Facebook has finally joined the hashtag craze. The social media site recently rolled out hashtag features for company and personal pages.
For those that are unfamiliar with hashtags, it’s when a word or phrase is prefixed with the # symbol. It’s a way to group social media postings on similar topics so people can easy search and find them. You can see some examples below.
So why are Facebook hashtags important to your local business?
Hashtags can help drive more traffic to your company Facebook page and expose new people to the products and services that you sell.
As you might have heard, Facebook recently rolled out its new search engine to all of its users. It’s called Graph Search. If this is new to you, watch our webinar replay Facebook as a Search Engine. It provides a nice overview.
People are using Graph Search to search for conversations and information on particular topics. Hashtags make it easy to find them. As you can see from the example below, you can find all sort of information by typing the hashtag #Coupon into Graph Search.
So how do you post hashtags on Facebook?
It’s real easy. All you do is put the # symbol in front of a word or several words. For several words, do not include any spaces. Here are some examples: #SuperBowl, #NewYork, #CouponCode.
Additionally, you’ll want to follow these hashtagging best practices for local businesses.
1. Use company name and product names as hashtags. When writing about your company or products, add hashtags to boost visibility.
2. Promote hashtags on other marketing channels. Include your hashtags on signage, print and online channels. It’s an excellent way to spread word about them.
3. Use only two to three hashtags per post. Putting more than three hashtags in a post looks like you’re trying to spam people. Keep it short and simple with no more than three hashtags in a post.
4. Don’t force hashtags. Sometimes you may have a Facebook posting that doesn’t have a hashtag in it. That’s okay. Don’t try to force it if it doesn’t work.
5. Use relevant hashtags that are trending. Use Graph Search to research what hashtags are trending in your industry. Start by typing the # symbol into Graph Search along with some industry terms to see what pops up. Use ones that are getting a lot of dialogue.
Most importantly, be obvious with your hashtags. Twitter, which is a pioneer in hashtagging, did a study examining the hashtagging from the television program “The X Factor.” The program promoted the hashtag #XFUSA to its viewers.
However, it didn’t catch on. Instead viewers used the more obvious choice, #XFactor. You can see in the graph below, which hashtag got more interactions.
The important lesson from this is to be obvious!
To see hashtagging in action, follow the Right On – No Bull Marketing Facebook Page. There, you’ll regularly get helpful social media marketing tips and best practices. For questions about hashtagging or Facebook marketing services for local businesses, give us a call at 877-837-8803.
