In the first part of this article, we looked at the benefits of hashtags in PR, following its journey from twitter to other Social media platforms like Instagram, Facebook and Pinterest. Hashtags have become a crucial part of digital PR and social media marketing, helping to make digital content more discoverable, expanding reach, and making it easier for brands to build meaningful connections with a loyal following. 

When used effectively, hashtags can prove to be one of the most effective marketing tools for brands. In this part, we’ve put together a few ideas to make your hashtags a hit. 

Here are 5 ways to make hashtags work for you:

1)  Set Clear Goals: 

Your Social media goals must align with your marketing and PR plan. What are you looking to accomplish from the campaign? Do you want to increase website visits? Promote an event? Launch a new product? Drive social interaction with customers? Having set goals will help you shape your messaging, images and timing of components for hashtag usage. Your goals should be as measurable as possible. 

It is important to remember not to just add any random hashtag, They need to be aligned with your campaign goals and strategically thought out to enhance your campaign, not hinder it. Consider what hashtags surround the topic you might be discussing and make sure they help convey the message you are trying to tell while reaching more people.

2)   Research Hashtags:

It is important to build a list of hashtags that reflect the kind of content you share and align with the overall aesthetics and vision of your brand. 

It is not enough to just tie a hashtag to an organization or initiative. It is absolutely necessary to find out if/how the hashtag chosen is doing in the social space. Do not assume your chosen word or phrase is unique and isn’t already existing. An assumption could be dangerous here. There are a few hashtag research tools like Trendsmap that could help you achieve this. These tools will help you find out if a hashtag exists, is trending, or has trended. This could help avoid the embarrassment that could come from using a hashtag that is overused or connecting your brand with something negative. 

Here are some pointers to help you perform a successful hashtag search:

• Check which hashtags are trending in your industry on different social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
• Analyse your competitors and examine which hashtags are helping them drive the most interaction from the audience.
• Check which hashtags the top influencers in your industry are using.

3)   Keep it simple: 

There may be a lot of hashtags that are relevant to your campaign, but you can’t (and shouldn’t) use them all. You should be specific while choosing the hashtags you want to target. Remember, the more you narrow down your target market, the more audience you’ll attract. 

Look for more specific and focused hashtags if you want to enjoy campaign success. This will help you stand out on social media and get the proper kind of attention.

A hashtag that clearly relates back to your brand is what is most likely to work. Keeping things simple works well, #JustDoIt, #ShareACoke, #LikeAGirl, and #ShotOniPhone are good examples of this; they simply reinforce what the audience already knows about the brand.  

You can also ride off the wave of an already existing hashtag or trending topic, but be sure to only do this if you find a connection or are able to establish one that’s in line with your brand messaging. 

4). Customize  Hashtags to Boost Brand Recall

If you also want the added advantage of growing your brand during a campaign, you should also incorporate customized hashtags. Create your own unique, branded hashtags in addition to profiting on niche-specific and other trending hashtags.

Branded hashtags can help you raise brand awareness by encouraging people to remember your brand. These hashtags are also great for user-generated content (UGC) campaigns.

While creating a branded hashtag, you should:

Here are some things to note when creating branded hashtags: 

• Make sure the hashtag reflects what your brand stands for.
• Infuse your brand name
• Keep it short and sweet
• Ensure your hashtag is easy to type. 

5)   Measure results 

 It is not enough to have a great campaign, it is important to measure and analyze the results of your campaign’s hashtag strategy. This reporting is useful as it makes it easy to see what worked, what didn’t work and why. Metrics like general buzz, engagement, sentiment and potential reach are all important to measure. Tools like Hashtagify and Talkwalker are very useful to drive this.

Depending on the message you wish to communicate, hashtags can be of great benefit to your campaign. A memorable, positive, actionable and inspiring hashtag can boost the reach and effectiveness of any PR campaign. 

Curzon PR is a London-based PR firm working with clients globally. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact our Business Development Team [email protected]