What is your hash tag?
Yes we all need to have a hash tag, which would be our zen, which could define us. Now dont be confused i am not blabbering, i am talking of your interest areas or niche areas. In social media it is a prerequisite to be functional, like say you are starting a new website, page, then you need to define your niche areas otherwise your footfall could dwindle after initial visits.
So if there is so much emphasis on the same in the social media scene, then the same could be applying to our real self isnt it?. All of us need to have some interest areas, which could be defining us, or let me put it that only defines us. We tend to forget the same or ignore the same, which is a grave problem which can be doing to your self. By that we are not feeding our dear soul, which could be bad for our self esteem and consequently happiness. Not that we need to have a interest which is fancy, it could be as simple as sketching which requires a surface to sketch on and a pencil. Cant we just pick up a pencil and do the same? Once you do it, “You” are satisfied, and you are ready for the world! Can nurture/provide to the world.
As someone wise said, you cannot feed out of empty vessel. Your interest makes you feel full and satisfied.
Now back to Social Media scene, the presence of hash keys or tags in the web content is very important. Otherwise that web content is just floating in the web space without purpose( how much like real us! No interest we are surviving not living!). The life span of those posts/updates/tweets are minimal or non existent. The presence of hashtag makes the web content searchable. Very much like real life, the interests make others looking out for you to connect/collaborate and eventually progress.
How to find your niches’ tags? Observation is best tool. Be in the social space, see what are others talking of and what is language which they are talking in. Use the same. Hey! here i am not asking you to be a follower only, i am asking you latch on popular relevant trend or hashtag, get comfortable in the space, and create your own hash tags which others can quote/follow. No one is gonna latch on to new trend unless it is coming from veteran or who has done his research well and from who is comfortable in the space. Get comfortable being in the space by reading/curating/sharing relevant content. Then you would be more comfortable to use the hash tag and eventually you are looked up-to for being the brand ambassador of that. And trust me this doesnot happen overnight, takes a bit of time, and lots of retweets !
How to find the hashtag relevant for the subject of your interest?
- Observe others posts is the first and foremost.
- Go to the twitter search box write the word and voila ! you can get intelligent suggestions for the same.
- At the end of the great articles, there is always the mention of the same at the bottom which we tend to ignore, but for us social media professionals that is the most important content :)
How to use them?
- Use them as part of the tweet/update. for example :
This is a great example of content marketing and is very relevant for social media marketing.
The above statement can be made hash tag rich like this
This is a great example of #contentmarketing and is very relevant for #socialmediamarketing.
2. When you retweet, add your quote with relevant hash tag. Makes the tweet more reachable. If you are speaking then might as well be heard.
So hash tagging in social scene makes you alive and kicking and keep you relevant at the moment #HashTagBeAlive and #HashTagBeHere.
More of me @ medium.com/@lthampi
twitter handle : Lakshmi Thampi
