A hashtag can be used in several different ways depending on the intent by the author. The concept of using a hashtag originated from Twitter and is used to group a ‘tweet’ or a post with other posts that are about the same topic. This made it easy for users to search using a hashtag to find every post associated with the topic. The concept has since been integrated onto other social media platforms such as Instagram and Facebook.

For example, searching #BrightonUniversity into Instagram, as shown in the screenshot on the right made by a mobile phone, shows 4630 posts with that hashtag and suggestions for other relevant ones. After selecting a hashtag, you will find trending news and stories through pictures people are currently posting in relation to the hashtag.

The purpose of this blog post is to further discuss the productive ways hashtags can be used in digital marketing, followed by the negative aspects as well.

Pros of Hashtags in digital marketing

The above-mentioned example for a hashtag is a good outline for the first positive implication hashtags can have for digital marketing. Hashtags can be useful “as a medium of information retrieval and dissemination” (Buarki H. & Alkhateeb B, 2018). This is helpful for digital marketing as knowing which hashtags people are looking at or which are ‘trendy’ now and posting about them in relation to your product will expand your market greatly.

A good example is the #VansChallenge. People were claiming that if they tossed their shoes on the floor they would always land only on their sole. This quickly started trending with everyone posting videos of their vans landing on their sole with #VansChallenge attached. While it took over the internet for a couple of days, due to the marketing that it caused, vans benefitted from increased sales and gained reach on social media.

Another important aspect of how hashtags are beneficial to digital marketing is through simple connection. It connects people on a personal level by allowing them to express their feelings or common interests about a certain subject. This is helpful to a digital marketer as it means 24/7 feedback. For any product or company that has a following there will always be someone talking about the product and posting their thoughts on social media. This person usually wants to get attention from the company, which is his whole intention of the post, and will do so using a hashtag. Using the hashtag may also attract other people who have comments about the product and in a matter of time you have free consumer feedback. (Buarki H & Alkhateeb B, 2018)

Cons of hashtags in digital marketing

One of the major disadvantages of using hashtags in a digital marketing strategy is that they are site-specific. This means that if a business uses hashtags to market their products or services via their twitter account, then these hashtags will not be relayed to their Facebook account. The reason for this is that each social media platform has its own hashtag system. This means that businesses will have to create hashtags for each of their social media accounts, leading to unnecessary time being wasted. (TagPredict, 2017)

Furthermore, when using hashtags on social media platforms like Facebook businesses need to be aware that their accounts will become public to unknown users who search for specific taglines. This can be beneficial for businesses looking for new customers, but it can also lead to targeting the wrong audiences, for example, an alcohol beverage company may post something on Facebook and use a hashtag that is trending, such as #mixology. This post could then be seen and misinterpreted by minors who aren’t the intended audience. (Soffar Heba, 2018)

Finally, businesses need to be cautious when using hashtags for their own marketing due to the fact that a trending hashtag is often used to shine a light on a catastrophic event that is ongoing. An example of this is whenever a terrorist attack happens people in the area will go to social media and use the name of the city e.g. #Paris or #Manchester to give updates to the public. Businesses could mistakenly use similar hashtags to market their products and this can put them in an awkward position in the eye of the consumer. (SEO Web First. 2016)

Recommended links

A good source for more insights in the use of hashtags and social media management in general is an excellent social media management software found at: https://sproutsocial.com/

Another great source with insightful videos is boot camp digital which can be found on YouTube at: https://www.youtube.com/user/BootCampDigital/ and also have a website which has online certifications, training and live workshops.

References:

Buarki, H. & Alkhateeb, B. 2018, “Use of hashtags to retrieve information on the web”, The Electronic Library, vol. 36, no. 2, pp. 286.

SEO Web First. 2016, “Using Hashtags – Pros & Cons for Businesses and Personal Users on ‐ July 5, 2013.” The Impact of Social Media on Law Enforcement & Crime, www.seowebfirst.com/blog/hashtags/.

Soffar, Heba. 2018, “#Hashtags Advantages and Disadvantages.” Science Online, www.online-sciences.com/technology/hashtags-advantages-and-disadvantages/.

TagPredict. 2017, “Major Disadvantage of Hashtags and How TagPredict Resolving It.” TagPredict Blog, blog.tagpredict.com/index.php/2016/11/22/major-disadvantage-of-hashtags-and-how-tagpredict-resolving-it/.