#whyTHISmatters

I am taking a break from the description of various social media platforms to talk about another aspect of Marketing that has evolved in the last few years. A classmate of mine wrote a post on hashtags and how to effectively use them on social media to link like-minded consumers which led me to the idea of exploring how hashtags can be used in B2B Marketing as well. The #Hashtag has become increasingly popular since its launch on Twitter in 2007, and, if used appropriately, hashtags will drive revenue. 

The word or phrase (written with no spaces, of course!) is an easy way to not only create engagement but also to better understand consumers and increase number of prospects. When you pick a hashtag, it must be relevant and useful. If too narrow or inappropriate, there will be no use; if you're too broad, there will be too much noise and you won't be able to filter the information to that which you are hoping to obtain. 

One of the most effective ways to reach your target market could be through introducing your hashtag to your most loyal brand followers. They are the influencers--the most important segment to reach. Encourage these influencers to incorporate the hashtags in their social media posts on platforms such as LinkedIn, Twitter or Google+. Another way to engage users is to comment on bloggers' posts using the hashtag; it could lead to them reading your post or even sharing it.

Once you establish your hashtags and get them into the public sphere, it's important to track them online to determine which are working. While there is no clear-cut way to track these, simple clicking on the hashtags to view their connections or evaluating the increase in activity, such as clicks, on your company website will do.

I'll conclude with Isaac Oswalt's advantages of effective hashtaging which perfect highlight how B2B Marketing can be improved through hashtagging:

Categorization: "allows analytic software to quickly run through innumerable tweets and find out who is talking about a particular subject - like your brand"

Linking: "allows viewers to learn more about your brand"

Range: "catch the attention of businesses that...have never heard about your company before"

Targeting: "allows you to pinpoint which of your followers is actively involved in your brand and retweets or shares your content"

SEO: "making sure that your website and social tools are all hashtag-friendly, your SEO practices will also improve"