By now, you know most of what there is to know about Twitter. But, there’s more! Twitter gives you some tools to get yourself, your content, and your following noticed. Let’s go over one big one now.
For me, the most important tool is the ‘hash tag’.
What is a hash tag? First, let’s define a ‘tag’. According to Wikipedia, a tag is “a non-hierarchical keyword or term assigned to a piece of information (such as an internet bookmark, digital image, or computer file). This kind of metadata helps describe an item and allows it to be found again by browsing or searching. Tags are generally chosen informally and personally by the item’s creator or by its viewer, depending on the system.”
In plain English, a tag is an electronic keyword that you assign to a web page, blog post, digital image, or other online asset that makes it findable during a web search.
Soooo, what is a hash tag? A hash tag is the way you tag your Twitter posts so people can search and find them categorically. The ‘hash’ part of the term comes from the ‘#’ symbol, which is often called a hash symbol.
Here’s how it all works. Let’s say you are the communications and marketing person for a nonprofit that deals with funding educational support programs for homeless children. Assume that you are looking to use Twitter to gain some exposure for your agency, as well as try to find other people and organizations in the country who might share similar missions or values.
Each time you post something on Twitter, you should be hash tagging your posts. Here is a sample of something you might post:
TeachTheHomeless: 1 in 10 U.S. Children are on the streets and not in school. Visit http://www.TTC.org to help. #homeless #education
Ignore the fake stats and the made-up organization and look to the hash tags. The point of adding those tags is simple…searchability. Now, anyone who searches #education or #homeless will be able to find your post. The more people who can find your content the better!
But, hash tags aren’t just for searching. After you post something using a hash tag (or see someone else’s post using a hash tag), you’ll notice that the hash tag itself becomes a link. Click on the hash tag link and you are taken to a separate feed. This feed is made up of every single Twitter post that contains that hash tag. Popular hash tags make for very active feeds, and often times entire discussions take place by way of these hash tag feeds…much like a live instant message conversation. Check it out and get familiar with the functionality.
Finally, just hash tag often. And, keep your eyes open for hash tags other people are using. There are tons of them, and you can use as many as you can fit into the 140 character maximum. I like to write down new ones as I see them, and then apply them to my posts as often as I can.
Have questions? Leave a comment or email me!
MakingTheExpert 