Knowing how and when to use hashtags can increase brand adoption

Lynne Serafinn, author of “The 7 Graces of Marketing: how to heal humanity and the planet by changing the way we sell,” wrote an article on how and when to use hashtags on Twitter and Facebook. Below is my interpretation for aviation marketers.

The aviation industry is slowly coming around to using social marketing as an inbound channel to build brand loyalty, provide customer service and convert new customers. While some in the aviation industry are still wishing that social media would go away, the facts state undeniably that it is here to stay. Twitter and Facebook have over 1.5 billion users on their social media platforms. Twitter has pioneered the use of hashtags and Facebook recently adopted hashtag linking protocol.

What are hashtags? What do they mean? How do you use them? Why should I care?

A hashtag is a word or term that is preceded by a ‘hash sign’, i.e. #. There can be no spaces between the hashtag and the word/term, and there can be no spaces in between words if you are using a term. Hashtags are not case sensitive; however, using upper and lower case can make them easier for your followers to read and identify.

When you put together a tag like this, #aviationmkting, it automatically creates a hyperlink that people can click. When they click on the hyperlink, they will find all the most recent Tweets or Facebook posts that have used that hashtag. Basically, putting a # sign in front of anything will turn it into a clickable link.

How hashtags are used:

 Follow current trends – Perhaps the most common use of hashtags is to follow information about a current story or event. For example, clicking on the link #Asiana will bring you to tweets and article posts about the airline incident and the summer intern’s short-lived job at the NTSB.

Find like-minded people – Hashtags can not only help you find topics of interest, but people of interest too. While some hashtags are on ‘trending’ topics, others are on long-term topics of interest. Using #aviationweek will display a range of the top 20 tweets of people that are using the hashtag in connection with their content or business.

Brand identity/content – Not all hashtags are about ‘things’ or events. If your product or service relates to the aviation industry, you should consider creating a hashtag that identifies your brand. Boeing has branded the hashtag #boeing where you can view their tweets as well as photos and other content about Boeing aircraft.

Hashtags provide shortcut  links to events, people, and businesses. Learning the correct way to use them improves your social marketing presence and increases brand awareness.

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