By: Felicia Pratt Ellis

Last week we began to discuss hashtags.  I was able to give you a brief introduction to hashtags and now I hope you feel comfortable with using them.  Some people are still totally confused by hashtags, why do we use them, and how an they benefit them or their business.  So today I want to share with you 4 ways you can use hashtags to grow your business.

As mentioned in a previous article hashtags are formed by using the number sign along with a phrase (ex: #funtimes). You have probably seen some of these hashtags on facebook as well after someone’s statement.  Hashtags can be used in a variety of ways but here are 4 specific ways to use them.

To Stay Connected

Some niches may have hashtags used by a variety of people in the niche, and in order to stay connected with all of the people interested in that niche you can search for that hashtag and see what people are saying.  This can allow you to stay up to date on various activities in your niche.  To see what’s going on with a specific hashtag, you must first define the hashtag (for this example we’ll use #mompreneur). Then log into twitter and in the search field or visit search.twitter.com type in your hashtag.  You will see a list of tweets from those that used your hashtag.

Find Followers:

You can use hashtags to find people to follow in your industry.  To do so follow the same steps above but click on people in the top left hand corner. This will give you a list of people that have used this hashtag.  You can read their profile to see if they are someone you want to follow.

Marketing – Create a Buzz

Have you ever been to an event and they asked you to use a specific hashtag when tweeting about the event? Well they are marketing their brand and creating a buzz that will make your followers interested in what’s going on. Can you imagine seeing hundreds of your followers using the same hashtag? Wouldn’t you be curious to know where they are and what’s going on?

To emphasize a point

People get so annoyed seeing hashtags used on facebook. People on facebook use it to emphasize a point, or an emotion they are feeling after they make a statement.  This is actually used on twitter as well.  When using it for this purpose it’s less likely you will create a following of people that will use that same hastag. An example of this would be “I just went to the store and realized I got the wrong change back. #canyousaypissedoff”.

What are some other ways you have used hashtags?

Felicia Pratt is an author, WordPress Enthusiast and a Social Media Fanatic that supports women entrepreneurs who run their business online. She helps them connect with their customers and build their online presence so they can increase their visibility and provide consistency in their branding and marketing efforts. Through various entrepreneurial endeavors, Felicia has finally found her niche empowering women by helping them leverage their content effectively through social media and blog content management.