One of the
best parts of Twitter is the Hashtag. This lowly number sign turns any bit of
text into a searchable topic within the Twitter universe. But, the magic only
happens if you choose your hashtags wisely.
Today I’m
going to review some of the best practices for using, finding and researching
hashtags. If you’re not quite certain what I’m talking about you can read my
post on Twittering Your Time Away to catch up.
First, a
quick lesson on the difference between the @ sign and a # (hashtag). The @ sign
is used for people or entities that have a Twitter account. The # is used for a
topic.
Hashtag
Etiquette
Try to
never use more than three hashtags in any one tweet. If you can make it two
that’s even better. Otherwise you end up looking like a used car sales man. If
you’re trying to reach more groups, schedule multiple tweets, at different
times, about the same subject and target your groups two at a time.
Always
research your hashtag before you use it. Never assume it’s the correct one. For
example, I was targeting military families with tweets about my devotional for
military families and I thought #military would be the logical hashtag. No,
turns out that hashtag is frequently used by those trying to date someone in
the military. Not really the demographic I was trying to reach. The hashtag I
wanted was #militaryfamily and #deployment. Here are four places I like to
research hashtags:
The following is a list of popular hashtags for our industry. Please note that while this list is extensive, it's not exhaustive.
List of Hashtags
#100words flash fiction
#ACFW American Christian Fiction Writers
#Amazon
#amediting posts from people who are editing
#amreading for readers
#amwriting posts from people who are writing
#askagent agent questions and answers
#author
#authors
#Christian
#Christfic Christian fiction
#devo Christian devotion
#devotion Christian devotion
#ebooks
#editing
#editmark
#fictionfriday
#freebooks
#freelancelife
#freelancewriter
#fridayflash flash fiction on a Friday
#Goodreads
#Kindlebooks
#kindlefree
#Kindle_promo
#JesusTweeters from believers
#microfiction
#nanowrimo national novel writing month
#novels
#novelists
#poem
#poet
#poets
#poetry
#pubtip publication tips
#publishing
#reading
#scifi
#selfpublishing
#socialmedia
#socialnetworking
#socialmedia
#socialnetworking
#suspense
#twitter
#vss very short story
#webfic web fiction
#weblit web literature
#wip work in progress
#womensfic
#womensfiction
#wordcount
#writegoal
#writequote
#writer
#writers
#writetip writing advice
#writing
#writingtips writing advice
#wrotetoday
Finally,
here’s a great post from Daily Writing Tips about Twitter. And an open GoogleDoc Spreadsheet, found in that post, with a list of current Twitter chats.
All of
these should help you find the hashtags best suited to your situation.
I’d love to
hear from you now. Twitter is ever-changing and hashtags come and they go. What
are some of your favorites?
Don’t
forget to join the conversation,
Blessings,
Edie
