This week on Twitter the Hashtag #WhyIHateInstagram was a trending tag.
Ironically, the top complaint of users tweeting with the #WhyIHateInstagram trending hashtag, was the seemingly pointless use of too many hashtags.
Hashtags originally became popular as a way to group topics, and create conversation threads. But not all hashtags are used this way, and they are certainly not used this way across all platforms.
Hashtag use, and hashtag strategy, differs depending on where a hashtag is used and what the strategy of the user is. Hashtagger beware: the days of picking the “right” hashtag (with “right” being most popular) are done. Although you will still find plenty of sites that advertise lists of hot tags and services dedicated to ferretting out the correct trending hashtag to hop onto, more and more users are getting disgusted and frustrated by this common, and annoying practice. Some things for marketers to consider:
- Popular Hashtags are USED a lot. This does not = all the users of that hashtag seeing your tweet. It’s like wearing a black hoodie because thousands of other people are wearing the same black hoodie. Good luck getting noticed.
- Hashtag Spam kills a conversation. When tweets are no longer relevant, users move on. Social media marketers thrive on conversation.
- Hashtag inflation follows in the wake of Hashtag Spam, when users pile on the tags both old and new. Because Instagram doesn’t limit the number of characters, users are free to use as many tags as they can type. This explains, in part, the paragraph long list of tags many instagram-ers use in an effort to get noticed. #Food #foodies #foodie #Fud #Nom #Yum #Dessert … we get it. You are covering all the bases, like a blogger tagging a post. It’s also a little like the character Stewie from “The Family Guy” when he (annoyingly) says “Mom, Mum, Mommy, Mummy, Mom!” Ignorable. Which is bad for marketers.
- The primary goal when using a ton of tags, appears to be to come up in as many searches as possible. This practice does little for actual engagement and creates a Dutch Tulip-like hashtag ecosystem where more and more tags are needed to make contact and obtain followers.
- All followers are not equal. There is less benefit to a marketer gaining a follower who only cares about #barbecue if their #Food post was about a #Cupcake. Piling on is a secondary use of hashtags, that might be defeating your real goal, if you are ultimately seeking engagement. Then again, there is a time and a place for casting a wider net.
Facebook may further change our habits and present us with even more to think about if/when they begin to sort users by hashtags used, as part of a more targeted approach to marketing. Rumors are already circulating about how Facebook intends to implement and use hashtags. We’ll be interested to see if Facebook limits hashtag use in any way, and if hashtag inflation and hashtag spam continue to present problems for some users.
You can be sure we’ll be keeping an eye on how hashtag use evolves and changes as use increases across multiple platforms.
In the meantime, here is some sound advice on Choosing a Hashtag - that applies to use on any platform.
Do you have any Hashtag predictions for the future? Share them with us on Facebook, G+, Twitter or in the comments below.
Comments are closed.