Hashtags: What They Are and How to Find Them

The hash mark (#).

We’re all used to seeing it as an abbreviation for weight, as in “I’d like a 2# bag of onions” or for numbers like “World’s #1 Dad”. And of course you’ve probably used it on the phone when you’re trying to figure out the non-human customer service menu at a large company, “enter your account number followed by the pound sign (#)”.

What is a Hashtag?

But on Twitter hash tags are a whole new experience. On Twitter we use hash marks to help identify, organize and track topics online. We add the mark to the beginning of words so it creates a searchable phrase. What types of things can be made into a hashtag? Virtually anything.

Here are some common Hashtag uses:

• Events – An event that a group of people is attending or celebrating, either locally, regionally, globally, or virtually.
  • Social Media Breakfast NH = #SMBNH
  • South-by-Southwest Convention = #SXSW
• Topics – Any topic that you may have an interest in exploring.
  • Marketing = #marketing
  • Photography = #photography
  • All things earth-friendly and green = #green
• Follower suggestions – Recommendations that users make about who to follow on Twitter.
  • Follow Friday = #FollowFriday or #FF
  • Eco Monday = #EcoMonday
• Online Chats – Coordinated times when people gather online to discuss a particular topic or common interest.
  • #SMCNHchat = Social Media Club of NH. Discussing the group and related topics within New Hampshire’s Social Media circles. Sunday’s, 9 PM.
  • #agchat = Agriculture chat to maintain ongoing open dialogue in agriculture. Tuesday’s, 7 PM

If you already know the hashtag to follow then you can simply put it into the search bar on Twitter and listen in to what the Tweet stream is sharing. If you don’t know what you’re looking for, you can identify hashtags using a variety of different tools.

Finding a Hashtag

The easiest way of learning about a hashtag is to ask. If you’re at an event, ask what the official hashtag is and use it. If you’re online and notice a hashtag that you aren’t familiar with, ask a Tweep using it what it is, or follow the hashtag for a while and most likely you’ll be able to get an idea of what the topic is about after only a few minutes.

If you want a more direct approach, try searching for the hashtag using tools like Twubs, Tagalus, and What the Hashtag?! (just recently purchased by What the Trend). These are directories where you can search to find out what a hashtag is or browse categories of hashtags to see what might be of interest to you.

If you’re looking for a chat schedule, Google maintains a wikipedia like spreadsheet of chats called Twitter Chats where you can find over 300 different chats that are regularly scheduled and open to follow. You can also follow @twchat on Twitter to learn about new chats as they are organized. If you want to know more about the hashtag itself other than listening in to the conversation, check out hashtag.org to see the volume and trending pattern.

What are your favorite hashtags?

4 Rookie Mistakes Companies Make on Twitter

So you’ve decided to take the plunge and open up a Twitter account for your company? You’ve read that more and more small businesses are relying on a Social Media to compete in today’s hyper-integrated world and you’re convinced that it may now be time to join in.

First of all, let me congratulate you. Your instincts are correct. Let me also warn you though of some rookie mistakes that can backfire.

Rookie Mistake #1

Using Twitter like an advertising megaphone. Social Media is social. It doesn’t work well as an advertising forum where everything you post is related to selling (or pushing) your products or services to followers. People get tired of listening to that real fast.

Twitter is better used to start dialogues with like minded individuals and share information. It can eventually turn into a lead but first you’ll want to establish trust and solid reputation through sharing and consistency. Twitter marketers recommend between 6 – 9 informational and/or conversational tweets for every one tweet promoting your company, product or service.  Keep it social people, no one likes to be sold to.

Rookie Mistake #2

Not listening. What’s that you say, not listening? We all know people love to hear themselves talk. It’s part of our genetic makeup. But on Twitter, it’s just as important to listen to what others say too.

Monitor what is being said about your company, your competitors, or your industry. One easy way to do that is to set up an RSS Feed Reader, then add some Twitter search feeds. With an RSS Feed Reader conversations come to you, you don’t have to go out and search for them every day. You just open up your Feed Reader and see what’s been said while you were sleeping, working, or doing something other than being online.  Listen up folks. Even though you haven’t been online until now, conversations have been happening without you. Pay attention.

Rookie Mistake #3

Not having a goal and/or plan. You opened your account. Now what? With Twitter, it’s easy to get sucked down the rabbit hole of poor time management. Don’t be a failure statistic. Identify strategic goals then define tactical means of achieving them.

Let’s say your goal is to use Twitter to help with your website’s search engine optimization. The first tactical plan then, may be to discover the key phrases (if you don’t already know them), and then start using them in your Twitter posts. Don’t forget to use hashtags which can be a helpful way to track conversations and be associated with key phrases as well.

Without a goal or plan, you may be tempted to start tweeting about topics that have little or no relationship to your company at all, which means you’ve just wasted precious time and resources. You’ve fallen down the rabbit hole. Have a plan. Know what you want to accomplish and how you’re going to accomplish it.

Rookie Mistake #4

Expecting immediate results. When you open a Twitter account, you don’t have any followers. No one knows you exist. Even if you wanted to gain influence and respectability online, you first must earn followers. That takes ramp-up time.

The good news is that Twitter is geared to find people with similar interests, so start building connections. Find conversations about topics that relate to what your company does or what users of your products talk about and join the conversation.  Offer your opinion, an answer or a link to a valuable resource. Follow those Twitter accounts, interact with them and maybe they’ll find you worthy enough to follow back in return.  And don’t be a spammer.  Twitter has follower rules that can lump you into the spammer category if you follow too many people at once. Plan for steady growth over time.

Expect to put some time and effort into building your following. It won’t happen overnight.  It will take time but be warned, time alone does not build your following, you do.  Active engagement can shorten the ramp-up time and improve the quality of your Twitter experience.

Now that you know what to avoid, get out there and start Tweeting. There is an incredibly influential population on Twitter just waiting to get to know you.

Top 10 ActiveEdge Blog Posts of 2010

ActiveEdge wrote about a lot of interesting topics this year, but we wanted to find out exactly which stories most caught the attention of our blog readers in 2010?

To do that, we reviewed our handy dandy analytic software to determine the most popular blog articles of 2010.  Here’s what we found.

Overall, readers were most drawn to our digital and social media related topics. In fact 9 of the top 10 articles focused on digital marketing and social media themes with only two articles being traditional marketing subject matters.

Following is a list the top 10 stories that ActiveEdge blog readers agreed were the most noteworthy.

1. Organic Search vs. Paid Search
2. Social Media Breakfast New Hampshire Revisits Nashua
3. 3 Ways to Increase Your Company’s Presence without Starting a Blog
4. Build a Business Brand with Brand Standards
5. 140 Conference Comes to Boston
6. 3 Good Reasons to Update Your Logo and One Good Reason Not To
7. Managing Social Media’s Information Overload
8. PodCamp Boston – Preparing for the Future
9. ActiveEdge Helps Nashua Businesses Become Social Media Savvy
10. 3 Things You Can Do Now to Boost Your 2011 Social Media Strategy

Which are your favorites? What else would you like to see us write about?