How to Use #Hashtags for Marketers

Thanks to Chris Messina, #hashtags have become an effective way for marketers to drive engagement on Twitter (and Facebook, Intagram and Pinterest), provide context to tweets, search for topics and join conversations. 

Earlier this week SimplyMeasured, in an article that called out our client CLIF for the effective use of its hashtag #meetthemoment, wrote, “There are three keys to ensuring you get the most of out your hashtag:

• Make it unique to your brand
• Keep it simple
• Use it everywhere.”

Here are some other things marketers should think about when using hashtags:

• Hashtags work well when people can live tweet them.
• Hashtags with action words perform better than non action-oriented hashtags.
• Hashtags are an opportunity for brands to include messaging in a tweet. Ex. #MyFirstVolvo
• Hashtags that can be used on multiple occasions are great for brands. Ex #Iwanttoinvent from GE.
• Hashtags must be vetted.  Remember Susan Boyle’s unfortunate #susanalbumparty?
• Hashtags can be co-opted. That’s what happened to #McDStories. So before you ask people to join your conversation, make sure you’re ready to hear what they have to say.
• Hashtags shouldn’t be overused. But go ahead and have some fun with them. After all #YOLO.

This post was brought to you #fromtheforte.

 

4 Reasons You Need a Blog, And 4 Tools to Get You Started

It’s 2015. Does your company have a blog yet? If the answer is no, it’s time to add “Build Blog” to your list of New Year’s resolutions.

Why? Blogs help businesses compete in today’s content-rich, search-driven world.Here are 4 good reasons you should start blogging.

1. Blogs drive traffic. With a smart, relevant keyword strategy, your company blog will generate qualified traffic to your website.
2. Blogs build community. Maybe your company has a great presence and lots of engagement on Facebook or LinkedIn. That’s great, but you don’t own that community. In essence, you are renting real estate from social platforms. Though engaging content and comments, you can create an active community on your own domain – your blog.
3. Blogs highlight thought leadership. Have an opinion on an industry event, breaking news, or even a competitor? Post it to your blog. Blogs give you an instant, low-barrier platform to demonstrate your expertise.
4. Blogs build lists. Visitors to your blog are much more likely to give you their email address than visitors to your company website are. That’s because your blog showcases the value your business offers.

Are you ready to start blogging now? Great. Here are four must-have blogging tools to get you started.

1. WordPress. Tumblr may be hipper. Wix may be easier. But WordPress is our favorite blogging platform. It offers a huge list of plug-ins, easy-to-access support, and search engine-friendly features.
2. WordPress SEO by Yoast. Yoast makes SEO simple. This plug-in helps you optimize posts, analyze your pages for keywords, and publish an xml sitemap.
3. If you expect heavy traffic and commenting on your blog (and if that’s the case, why haven’t you started blogging yet?), and even if you’re only expecting a few comments, Disqus is a good comment hosting service. Disqus won’t affect your site’s page speed and provides strong anti-spam filters.
4. SumoMe. This is an easy-to-install WordPress plug-in that helps you collect emails and grow your database.

Now are you wondering what to blog about? Contact us for help with your editorial calendar. It’s time to get blogging.