With #FIFA #World Cup dominating social media news feeds and global headlines, I want to take a moment to discuss the #hashtag. This once genius search creation, made popular by Twitter, has now overtaken Facebook, Instagram, and even professional media site LinkedIn. I think I speak for a fairly large population when I say that I am tired of seeing my news feed populated with the following types of updates:

Have we really regressed so far that we couldn’t write a sentence to describe our photo and trip? Instead the hashtag has infiltrated many social media news feeds as people desperately try to create a more clickable and searchable post. Since it seems that hashtags are here to stay, here are a few tips to using them wisely.

1. Limit yourself to one hashtag per post on Facebook.
2. Limit yourself to two or three hashtags per post on Twitter.
3. Use hashtags as if you are creating an SEO post. For example, in the above fake sample post I might want to promote the Italian countryside as a tourist destination; as such I could use the following hashtags: #Italy, #Italiancountryside, and perhaps #tourism.
4. Don’t cave in to peer pressure. When running a business and utilizing social media, be sure that your voice and branding stays consistent.

Until next time, #happy #socialmedia #networking! 🙂

Written by: Laura Parker
Laura Parker is a full-time freelance writer and marketing guru. For more marketing tips or consultation advice please contact her at laura@laurapparker.com.
www.laurapparker.com