Chris Anderson - Hashtag Domination: Dominate Social Media And Grow Your Business Through The Power Of Hashtags

Hashtag Domination

Dominate Social Media And Grow Your Business Through The Power Of Hashtags

Introduction

OK, so I realize that hashtags are hardly new, and that millions of people around the world use them on a daily basis to both increase their social media exposure and drive traffic to their website and blogs.

So, what's the purpose of this guide?

Well, the truth is that for everybody who's aware of hashtags and the benefits of using them correctly, there's somebody who isn't.

Just a brief look at Twitter shows you that countless users are failing to use hashtags effectively, if at all.

This guide is for those people. And if you're one of them, then don't worry we have everything in here you're going to need to know to start successfully using hashtags immediately.

The truth is that when most people think about hashtags, they immediately think of Twitter believing that this is the only avenue to effectively take advantage of hashtags.

However, though Twitter undoubtedly makes the best use of hashtags, and really brought the practice to public prominence, hashtags can and should be used on several social media platforms, including Facebook, Pinterest, YouTube and Instagram, amongst others.

We will explore the use of hashtags on all of these sites throughout this guide as I said a little earlier, we're aiming to give you everything you need to get started with them immediately after closing this text.

It's also important to remember that when people think of hashtags, they often associate them solely with increasing their social media exposure, while forgetting the secondary benefit that this increased exposure inevitably brings.

Traffic.

The more people that are aware of you and your site, the more people are likely to check out the site link on your social media profile particularly if your social media posts are helpful, non-spammy and genuinely informative to your end-users.

While this is not predominantly a guide on best social media practices, always remember that the more informative your posts are, the better results you will have with your social media marketing efforts.

While hashtags can certainly improve your results substantially, simply attaching them to spammy links and generic posts won't be making the most of their undoubted power.

What is a hashtag?

If you're brand new to the world of social media marketing, then you may be thinking that all this talk of hashtags sounds wonderful, but what exactly are we talking about?

In its most basic form, a hashtag is simply a single word or phrase preceded by the hashtag sign on your keyboard: #. As an example, if I was discussing or promoting this guide on social media, I would probably include the hashtag #hashtagdomination, in order to increase the exposure to it.

Hashtags are in essence a 'metatag', and are an extremely convenient method of grouping similarly themed content together into a cohesive whole.

As a further example, if you went on to Twitter to discuss, say, Miley Cyrus, finishing your post with the hashtag #miley, or #mileycyrus would bring your post to the attention of everybody else doing the same throughout the platform.

In essence, hashtags serve to portray your posts beyond your social media followers, and into the wider sphere of social media users.

Powerful stuff, when you think about it.

As we highlighted a little earlier, Twitter was the first platform to really introduce hashtags back in 2007, and the phrase 'hashtag' has become synonymous with the company.

However, the other social media sites quickly caught on to their power, and you can now find them heavily used on most social media platforms.

You will find that Twitter now hyperlinks all hashtags for easier searching for its users, and the trending topics listed on the Twitter home screen show a selection of hashtags which are currently very popular, or growing in popularity.

You should therefore be able to see the power of hashtagging your posts with these trending topics on many of them, the number of eyes visiting these topics numbers in the millions.

Make a good posting, with the right hashtag, at the right time, and you really can see substantial and immediate benefits to your profile and online business.

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The Benefits and Disadvantages of Using Hashtags

So, you now know what a hashtag is, and the basics of how they can be used to significantly increase your social media exposure and drive high levels of traffic to your website when used correctly.

But, can they really be used as a genuine marketing tool, particularly when you consider the hundreds (if not thousands) of marketing methods available to any aspiring internet marketer in the modern era?

Well, hashtags have become so vital as a marketing tool, simply because they fully utilize the awesome power and influence of social media in our daily lives.

Without a doubt, when used correctly, social media marketing is THE most effective form of free marketing that you can incorporate into your online business.

Forget the old forms of article marketing, forum marketing, etc (we're not saying that these methods don't still yield some results, only that they are nothing compared to effective social media marketing) hundreds of millions of people around the world use social media, across several platforms, on a daily basis.

Therefore, hashtags matter because they take advantage of this astonishing number of users and have the potential to put your content in front of as many people as possible.

Also, never forget that people enjoy what is new. Although hashtags have been around since 2007, they are still a much newer marketing method than those we have just mentioned, and it's probably fair to say that it's only been the last 3-4 years in which people have fully caught on to their effectiveness.