The Paradox of Hashtags

The Paradox of Hashtags

In terms of ways to expand your social business’s audience, hashtags are probably the laziest.

Twitter is a non-stop geyser of information. The hashtag is the only means of categorizing and picking apart the essential news and relevant information from inane and unnecessary updates. When I think about it, the only times I have the time to compose tweets for myself is when I am in otherwise boring situations: waiting at the airport, in line at the DMV, or driving. Only kidding – I wouldn’t want to make driving on Mopac even more dangerous.

Anyway, with all those people like me flooding other people’s feeds with a lot of nothing, a hashtag helps brands reach a new audience and clearly indicate the subject of the post. But even then, you will want to use a hashtag that other people are using and engaging with. If too few people are using the hashtag, it won’t help you reach potential new followers. If too many are, your message is more likely to get swept away in the current.

So how do we use hashtags? With a grain of salt, and thorough analysis of the tags you want to use before you start using them. The best way to make connections and find your audience is to take the effort of searching for specific influencers to connect with. It takes time and effort. Hashtags can help extend your reach and using one or two in a post can’t hurt. But you can’t use them to bypass the legwork it takes to make social business work best.

Annie likes to say (and I agree) there’s never enough you can do on social. Never enough research and preparation, targeting and strategy behind your posts. But one thing’s for sure: hashtags aren’t enough.