Utilising Twitter as part of your site’s marketing strategy can help build your brand, reach new audiences and increase your organic search ranking. Here are our tips for increasing the reach of your tweets by using hashtags effectively.
Joining in conversations by using hashtags is a great way to extend your reach. Before you start using a hashtag, however, think about your target audience. What kind of conversations are they getting involved with? If your dating site is niched for single parents, consider tweeting to #mumtalk or #singleparent conversations. Other organisations, like Mumsnet, host regular chats on Twitter, so jump in on any discussions relevant to your brand. The generic hashtag #onlinedating or #single is also used frequently and could help your site get discovered.
Keeping your hashtags simple is key, as potential customers are unlikely to search for long, complicated hashtags. We wouldn’t recommend using #SingleAndLookingForADatingWebsite, but you could try #single #dating or even #datingsite.
As well as joining in existing hashtag conversations, you can also create your own hashtag to launch a competition or encourage member engagement, for example, #DatingFails or #BestDates. Ask people to tweet using your specific hashtags to enter to get people talking and to increase visibility to your follower’s friends, and even friends of friends.
Don’t use more than 1-2 hashtags per tweet; any more will make your tweets look like spam. You’ll achieve better results by using more selective hashtags. It’s also important not to use popular hashtags just because they’re trending if they have no relevance to your brand. It won’t add any value.
Hashtags are the only time you should forget punctuation! Hashtags don’t support punctuation marks so Twitter will end your hashtag wherever punctuation occurs. So #It’smybirthday! should become #ItsMyBirthday or even #mybirthday.
Some people like to capitalise individual words on a hashtag, as they believe this improves readability. It’s a personal preference whether you choose to adopt this style, just make sure you remain consistent with your approach. #personalpreference #PersonalPreference
Which hashtags do you use? Share your thoughts by tweeting us @wld.
If you need more advice on making the most of Twitter, speak to the Partner Team today.