How new Facebook's #Hashtag can be useful for Businesses

How new Facebook's #Hashtag can be useful for Businesses

It would seem that social networking websites are going through a phase of standardization. Even though they all began differently, all of these websites have a space for status updates, for uploading pictures, for sharing pictures or updates with friends or contacts and for chatting online. If latest developments are taken into account then very soon these websites will have a set of standardized navigation controls.

Hashtags or the number sign is extensively used on Twitter, as well as photo-sharing app Instagram and other services to help users to identify topics, to discover what is being said about a specific topic and to allow them to participate in such posts and forums.

Recently, Facebook has also announced plans to introduce hashtags to help users in their social networking needs. Till now, hashtags were not usable on Facebook but, nevertheless, many people kept using them. It works when a Facebook user adds a hashtag in front of a word or a phrase in a post, other users will then be able to click it and use it as a search term. For example, typing a hashtag (#) in front of a word like "cricket" or "football" will turn the words into a hyperlink that users can click on to find posts related to these terms.

This is extremely useful as a user can find information about a certain topic quickly without any loss of time. However, the hashtags will not clash with the users' privacy settings, which means putting a hashtag in a post that is only meant for friends won't make it visible for anyone else. So stalkers can’t use hashtags to spy on anyone’s profile.

Although, hashtags are said to be just one of the several new features that will be introduced by Facebook yet the clickable hashtags will be available to 20 per cent of users in the initial rollout while a worldwide release is expected in the coming weeks, beginning on Wednesday. There is still anticipation regarding the other features that will be introduced by Facebook.

Tips for Small Businesses on Facebook to use #hashtags :

1. You can choose a unique hashtag, and stick to it. Just be sure that no other brand is using the same hashtag. If you have a unique hashtag and you use it every time while you post any status, then whenever users on Facebook will search that hashtag, your page will be on the top of the result.

2. Choose a hashtag which is short and simple.

3. Never ever spam #hashtags. Never use hashtags which have no relation to what you're talking about which will make you look spammy.

4. Do not use multiple hashtags in a single update just to reach out to many people.

5. Keep consistent and same hashtags for your brand across different social networks so that it becomes easier for your followers to remember and use that hashtag.

Hashtags are already used prominently in the social media sphere as also in music and entertainment sector. They have been referred to as a ‘semantic goldmine’ of Twitter. In the interest of full disclosure, hashtags have become so popular that in 2010 it was included in the Oxford English Dictionary.

However, as Facebook decides to adopt this golden symbol, analysts predict that Twitter is bound to lose its grip on the hashtags, which might make it resort to some other form of personalized advertising. So, maybe we will have a new “hashtag” sign. What can be its replacement? Maybe the percentage sign? Only time will tell.