#hashtagwithcare

“You can’t choose where your born but you can choose where you go from there.” – unknown

Now that the pound sign looks like it is here to stay, in the form of a #hashtag, it’s time to lay down the law about how exactly go about developing a # strategy. But before we get into all that, I am going to share the one thing that you NEVER see anywhere else but should be the only place you start!

There is a lot to consider when building your hashtag library; what words connect with the audience, what unique words can you find that tailors to your brand and most importantly, what words do you want your brand associated with? Got you with that last one, right?

Hashtags are spreading like wildfire. And thanks to Jimmy Fallon & Justin Timberlake, the fire has tripled in coverage. With that said, there have been millions of users that have used simple words to call attention to their message and not always, messages that we want correlated with our brand. This is where protecting your brand online comes into play.

For example, back in the early days in this social game, I put together a series of posts for a client that were scheduled to go out during the Super Bowl. She had a great new promotion to roll out that connected to her business to a healthy and clean eating lifestyle. We decided that the first promotion should be game day related, since countless people would be online, enjoying that type of cuisine and watching the big game.

I put together a few hashtags to launch with the promotion and since the first recipe would be a much healthier version of your typical crock pot of chili, I included the hashtag “chili.” However, I failed to search the hashtag archives in relation to that particular word before I launched several messages in the span of 5 hours. Yes, say it with me…EPIC fail.

The hashtag had all kinds of interesting posts and in particular, images, to illustrate the point. Content that I would in no way, want linked to my own brand, let alone a clients. Needless to say, once I did the research on how the posts did and where everything placed with the designated hashtags, I was horrified and quite embarrassed to say the least. A simple word like “chili” can cause a viral nightmare.

Moving forward, I make sure that my hashtag actions always start with a warm-up that includes checking the archives to see what type of content and audience is in that space before deciding to move in.  I live by the golden social rule of once it’s up, it’s up and we’re not taking it down so I want to make completely sure that my message and placement is strong in visibility, reach and surroundings.

There are several ways to accomplish this; google search, Tagboard, Statigram, Keyhole, just to name a few. When searching, I look to see the type of content, the users, the viral impact and what other brands have attached their name to that particular hashtag as well. It only takes a few minutes to complete this research but in my opinion, it’s the best few minutes spent before possibly spending days reeling over a bad hashtag!