Anyone with a Twitter or Instagram has probably encountered a hashtag at some point. Hashtags, a pound sign (#) followed by a topic are used on social media sites to group related posts into topical feeds.
#20DayOfDallas will make U feel a lot of different emotions #VeganOnions will definitely make U feel grossed out ๐ https://t.co/yPsr1xK2hK
โ #20DaysOfDallas (@camerondallas)
Many internet users probably did not encounter hashtags until using social media, but, contrary to popular belief, hashtags did not begin with Twitter. Hashtags were first used in the Internet Relay Chat (IRC) to categorize related items in the 1990s. It was not until 2007 that hashtags were used on Twitter. Chris Messina, a microblogger, is said to be the first Twitter user to use hashtags.
how do you feel about using # (pound) for groups. As in #barcamp [msg]?
โ Chris Messinaยฎ (@chrismessina)
Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest, Google+, and other social media platforms adopted the hashtag as a way to cross-reference posts about the same subject matter soon after Twitter. Since, the hashtag has evolved into a powerful marketing tool. Hashtags are important to marketers for two primary reasons: they segment relevant posts via a cross-referencing query, and hashtags can be used to promote brand awareness and loyalty. Say that I clicked on the hashtag โ#MyDreamIn5Wordsโ on Twitter, which is currently trending. Relevant posts using this hashtag would populate my feed, segmenting the feed into what I (the user) wanted to read. Marketers can then capitalize on these trends by segmenting their audience, and thereby promoting their brands via a currently trending hashtag.
#MyDreamIn5Words Meet the Trailer Park Boys pic.twitter.com/bBENl2fRpr
โ Trailer Park Boys (@TPBReactions)
Another way for marketers to seize upon the hashtag to segment their social media presence into an even more targeted way is to start their own hashtag campaign. In 2013, Nike used
Four downs. Four quarters. For everything. #makeitcount
A hashtag campaign is a great way to reach a large audience (like the Trailor Park Boys tweet), or engage consumers with a targeted campaign and promote brand loyalty (like the Nike tweet), and will continue to be an important tool for marketers to utilize well into the future.
