk about your brand on social media, you need to give them a reason to do so. 

Here are three things you can do to get people excited about your brand:

• Make use of a clever marketing hook.
• Use hints, sneak peeks, and teasers.
• Present freebies.

12. Give an incentive for people to use your hashtag and tag you in the posts.

You can also give something of value to those who use your hashtags. It can be a discount, a free product or service, or even being featured on your page as an ambassador.

For example, if you run a wellness clinic and people post pictures of their appointments using the hashtag #healthiswealth, you could give them 20% off a product in your clinic in exchange for using that hashtag when sharing pictures on Instagram, Twitter, or any other social media platform you use. This way, they enjoy your service or product while simultaneously enjoying the advertising campaign!

13. Create an exclusive community and social hub around a branded hashtag.

Hashtags are a great way to build a community around your brand, but they also drive traffic to your website or social media pages.

For example:

• You can create an exclusive community and social hub around a branded hashtag. #HootChat, #Heinekin, and #CokeChat are some excellent examples of this strategy at work.
• Use hashtags as part of your content strategy by creating content that includes hashtags in the title or the body (like trending tweets). This will help you attract more followers who might be interested in what you have to say!

14. Insert a list of hashtags at the bottom of your blog posts or web pages.

Use hashtags in your blog posts so that they’re easy to find by the people who read them and share them on social media platforms like Facebook or Twitter. 

I find it quite helpful to add hashtags when creating blog posts about topics that are likely to come up in searches. The hashtagged blog posts are categorized alongside other posts, making it more visible and enhancing the likelihood that it will be read, shared, or favored.

• Consider sharing it on social media as well! It’s always better to share too much than not enough.

15. Create a list of popular tags that you think might be relevant to your audience.

Most social media platforms using hashtags include tools that show you what is trending. It does not imply that you should use them, but it can be worth looking into if you find something relevant to your brand or business. For example, on Twitter, a list of the most popular hashtags is displayed. 

• Compile all the relevant hashtags into one document and label them for which post they are. It will be easier for you when the time comes to choose the hashtag needed for your post. 

We hope these tips have inspired you to use hashtags for your business. Try to implement one of these tips in your business and one in your personal life. Have fun with them!

If you’re ready to engage your audience through hashtags, start by pinpointing the best strategy for your next hashtag campaign with us!