#Hashtag Woes

Meagan Gross
May 26, 2015
2 min read

I would never call myself an expert in social media. A professional, yes. An expert, no. Expert implies there is nothing left to learn. I learn new things daily. There are so many things to learn it is hard to keep up.

I plan on using this blog as an outlet for Social Media Advice. I have people and companies come to me often asking me about social media. I am far from perfect when it comes to social media, but I will do my best to spread my knowledge.

Just today I realized I posted something from Facebook and had it connected with my Twitter. One of the biggest no-nos! Nobody wants to go through tweets and see a tweet that says "Fb.me/gdqarfvs34fds" Who the heck would ever click that? But we will use that for a separate post in itself.

One thing that cracks me up on social media is the misuse of the #Hashtag. Skip this paragraph if you already know what a hashtag is. Hashtags are great. It's an easy way for people to find you, or your business. It's a way to connect like-minded people and ideas. If you are interested in Black Cats and you go on Instagram and search #blackcats , you will find people who share that interest, and pictures of black cats. Do you know what you won't find when you search that hashtag? You will NOT find a single post from someone who used that hastag with a private account.

Such a pet peeve of mine, when someone uses a hashtag and has a private account. I wonder if they realize that they are wasting their time. The purpose of the hashtag is so NEW people will see the post, increasing your exposure and followers. If your account is private that does not happen. If you have a private account, you look silly when you use a hashtag. Anyone who can see the hashtag, already follows you.

Same goes for Facebook, my least favorite form of social media. If your post settings are not public, there is no point in using a hashtag.

When used properly, as silly and annoying as they may look sometimes, Hashtags are a great way to maximize the impact of your content. Just please use sparingly and publicly!