Hashtags seem to have become a crucial part of social media.  The use of hashtags can help build your online presence, grow your brand, and even gain future business for you and your company.  Hashtags can be used throughout all social media platforms but they will be the most successful on Twitter and Instagram.

A hashtag is a label on social media sites using the symbol, #.  Attaching hashtags to your photo or status can make it easier for someone to find information with specific content.  When you look up a hashtag, you will be able to view all content that has been labeled with that tag.  It will either organized as most recently posted or top posts (posts that are the most popular with that tag). With the use of a hashtag, you are able to engage with more than just your followers.  Hashtags make your content viewable by anyone who has interest in that specific tag.  You can either use a simple word or your own unique hashtag you’ve created.

Continuously using hashtags whether it be on your photo on Instagram or your status on twitter helps increase visibility.  You can even establish your brand or your business by creating your own unique hashtag.  For example, a company could easily hashtag their business name when posting photos.  A business could then encourage consumers or customers to use their unique hashtag when posting whether a product was bought, a service was used, or even the consumer attended an event held by that specific business.

It will help gain visibility for your business.  The more visibility you get, the more likely you are able to create a larger audience and possibly gain more followers and even business