How to Find the Right Twitter Hashtags and Make the Most of Them

Since the launch of Twitter back in 2006, hashtags have been a big part of it. Over the years, the idea of hashtags has proven to be so effective and useful that even Twitter’s competitors like Facebook and LinkedIn have been forced to add them to their platforms. 

What are hashtags and why are they important?

For the uninitiated, the idea behind hashtags is quite simple; users add the ‘#’ symbol before any word or phrase (without spaces) that they are posting about and the platform groups that tweet along with all the other tweets and threads that contain the same hashtag.

This allows users to find all public tweets about the topics that they find interesting just by clicking on the hashtag or by typing it in the search bar. For businesses and brands, hashtags are a way to increase the reach of their posts and connect with their targeted audience. 

Another way businesses can use hashtags to their advantage is by participating in top trends. This will help position their brand as a socially-aware company and can help attract more people towards their products.

How you can use hashtags with your brand

A lot of brands and businesses fail to take full advantage of Twitter’s vast audience by not incorporating hashtags in their posts. The main issue is that these brands don’t really know how and when to use hashtags in their posts to help maximize the reach and get a fantastic response from the consumers.

So, to help our readers understand which occasions are perfect for using hashtags in their posts, we have come up with a detailed list. Without any further ado, let’s get started.

Talk about current and upcoming events

Your brand should have a loud and clear voice on all big happenings. Whether it’s the MWC (Mobile World Congress) or the Oscar’s, there’s no reason why you shouldn’t tweet about it. Moreover, you can even mention about your participation to your followers.

What makes this even easier is that there are quite a few events in which almost all kinds of brands can participate. Take the upcoming US election as an example; a lot of brands are participating in the election related conversation by urging their followers to vote in the coming elections.

Another technique that a lot of brands use is that they write or create something related to an upcoming event on their website and then tweet about that piece of content in order to participate in the conversation and direct people to their website simultaneously.

Send out a message on celebrations and national holidays

 It is pretty common for brands and companies to send out a message to its fans and followers on all big holidays and celebrations. Brands can continue doing that with only a small modification; use the Twitter hashtag in the statement. 

And while it’s a good idea to send out a message on all big days, if there is a national holiday for something that is highly relevant to your business, you should take the celebration to another level. For example, a fast-food restaurant can offer huge deals and crazy discounts on the National Burger Day and then tweet about them all day long using the #NationalBurgerDay hashtag.

Promoting your brand and products

One of the best times to use hashtags in your tweets is when you are running a marketing campaign to generate buzz around your brand and products. Some companies simply use the name of the brand to market their product (for example, Coca-Cola and Pepsi).

On the other hand, some brands like to go for a more general hashtag to target a wider audience. For example, if there’s a new brand that wants to sell traditional sandals and kaptaan chappals, it would be wise for the brand to use the term “kaptaan chappal” in its hashtag.

Another technique that a lot of brands rely on is using the brand name as well as the product name in the hashtag. This is especially useful for companies that offer multiple products and want each one to have an equally strong online presence. So, continuing our example, the new shoe brand could add the brand name before “kaptaan chappal” in their hashtag.

Participate in weekly trends

Weekly trends like #MotivationMonday, #ThrowbackThursday and #TGIF are one of the most effective ways to connect with your fans and customers. These are the tweets where brands get to share the lighter and more human side of themselves and that is what people can really relate with.

For those who don’t know, the secret behind maximizing the reach of your tweets and posts is consistency. And, that is why these weekly trends are so great; they provide brands a reason to keep posting and trying to connect with the audience.

Join in on hot debates and pop culture discussions

Participating in pop culture discussions is one of the most effective ways to connect with your audience. It provides you a way to keep posting regularly and, if you do it right, it’s a great way to show off your brand’s cool personality. Brands like Wendy’s and Netflix have been doing it for a while now and their following has grown a lot faster thanks to this technique.

Word of caution though, make sure you really do your research and fully understand the topic before you tweet about it. Sometimes, even with good intentions, the message can come off a little tone-deaf. And, when that happens, things can seriously backfire. So, make sure you do your research and be respectful.

Join the good fight

Today’s world is a lot more socially aware and that means people are making wiser decisions. Alcohol sales are down, tobacco is on its way out and diesel-engine cars are frowned upon now. People are actively participating in improving things and they want to see businesses and corporations do the same thing as well.

This is why, backing a cause and also showing support for it on Twitter can be a great way to connect with your audiences.

Talk about general topics

Let’s say a footwear company has come up with a shoe that they’ve made with the plastic collected from the seas. When promoting this product, the brand should definitely use the brand and product name in the hashtag but they can add a couple more hashtags as well to target a larger audience.

For example, the company could also use hashtags like #Nature, #SeaPollution, and #EcoFriendly. Thanks to this technique, the tweet will also show up in the feeds of these hashtags and hence, attract much more attention.

Finding the right hashtags

Of course users can use the “Trending” section on Twitter to find topics that people are talking about but the feature does not offer a lot of personalization. To get more detailed info on hashtags, you can use Trendsmap to find latest hashtags and how they’ve been performing over time. 

Another app that you can use is Sprout Social. With this app, you can see the topics and hashtags users mention when talking about your brand. The app can also get hashtag analytics for each of the hashtags related to your products.

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