Popular Hashtags and How to Use Them Effectively

by Edie Melson

Hashtags can be a confusing concept

Hashtags can be a confusing concept, so today I’m sharing a list of popular hashtags and how to use them effectively.

First, lets back up and evaluate the reason we’re all working at building an online presence. We are looking to deepen existing relationships and build new ones. But building new ones can be difficult if the only people we interact with are those we already know, either online or in person.

We can get a little bit of exposure to new folks by our existing connections introducing us, but that’s a time consuming way to go about it.

What if there was a way for someone to search a given social media network by topic and find new, interesting people to interact with? That would be a great way to grow our connections.

Social Media Monday—Plug in through Social Networking BEFORE the Conference Starts!

Many writers have the mistaken idea that social networking is only beneficial for connecting online. Or that it only helps when you can’t be at a conference. But it’s important to plug in through social networking BEFORE the conference starts!

Connecting early can greatly increase what you get out of the event. And that is so true for the American Christian Fiction Writers conference coming up in September. Conferences are expensive and you'll get so much more for your money if you plug in early.

Social Media Monday—Facebook Enables Hashtags—Is It a Match Made in Heaven?

I think it definitely is…and something long overdue.

For those of you who aren’t aware, Facebook has now enabled the use of hashtags. This use of hashtags follows Twitter (of course) and now Pinterest. Not sure what hashtags are? Here's a post I wrote on Hashtags and Twitter. 

Social Media Monday—The Tweet Life, Part Four—10 Tips to Help You Get More Twitter Followers

A lot of you have done the basics and now you’re sitting back waiting for your Twitter account to explode with followers. Well, if you’ve followed the previous three posts you’re in a good position. But, today I’m going to share10 tips to help you get more Twitter followers. Click to Tweet

Tips to Finding Relevant Twitter Hashtags

Today I promised I’d give you some tips to help find relevant hashtags for your tweets. If you’re not certain what a hashtag is, this post I wrote on connecting with twitter will help.

It’s important to use hashtags when you tweet—but even more important to use them correctly. One big thing you should avoid is using more than two or three hashtags per tweet. Otherwise you run the risk of being mistaken for a sales person or a spammer.

If you’re tweeting about a new subject, be sure to check the hashtags and pick ones that will correctly target your audience. For example, I’m targeting military families with my new book, Fighting Fear: Winning the War at Home When Your Soldier Leaves forBattle.

Since I don’t normally receive tweets about military subjects I began to research the best hashtags for my targeted audience. The first one I chose was #military. It sounded like a good choice, but researching it I came up with a lot of tweets about the best times to meet soldiers to get a date. Definitely NOT the audience I was looking for! Next I tried #militaryFamily and that took me to tweets directed at the people I wanted to reach.

I know your next question is going to be, “Where does someone research hashtags?”

I have four sites I recommend. All four are free resources and I don’t recommend one over the others, because they’re all slightly different and I find myself using them in different combinations.

The first is Hashtags.org. This site gives a list of trending hashtags, a graph and a search box to type in potential hashtags. After typing in a hashtag, it lists current tweets containing that hashtag.

Next is Trendistic.IndexTank.com. It also gives you a graph, along with a search box. But it’s graph allows you to check the trends for the past 180 days.

Another I like is WhatTheTrend.com. Like the others, What the Trend has current trends, a graph and a search box. I included it because it also explains why a particular hashtag is trending.

Finally, I also visit Trendsmap.com regularly. This site has a map that tells you what is trending where. This is particularly helpful if you’re targeting a specific area.

Another way to track hashtags is to find out the most popular keywords. To do this you need to check out Google Ad Words.

Now it’s your turn. How do you find the right hashtags? Also be sure to post any questions you have in the comment section.

Don’t forget to join the conversation!

Blessings,

Edie

Twittering Your Time Away—Part Two

Stay with me—this week and next is when it gets good!

Last Monday I gave you the basic course in TWITTER. To be totally honest this probably left most of you still in the dark, but willing to at least explore the possibilities. Now that we’re all on the same page, I want to share some of the benefits to becoming a regular Twitter user.

A Marketing Dream

Think of TWITTER like a short commercial spot during the Super Bowl—the place with the most viewers at one time. (See where I’m going here!) During those spots, some people are in the kitchen refilling their plate, others are chatting about the game, but a few are watching. Something in that particular commercial caught their attention. Those few spread the word and POOF a few become millions.

Twitter has this ability because it comes to us in short, 140 character bursts. These bursts are easy to share and reproduce. Remember our definition of RETWEET last week? Retweeting can cause a viral reaction—and that’s a good thing. Having a tweet that goes viral means your message is being seen by millions.

There are certain things that we can do to help others find our valuable TWEETS. Let’s go back to the Super Bowl analogy for a moment. During the game, some of us take watching these commercials a step further—we’re watching for certain ads—think of it as looking for keywords that pertain to our wants or needs. TWITTER is set up to accomplish the same thing, through the use of HASHTAGS # and the use of @.

• HASHTAGS or # denote a subject. People can search TWITTER for certain subjects, like writing or publishers. So if I want a certain TWEET to reach other writers who don’t yet follow me I can insert #write somewhere within my TWEET. I started using HASHTAGS in my TWEETS and within TWO HOURS added 26 new followers.

A word of caution, don’t overuse the HASHTAG. If you use it too often within one post it will seem like a hard sell and you still only have 140 characters to get your message out.

As a TWITTER user, I search for these subjects and have them arranged in LISTS (more about LISTS in a moment). When I find one that’s interesting I can click on it to investigate further and then FOLLOW that person.

• @ designates a person or a company. Just like I can search for a subject, I can search for a specific entity. I follow one geeky, technical blog called MASHABLE. I love their posts because I can understand them and apply them. Their TWEETS are even better, so I created a list that follows every mention of MASHABLE.

LISTS are a way of arranging information into usable knowledge. So how do you organize those lists? If you’ve spent some time on TWITTER you know your specific TWITTER page is just one long confusing column. I have the answer to that as well—TWEETDECK. TWEETDECK, like TWITTER, is free.

TWEETDECK is an ancillary program that organizes your TWITTER feeds into manageable groups through the use of columns. AND—get ready for it—it also interfaces with Facebook and other social media outlets! So I have ONE (count it, one!) window open in the background, giving me real time tweets and wall posts. I can chime in (post or TWEET) anytime I please.

I hope this has continued to whet your appetite for all things TWITTER. Next week we’ll continue on with managing lists and customizing your TWITTER page.

Now it’s your turn. Have you gotten your feet wet with TWITTER? Let me know your concerns, questions and triumphs.

Don’t forget to join the conversation!
Blessings,
Edie

(Here are the links for part 1 and part 3 of this series)