Ever since Twitter began its hashtag posts in 2009, many users adopted the habit to other social networks like Facebook and Instagram. We’ve seen the famous pound sign in almost every post to highlight events, topics, and things that are popular−or what users want to become popular.
Google+ hashtags have a different purpose, though. While these can be an efficient way of giving attention to trending topics, Google+ posts with hashtags can also leverage visibility and audience reach. Unlike Facebook and Twitter, Google+ has an auto-select feature to provide any related tags and topics that will give users more results for their search.
Before you start filling your posts with hashtags, here are few things you need to keep in mind:
Explore New, Relevant Connections
In Google+, you become more powerful when you reach out and build relationships with other people who share the same insights on the same topics. Through shared interests, there’s an opportunity to be found by other people outside your circle and establish new connections.
The same applies to using hashtags. You must search for the related hashtags others are using on trending topics. When you click on these tags, you can explore and view related posts that will be useful for your future updates. This increases the likelihood of appearing in other people’s feeds and helps you start conversations that will bring attention to your post.
Use Related Tags to Generate Fresh Ideas
The great thing about viewing related hashtags is you can get insights on the most talked about topics from the feeds. The related tags serve as a breeding ground of content ideas for your posts. For example, #cars can lead to #newcarmodels2014.
While Google+ can assign relevant hashtags to your post, you can choose your own from the Explore section. You can also find suggestions on the most popular and recently used tags, giving you better options for your post.
Put Your Brand in the Tag
As a rule, you must create hashtags that other users will easily remember. What better way to do this than by having your own brand on the tag. With a signature hashtag, other users can associate your post with your brand, which promotes engagement and recognition.
When creating brand hashtags, use taglines that people already know (or you want them to know). Make sure the tag is unique to your business—you can use the Explore section to look for tags that other businesses use to avoid duplication.
Don’t Overdo It
There’s no limit to how many hashtags you can use in a post, but some people tend to go overboard. Instead of promoting the content, the post only becomes an eyesore to other users and becomes less relevant in the feeds.
As a best practice, limit the use of hashtags to three for every post. Place the tags by preference—start with the one that is most relevant to your topic. These hashtags will affect the searches and may appear at the top of your post as related tags.
Putting Your Hashtags into Good Use
While most of us are used to having hashtags in our posts, some are still not familiar with how they can maximize it for better exposure. As what our specialists always say, it’s all about having the right social media strategy. If you know how to work around your Google+ profile and have a great strategy to go with it, you’ll have no problem maximizing your exposure.
