Social Media Roundtable: #Hashtags February 5, 2013

What the heck are hashtags?  Adding the “#” symbol before any word or phrase without spaces  Organizes posts by topic  Creates a link that leads to a stream of every post that uses the same hashtag.  An important part of your social media strategy if you are using: < Twitter < Instagram < Pinterest < Facebook

Tips for using hashtags  Capitalize the first letter of each word. For example: #HigherEd  Don’t overuse hashtags. 1-2 per post is plenty.  Choose hashtags that are widely used  To find out if a hashtag is being used, do a search for it.

How to search Twitter  Directly from twitter profile  Hootsuite, TweetDeck, or other 3 rd party software  search.twitter.com  hashtags.org

How do I use a hashtag to promote an event or organization?  Search the hashtag to make sure it’s not already being used by someone else.  Find collaborators who will agree to use your hashtag.  Promote your hashtag.  Use your hashtag frequently.

Minnesota State Mankato hashtags that are already being used:  #MNSU (the institution in general)  #MavFam (athletics)  #MavNation (coined by a past IBE cohort)  #ClimbMNSU (Rock Climbing)  #SBDC (Small Business Development Center)  Others?