A hashtag is a # symbol followed by a string of letters and/or numbers which, when used in a tweet, help it to trend.
The funny thing about hashtags is that not everyone knows what they are actually doing. Many think they are just throwing out a random string of letters and numbers and that those doing the trending will discover their tweet and retweet it. But this couldn’t be farther from the truth. It takes A LOT of work to make a hashtag trend.
Let’s take a look at how a hashtag normally works, so you can understand what’s going on and why you should care.
How Does a Hashtag Work?
In the old days of Twitter, when people were just discovering the platform, hashtags were not used. When someone would tweet about Taylor Swift, for example, they would just use her real name. But as time went on, the platform changed and people started using hashtags to increase the reach of their content.
Before you could use a # symbol, you had to have a minimum of five letters or numbers following a # sign. Back in the day, people used to use all kinds of strange characters before the # symbol was implemented, but it was still basically five letters or numbers. This is why many older tweets don’t have any hashtags.
After you had tweeted with a hashtag, other users could then see your content and decide to join the conversation by using the same hashtag.
This was a great way for people to discover and join a conversation even if they were not initially part of it. It was like discovering a secret society of twits and inviting your friends to join the conversation!
If you want to make a hashtag trend, you need to do a few things. First off, you need to be using it in a relevant context. If you are just trying to use it to help your tweet get discovered, it’s probably not going to work. And even if it does get discovered, you don’t want to just leave it at that. You need to participate in the conversation. Let’s take a look at some top tips on how to make your # symbols pop.
Choose Top Keywords
When someone starts using a hashtag, they usually do so around the key terms associated with the topic of their tweet. For example, if you are tweeting about Taylor Swift, you would probably use phrases like #taylorswift, #taylor, and #swift.
These are the most common and relevant terms to the conversation. If you want to choose a hashtag that is going to be relevant to a lot of people, you should pick words or phrases that are highly searchable. And since your chosen hashtag is going to be relevant to people searching for that topic, you should make sure that your tweets contain the right keywords.
Extend the Conversation
Even if you do choose the right keywords, your chosen hashtag is still just a hashtag. It does not necessarily mean that everyone is going to be talking about the same topic. If you want to make your hashtag more useful and extend the conversation, you should follow the same rules as you would for any other type of tweet. Include relevant links to other websites and don’t be afraid to use a little bit of humour.
If you try to use a hashtag without participating in the conversation, it’s not going to do what you want it to do. You should always try to add value to the conversation even if it’s just a little bit. Be respectful to other users even if you disagree with them. And don’t be afraid to use a little bit of humour whenever you can.
You can also try using the keywords in a slightly different way. Instead of using a single hashtag for a whole tweet, you can use several hashtags. For example, instead of using #taylorswift, you can use #taylorswift #roseanne and #roseanne #taylorswift. Doing this makes it easier for people to find your content. It also keeps the conversation going. If you want to find more about this, you can check out some of our other articles on how to make your content go viral. Using different hashtags for different aspects of your content can help to drive more traffic to your website or blog. You can also try using keywords in the title of your content so that it pops up when people are searching for content on that topic.
Create Buzzwords
If you are using hashtags around key terms, you should also create some buzzwords. Buzzwords are words or phrases that are commonly associated with a particular topic but are generally not known by people in general. For example, if you are writing about Taylor Swift, you should include words like #taylorswift, #taylor, and #swift in your buzzwords. These are the types of words that people would use when searching for content on the topic of Taylor Swift. You want to make sure that these are words which people would naturally type into a search bar.
But how do you find these types of words? The easiest way is to use a thesaurus or an online thesaurus combined with a word processor. Type in your topic (in this case, Taylor Swift) and thesaurus.com will give you a list of all the words and phrases that you can associate with it. From there, you can either use the autosuggest to help you find the right words or copy and paste a few that you think will be most appropriate. Make sure to use a spellchecker before you start publishing so that you don’t end up with a bunch of mis-spellings. And don’t worry about being trendy. If they don’t know what hashtags are, don’t blame them. Just make sure that your hashtag is relevant to what you are trying to say and that it is meaningful to the conversation.
The Importance of Timing
Last but not least, we have timing. You want to make sure that you use your hashtag at the right time. If you think that a hashtag is going to become popular soon, you can start using it now, but not too early. And you shouldn’t use a hashtag if nobody is talking about it yet. These are all basic rules that you need to follow when choosing a hashtag to help it trend. Some hashtag experts even put timing to the test. They will usually monitor the trends of all the hashtags that they have chosen and make sure that they use them at the right time. So, if you want to create a hashtag which is going to trend, you should do this as soon as possible. But you should also monitor the trends of all the hashtags that you have chosen so that you make sure that they are not used too soon and that they are used at the right time. Timing is everything.
Since you have now learned the basic rules of hashtags, you can start using them on your own. Just remember to use them in a way that is relevant to the conversation and make sure to participate in the conversation even if you don’t agree with what they are saying. And don’t be afraid to try something new. If it doesn’t work, you can get rid of it and try something else. But if it does work, then you can consider yourself a pro! Good luck out there.