Today, a hashtag is a label used on different social media platforms to make it easier to find posts or information about a particular theme or that contain specific content. It is created by including the symbol “#” before a word or word combination without spaces.

The pound symbol—an octothorpe—was initially used to mark numbers. The first use of hashtags in their form today dates back to 2007 when web marketer Chris Messina walked into Twitter’s offices with an idea. He suggested that the company use the pound symbol to group related tweets.

This was the first-ever use of the hashtag:

Hashtags originated on Twitter and have since extended to other social media platforms. Today, hashtags are used to aggregate content on the same theme, topic, event, or conversation.

Hashtags on Twitter

Twitter Hashtags are essential for helping users organize their tweets around a specific topic. They are also a great indicator of the relevance of your tweets to a particular audience.

If used correctly, Hashtags can help your small business get discovered and grow organically. If you are planning to launch a marketing campaign centred around a hashtag, to avoid confusing your audience. First, you need to search for that hashtag to ensure it hasn’t been used in a while or in a way that could confuse your audience. Use short and distinct hashtags that can be easily added to Tweets.

Hashtags on Instagram 

Instagram hashtags can increase brand awareness, offering your audience a way to discover your content. If you don’t have a community of followers yet, using hashtags is a good idea for expanding your reach, especially if you don’t spend money on advertising or tagging other accounts in your posts.

Finding influencers who use specific hashtags to get traction on social media and collaborating with them may increase your chances of reaching your audience and creating a beneficial buzz around your business.

Hashtags on Facebook

Most people don’t use hashtags on Facebook because it is believed to harm your reach and engagement. However, experts advise you to include hashtags in your marketing strategy, mainly if you use them on other platforms.

“Use hashtags (1 or 2 only) when they make sense and when you use something relevant that people can filter or to find more relevant conversation” – Ian Cleary.

“As a business, cross-social platform branding is important” – Collin Cottrell.

Hashtags will increase your chances of being found by your targeted audience. Whenever you include a hashtag in a post, you create an opportunity for potential customers, clients, or followers to see that post.

Hashtags on LinkedIn

Hashtags on LinkedIn are used to engage and network with other users. As with the different platforms, you can create your hashtags and hope other users will pick up on your trend, or you can use popular hashtags to help you appear higher in search results.

Since 2019, when hashtags started being used in LikedIn, we’ve seen some hashtags that reached more than a million followers.

Top LinkedIn Five Hashtags in 2019

#innovation – 37,683,010 followers

#management – 35,270,217 followers

#digitalmarketing – 27,286,973 followers

#technology – 25,231,754 followers

#entrepreneurship – 22,221,557 followers

Hashtag Best Practices

• Hashtags start with # and only work if you don’t include spaces, punctuation or symbols.
• If the account is not public, the hashtagged content won’t be seen by followers.
• Best hashtags are short, so don’t try to use a long string of words that can be hard to remember.
• Many hashtags would look spammy, so using a limited number of hashtags per post is better.
• People won’t start using your brand slogan in their Tweets unless it fits naturally or you offer them some incentive.
• Check what hashtags people are already using to talk about your brand, and capitalize on those. Also, check if your desired hashtag is already being used. Ask yourself if it’s still relevant to your brand.
• Partner with influencers who can help gain exposure and visibility for your hashtag.

Are hashtags beneficial for my small business in Surry Hills?

Often, people on social media use hashtags to look cool. However, hashtags can help brands become more visible within a particular professional community, encourage people to discuss specific topics and create organically engaged engagement.

People are actively searching through hashtags on platforms like Instagram and Twitter. So, using the right hashtags may result in more followers, likes, comments and shares, boosting your brand’s social media engagement.

Hashtags may have an essential role in promoting small business in Surry Hills, as it creates awareness and drives social media engagement,, which can becmebecome a powerful branding tool.