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A Guide to Good #HashtagEtiquette

Hashtags. They’re everywhere! Their popularity began with Twitter and then rapidly expanded to almost all other social media networks. In fact, they are now being referenced in television commercials, like this one for Toyota Corolla. If you’re not familiar with hashtags, a hashtag is a word or phrase that begins with a pound sign (#) and are used to help people find messages with a specific theme or content.

Why bother using hashtags? If you are trying to have more online conversations, or increase exposure to influencers, then using relevant hashtags in your social updates will help you do that. Anyone that searches for or clicks on hashtagged content can see all of the other posts that include that keyword or phrase. If you follow me on Twitter, you’ve likely seen my tweets with the #etiquette hashtag, for example.

Unfortunately, hashtags have been increasingly abused, creating a whole new sect of social “netiquette” issues. To get the most out of hashtags, here are a few tips to follow:

• Always spellcheck – Make sure your hashtag is spelled correctly so people can find your content. For example, more people will find my posts if I use #etiquette as opposed to #etiquete as a hashtag.
• All one word – Putting a space between two words in a hashtag phrase will only make the first word searchable rather than the entire phrase. For example, if I post a link to an article on body language, I would use the hashtag #BodyLanguage, as opposed to #Body Language. The latter, in this example, will only get searches from people looking for posts with the word “body” in them.
• Capitalize – Make an effort to capitalize each word in your hashtag phrase. This makes it so much easier to read. In Toastmasters, the widely used hashtag phrase we use #WhereLeadersAreMade, for example, is far easier to read than #whereleadersaremade?
• Double check – Always double check your hashtag to ensure that it can’t be misconstrued. When Margaret Thatcher passed away, people were using the hashtag #NowThatchersDead in their social posts. However, when the capitalization was removed, the #nowthathchersdead phrase was comprehended incorrectly as “Now that Cher’s Dead”!
• Keep it short – #ThisIsAnExampleOfAnUnnecessarilyLongHashtag. You’ve likely seen many “run-on” hashtag phrases being used in a joking manner. However, if you are serious about getting your message noticed, keep it short.
• Cut back – Avoid using too many hashtags in one social post. It’s confusing, makes your post difficult to read and muddies your message. One to two hashtags are ideal for most social networks, with the exception of Instagram, where you can use as many as seven hashtags without raising eyebrows.
• Don’t hijack a hashtag – Refrain using hashtags that have nothing to do with your topic. “Hijacking” popular or trending hashtags that are not relevant to your message is in poor taste and could negatively affect your online personae. Keep it on topic.
• Search it – Are you using a new hashtag for a post? If so, do a search for it to see if it has already been utilized elsewhere. If so and it is not relevant to your message, try to come up with a different word or phrase that makes more sense.

Do you have any hashtag etiquette tips or interesting stories you’d like to share? Tweet your hashtag etiquette to me @EtiquettePage – and be sure to tag it with #HashtagEtiquette. Thanks!

Posted by Margaret Page in Business Etiquette and tagged social media etiquette, hashtag etiquette.