Should I be using hashtags on Facebook?
This is a question I am often asked. Are they functional? What is their purpose? Do they really work?
They were first introduced on Facebook in June 2013 when they annouced
“Starting today, hashtags will be clickable on Facebook. Similar to other services like Instagram, Twitter, Tumblr, or Pinterest, hashtags on Facebook allow you to add context to a post or indicate that it is part of a larger discussion.” – Greg Lindley
But the use of them really didn’t take off. There was a further update in March 2016 when Facebook stated …
Hashtags turn topics and phrases into clickable links in posts on your profile or Page. When people click a hashtag or search for a hashtag, they’ll see a results that contain the hashtag so they can learn more about topics that interest them. – Facebook
And they offered suggestions on how hashtags should be created and used. Still not many, in the large scheme of things, used them.
Some people started to feed their Instagram posts to Facebook with 30 hashtags in, but it didn’t and still doesn’t look right. However you are going to see yet another push from Facebook on hashtag use because ….
Facebook want you to use Hashtags
Therefore you are going to start seeing prompts on your posts. And guess what? By using hashtags you are going to start seeing an increase in your reach.
What’s the purpose of them?
In other words you are simply going to increase the potential reach of your post, raise your audience, reach a new audience. Why wouldn’t you want that?
Using a hashtag groups a conversation together. So you can imagine Facebook’s next step right? They will start to encourage users to follow hashtags – don’t miss out!
Top Tips
- Try using some popular hashtags (you can research them for now on Instagram
- In addition use Trending hashtags – find them on Twitter – Twitter provides the most recent trending topics being talked about right now
- Don’t use too many hashtags – you don’t want your followers forming negative feelings subliminally towards you! 2 or 3 will do
- No space – the minute you put a space when typing a word after the # sign it will “break” the hashtag
- No Punctuation – as above
In conclusion, if you would like any help with your Social Media Marketing, please do make sure you sign up to receive our emails, with dates of our upcoming online Social Media Training workshops.