No #hashtag, no #life?
Ever imagined what life would be without air conditioning? Believe it or not, the pre-AC era did exist, though some of us might prefer to keep this age-revealing detail to ourselves…
Growing up in a tenement block in Hong Kong, living conditions were modest, at best. Back in the days, there was little in the way of technology to help us cope with changing seasons. Summers were spent in front of our trusty old electric fan, and simple pleasures like the occasional watermelon or popsicles seemed more than enough to get us through scorching hot days. Fast forward many years, and we now live in a world where air-con has taken over our lives. In fact, we’ve become so acclimatised and reliant that we forget it’s there most of the time – until we step outside, that is.
For better or worse, our lives changed some 40 years ago when the AC was popularised. In the two decades that followed, modern society was transformed yet again, with the introduction of the World Wide Web and social media.
Then in 2007, we witnessed another digital revolution…
Enter the humble #hashtag.
More than just a fad, this pound sign known as the hashtag has managed to quietly infiltrate our lives. On average, as many as 125 million hashtags are shared on Twitter every single day. Its prevalence is likely due to the common belief that hashtags help increase likes and exposure.
This then begs the question: do more hashtags really lead to better performing posts? Only Facebook, Twitter and Google will know for sure. These social networking sites are forever finding new ways and tweaking algorithms to push out content we love and crave. Their aim isn’t to drive engagement on a given post, but rather to keep us hooked on our feed for as long as possible. After all, it’s the popularity of the platform that matters most to them, not yours. So it comes as no surprise that Instagram has begun experimenting with hiding ‘likes’ on a post.
Hashtags were created for a simple purpose: to categorise. Think of them as filing cabinets – or carriages on the train of World Wide Web, each one containing specific content waiting to be transported to your digital device upon a single search request. Surely that must mean the more hashtags we use, the more we’ll be noticed, right?
Not necessarily. Social media searches work by prioritising content based on relevance. If you think attaching 50 hashtags will increase your reach, you may (or may not) be right; what’s more important is whether your point is getting across to the right people. What kind of content – whether it’s a blog, video or photo – could possibly relate to so many things? When excessive hashtagging appears spammy and lacks context, your audience will lose interest, and so will search engines!
In the case of hashtags, simple and specific goes a long way.
Here’s an example: step inside your favourite food hall, where the lunch options include (A) Spaghetti and Meatballs with Mixed Seafood, Fried Tofu and Assorted Vegetables in a Peppercorn Sauce, or (B) Mac & Cheese. Which one are you more likely to pick?
Just like the ubiquitous air-con, hashtags have taken over our digital lifestyle more than any other online asset out there. For now, hashtags still have their place in social media, but the question for marketers and social strategists now is how we can break through the noise and clutter to get your content discovered.
So, to those firm devotees of the pound sign, I pose this simple question: “Are you using your hashtags right?
#Hashtag #BrandStrategy #UrbaneSimple
Written by Raymond Kar Kit, Tam, Founder of A Green Hill
Translated by Nicole Koo