These days, there may be a lot of small businesses across the country that would like to do more to succeed when it comes to reaching an audience online. Today, that often includes embracing things about social media that they might not be used to utilizing, such as hashtags.
Hashtags started to be used for social media purposes a few years ago on Twitter, but are also now available to be used on Facebook and other platforms as well, and can be utilized by companies of all sizes and backgrounds to promote themselves. For instance, if a small business hashtags the phrase “SmallBusiness” in a tweet, simply by affixing the pound symbol in front of it, a user would be able to click on that term and see all other tweets or posts that utilize that same phrase.
Of course, there is something of an art to expanding a small business’s standing through these hashtag phrases, according to a report from New York Newsday. Perhaps the most important of these is that the phrases should be kept as short as possible. Because they’re only used without spaces, a hashtag that utilizes even four or five words, rather than one or two, can become long, confusing, and difficult to read. Meanwhile, it’s also important to keep in mind that while companies or any other social network user can make up their own hashtags, it might also be wise to look at others that might already be established and more popular. For example, the “#SmallBusiness” hashtag can certainly be used, but a more established version of it, used by many companies and entrepreneurs around the world, is actually “#SmallBiz.”
Know where to step in
In addition, it’s also a good idea for small businesses to make sure they’re utilizing the best hashtags for their specific needs, the report said. For example, “#SmallBiz” might actually not be as specific as they might want or need, and they could therefore benefit from narrowing it down a little bit. In some cases, affixing the two-letter postal abbreviation for their state, such as, “#CAsmallbiz” might help them connect with companies or consumers in California specifically.
Small business owners might not think that there’s a benefit to social media use in terms of time and effort, but it can often lead to improved revenues. Combined with finding more affordable small business insurance, like liability insurance, to reduce annual expenses, this can lead to significantly more wiggle room in any company’s annual budget.
