Hashtag useage on social media is an important tool in getting your name out there and recognized. And of course, there’s a lot of different social media platforms out there, and it’s a good idea to participate in a bunch of them and know your way around them. But do you know what’s even better? Knowing how to use different social media platforms in conjunction so as to increase visibility.

“You Got Twitter In My Facebook!”

Ask someone to name the most popular social media sites, and you’ll most likely hear people yelling out “Facebook” or “Twitter”. Have you considered using hashtags in your Facebook posts and statuses? Teaming these two social media big guns together could pay off handsomely for you and your business or website.

By using a hashtag on Facebook, you provide people with a clickable link that redirects the visitor to the feed in question, or even linking to a website. For instance, Ed Young Jr, Grapevine Texas makes very effective us of the #hecknology hashtag. You can use hashtags on Facebook to spread the word about promotions, call attention to a website, or join in on a current trending topic.

Rules of Hashtag Usage

Here’s some bullet points of things you need to keep in mind in using hashtag keywords on Facebook:

• It’s Not Case Sensitive – Although you may want to capitalize the first letter, keywords themselves are not case sensitive.
• Privacy Settings Still Apply – Using hashtags is not a magic wand that overrides your privacy settings. If your account is set for friends only yet you want the hashtag to be seen by the general public, you’ll have to change the actual account setting to Public.
• It’s All One Word – There are no empty spaces in a hashtag keyword. If you wanted to direct people to an item about Alex Rodriguez suing the baseball players’ union, the hashtag would look like #Arodisatool, not #Arod is a tool. 
• Research The Hashtag – There is no hashtag database or registry. You can make up whatever kind of hashtag you’d like. But it would be wise to check out the hashtag first to see if it’s being used elsewhere, possibly in a very different and potentially embarrassing context. For instance, if you run a dog care site and you are having a discussion on how to keep female dogs cool in summer, have a hashtag called #hotbitches may end up yielding some really off-topic results. And the least said about poultry farmers raising enormous roosters, the better. Thankfully, it’s possible to search for hashtags simply by typing www.facebook.com/hashtag/keyword.
• Make The Hashtag Relevant – So you’re trying to draw attention to a buy one get one free promotion for gaming books. Having a keyword like BOGO or Buystuff isn’t going to excite too many people.
• Simple And Elegant – When you create your hashtag keyword, don’t overload it. In the above example, saying #bogobooks could work very well, especially if people already know that your business deals with gaming products. Using something like #Buytwogamebooksforone is counterproductive.
• Have A Sense of Humor – You can get really clever with your keywords, sometimes editorializing or just being flat-out amusing. Humor attracts a lot of people. For instance, say the topic was hideously ugly Christmas sweaters. You could use #wearablebirthcontrol and really pique people’s curiosity.

By incorporating a hashtag in Facebook (and not overdoing it!), you can greatly expand your site’s visibility.