10 Useful Steps to Using Hashtags to Gain Followers

Hey Everyone,

Everywhere I look online, I am reading posts regarding the use of hashtags to increase traffic to blogs, products, and services. I have never used hashtags in any post. So, do they work? Has any of you used them and seen an increase in traffic or sales?

You may have noticed that many #tweets from twitter will contain hashtags and so will pertinent words in posts that are put up on Google Plus.

Do you even know what a #hashtag is?

Well, it is a word or phrase that is mixed with the # symbol. It is just a metadata tag. Hashtags make it possible to group words together so users can search for a specific hashtag and get all the other relevant information regarding the tag.

 

The hash # has been around since forever and was used back in the 70's. It wasn't until it showed up on twitter did the hashtag take meaning for tweets and blog posts.

 

Now every tweet you read may have hashtags to help reach a broader audience of people searching the internet for information. If a user searches for the hashtag he, or, she can get the rest of the information found with the tag.

 

So have you all jumped on the bandwagon and began using hashtags to get more attention to your posts? On twitter the most popular searched, hashtags will pop up in the trending area. Everyone wants his or her post to end up going viral. Well folks in order for this to happen you will need to become comfortable with the use of hashtags and begin using them in all your blogs and tweets.

 

Do you even know where to start? Or what words or phrases you should be using the hashtag to increase #traffic? Here are 10 steps to follow when using hashtags.

 

1. The number one rule to follow when using hashtags, do not overuse them ever. The rule of thumb is to use only two in relevant twitter tweets, and no more than three in blogs. We all know that Google does not like spam and if you use too many hash symbols you can be penalized for spamming both on Twitter and Google.
2. Hashtags are used to categorize relevant words in tweets and posts. All you have to do is put the hash symbol # before the word with no spaces.
3. When users click on hash tagged words he or she may find the rest of the tweet or post.
4. When users search for an hashtag word he or she will come across tweets and posts that he or she may not have come across with just a regular search.
5. Now this is very important. Hashtagged words usually do end in the trending section of twitter. So if you want your post to go viral you need to use the hash symbol before those words that are most likely to be searched for in the search box.
6. It is important that the hash only be used with relevant information.
7. If you want to gain more followers and improve your reputation you better get used to using the hash symbol on each and every relevant post or tweet.
8. All relevant phrases should be short. It is best to just hashtag one word, as opposed to the whole phrase. Users searching are more likely to be searching for the hashtag word.
9. Always try to use relevant words to hashtag. You can do a quick search for words that have been tagged with search.twitter.com. If you notice that there are relevant words and conversations that come up, you may want to use the word to tag similar to the one used.
10. Be careful of how you use hashtags. Make sure you are not offending anyone and not making erroneous mistakes online. Twitter will not tolerate any hashtag abuse. Here are the rules about using hashtags from twitter. You can find this at http://www.hashtags.org/platforms/twitter/why-use-hashtags-guide-to-the-micro-blogging-universe/

"The following behaviors and others like them could cause your account to be filtered from search, or even suspended: Adding one or more topic/hashtag to an unrelated tweet in an attempt to gain attention in search. Repeatedly tweeting the same topic/hashtag without adding value to the conversation in an attempt to get the topic trending/trending higher.
Tweeting about each trending topic in turn in order to drive traffic to your profile, especially when mixed with advertising. Listing the trending topics in combination with a request to be followed.
Tweeting about a trending topic and posting a misleading link to something unrelated."Want to learn more about hashtags and how to use them? Go here http://www.hashtags.org/