If you’ve used Twitter, Facebook, or even Instagram before, then there’s a good chance you already know what a hashtag is from a consumer perspective. The problem is that most businesses don’t know how to use these unique social media resources to their advantage when they’re building an online campaign.

Since the hashtag first came to the social space several years ago, it’s earned the love and attention of people all around the world. Now that this symbol has firmly secured its place in our modern culture, it’s safe to say that brands need to learn how to use it effectively if they want to improve their performance online.

How To Use The Hashtag: Golden Rules

Ultimately, the easiest way to make sure that you’re always using hashtags correctly is to hire the support of a social media manager. Hashtags have different rules to follow depending on which platform you’re using, which can make it difficult for businesses to stay on top of what they’re doing in each campaign.

However, there are some specific guidelines you should follow regardless of which platform you might be using. For instance:

• Hashtags are only visible in the search results when a profile is set to be public. Profiles that are private will still have the opportunity to use these tags, but they won’t be seen by anyone outside of the social profile circle. That means you need a public business profile.
• Beyond Instagram, it’s important to make sure that you limit yourself to only a handful of hashtags per post. Studies have shown that engagement can drop drastically when social updates contain too many tags.
• Watch your spelling. Remember that most spell-check programs won’t include an option for hashtags, so you need to make certain that the words you’re using are correct. Misspelling a word in your tag will mean that you don’t show up in the right places.

Additionally, it’s important to make sure that you don’t use any special characters or punctuation in your hashtags, as this can break the tag.

If you’re struggling, reach out to a social media manager for help using hashtags in your next campaign. Click here to find out if hiring a social media manager could help you!