What is a #hashtag got to do with Twitter?
Yesterday at a breakfast hosted by Business Chicks, hundreds of women tweeted quotes from guest speaker Ita Buttrose.
The hashtag was #businesschicks and #itabuttrose. It's impact was for all to see, as the event was trending somewhere in the social media sphere and people who had never heard of Ita Buttrose from all over the world, were joining the 'trend' and retweeting tweets related to her speech. Such is the power of a #hashtag and of course, my favourite social media platform, Twitter.
All tags are case insensitive and can become trending topics if enough people start using it and virally spending the 'word'.
The reality is that on Twitter or any other medium it is not critical to 'trend' on a topic. What is important is the information that communicate and the story that those 160 characters tell.
The hashtag was #businesschicks and #itabuttrose. It's impact was for all to see, as the event was trending somewhere in the social media sphere and people who had never heard of Ita Buttrose from all over the world, were joining the 'trend' and retweeting tweets related to her speech. Such is the power of a #hashtag and of course, my favourite social media platform, Twitter.
What is a hashtag?
A #hashtag is a symbol or a metadata tag used on microblogging social networking sites Twitter, identi.ca and Google that is followed by a keyword phrase without spaces. It ties the conversations of different users into one stream, which you can find by searching the hashtag in Twitter search or by using a third-party monitoring tool like HootSuite.All tags are case insensitive and can become trending topics if enough people start using it and virally spending the 'word'.
When trending goes viral
A hashtag can go viral very fast. Take for instance the re-launch of Big Brother. The tweeting went ballistic on Twitter and many popular tweets were displayed during the show. The hashtag #BB trended through the entire episode. Just like when #thevoiceau was on. It trended as did all of the judges. Who didn't tweet something about #joelmadden #keithurban #seal ?What can small businesses do to get their messages across on Twitter with hashtags
It's hard to judge, but popular hashtags for small businesses are: #smallbusiness #entrepreneur #inspiration #success - make up your own one but make sure it is clever and you never know where it may go.The reality is that on Twitter or any other medium it is not critical to 'trend' on a topic. What is important is the information that communicate and the story that those 160 characters tell.
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comments ( 6 )
Lindsey
19 Jan 2013I loved as much as you'll receive carried out right here. The sketch is tasteful, your authored material stylish. nonetheless, you command get bought an edginess over that you wish be delivering the following. unwell unquestionably come further formerly again as exactly the same nearly a lot often inside case you shield this hike.
ReplyWill Bowman
05 Dec 2012Hi Mellissah
ReplyThe importance of a sound social media strategy is crucial for any small business, especially as an avenue for communication and interaction with customers and other stakeholders. Within this, the 'Twittersphere' has become central to any social media strategy, due to the public and open conversations that it promotes. However, the creation of a unique, powerful and attractive #hashtag is only half the battle. Small firms must be willing to engage with the conversations of others as opportunities to speak on behalf of their brand. Herein lies the beauty of the hashtag, as it allows for simple keyword searches that can locate the conversations of potential customers.
The 'Twittersphere' provides a network for small businesses to promote their brand. However, it is a small firms proactivity that will dictate their success on social media platforms!
jonah E
06 Oct 2012How does it works the hashtag ? Is it leads to bad effects.
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Owen Edwards
16 Sep 2012The hashtag is a brilliant platform for promotion nowadays. It is the 'cool' thing to do and yet it is viewed by a huge range of people.
ReplyIf a small business can create a hashtag with a common 'hero' in it then it will pop up on a lot of 'hashtag searches' and many people will see this.
The power of social media as a marketing and promotions technique cannot be underestimated in today's world!
'Hashtag' Owen
Owen Edwards
16 Sep 2012The hashtag is a brilliant platform for promotion nowadays. It is the 'cool' thing to do and yet it is viewed by a huge range of people.
ReplyIf a small business can create a hashtag with a common 'hero' in it then it will pop up on a lot of 'hashtag searches' and many people will see this.
The power of social media as a marketing and promotions technique cannot be underestimated in today's world!
Dane Bartlett
28 Aug 2012Hi Mellissah, great post. Twitter is such a powerful platform allowing people to connect from all over the world to share knowledge and opinion. I'm not sure how the 'hashtag' developed but it is such a useful tool as you say, allowing a variety of converstations to be orgainised into one stream. If a small business can develop their own hashtag and promote it via traditional and other social media platforms then things could take off dramatically for them.
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