How to Use Hashtags on Twitter: Three Simple Steps.

Social Media Creator Group

In speaking with people about Twitter, I’m often asked about hashtags. People ask: What is a hashtag? What do Hashtags do? How do you create a hashtag?

1. What is a Hashtag?

A Twitter hashtag is a phrase with a pound sign (#) in front of it. Pretty simple huh? Here are some hastag examples: #socialmedia #tech and #quotes.

2. What do Hashtags do?

A  hashtag organizes the conversations of Twitter users into one stream.  These streams can be searched using a third-party apps or on Twitter itself. When Twitter users tweet about the same topic using a hashtag, all the tweets carrying specific hashtags will appear in the same stream.  Hashtags can be used to carryon conversations between Twitter users who are not even connected.  So in this way, popular hashtags become trending topics.  Trending topics can include tweets using a specific hashtag that many people are using at the same time.  Hashtags can be used for personal reasons such as a cause, in-person events,  conferences,  webinars, or marketing campaigns.

3. Hashtag creation

No tools are necessary to create hashtags. As stated above, hashtags are simply text preceded by a # sign. Hashtags can be placed in the beginning, middle, or end of a tweet.  It doesn’t matter.  Simply  pick a keyword and put a # sign in front of the key word.  Although Twitter hashtags are quick and easy to create, there are some traps you can fall into if you're new to creating them. Let’s look at these possible pitfalls and some best practices to keep in mind if you're thinking of creating one to support your marketing efforts.

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Best Practice

1) Check how many people are using the hashtag. If you plan on using a particular hashtag for a specific event and the keyword is being used by others, pick another key word.  Visit http://www.Search.Twitter.com and enter your hashtag in the search box to find out more about the hashtag.  If there is a lot of conversation around it already, you might want to revisit your decision and pick something that isn’t as frequently used. In that way, you will reduce the chances of people who are not a part of your target audience entering/diluting the conversation you want to take place.

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Choosing a Username for your Twitter Account

The Social Media Creator Group

A Twitter name is a user‘s identity on Twitter.   A user name begins with the symbol “@”.  When a person actually chooses a username, the @ isn't part of the choosing process.  When a Twitter user sends a message to another user, the “@” sign will always be placed before the Twitter name of the user being messaged.  For instance, when sending a message to the user “smcreator” the “@” sign is placed before any message sent to that user like this: “@smcreator Thanks for the RT.”

Make the user name simple and short.  The name should also be easy to remember or in the alternative, make the name unique.  Not many people would have thought “Twitter” would have been such a recognizable name ten years ago, but today the name is common and very recognizable.  Usernames containing the words “Twitter” or “Admin” cannot be used.   No account names can contain Twitter or Admin unless they are official Twitter accounts.   If you own a business, use a company name or, if the company name is too long, use an abbreviated form of the name.  If you are an individual or professional, use your real name if it is available.  

Social Media Creator Group, EzineArticles Author

The Social Media Creator Group is a long company name and would look like @thesocialmediacreatorgroup (Note that a username cannot be longer than 15 characters.) Not only is the name @thesocialmediacreatorgroup too long, it would take up at least twenty-five characters leaving a limited amount of characters to send in every Tweet.  A better name for @thesocialmediacreatorgroup would be @smcreator.  This shortened version of the Twitter name is unique, easy to remember and takes up few of the 140 character limit for Tweets.  If you would like a username like @smcreator,  but it has been claimed, consider selecting a name with a variation such as: @sm_creator or @s_mcreator.  Underscores (“_”) may be used in a username.  Other characters such as  %$!*) cannot be used.  A username can only contain alphanumeric characters (except for underscores). Check to make sure your desired username doesn't contain any symbols, dashes, or spaces.

Want to change your Twitter name? No problem.  Follow these steps: Log in to Twitter.com and visit your account settings pages from the dropdown menu in the top right corner of the page.  On the account settings page, change the username listed in your Username field.   If the username is taken, you'll be prompted to choose another one.  Click Save changes at the bottom of the page.  Changing a username will not affect existing followers, direct messages, or @replies.  Followers will simply see a new username the original profile photo.

Social Media Creator Group

Twitter with benefits explained. Get yours today.

The Social Media Creator Group

Twitter is an excellent example of an application that will allow individuals, businesses and professionals to acquire a web presence quickly and at a great value. Twitter allows Twitter account holders to post 140 characters updates (called Tweets) as often as wanted. When a person follows other people on Twitter, the follower will be able to see the followed account's tweets. When someone follows you, they see your tweets. This makes for a constant stream of communication which can be sorted, manipulated, republished, commented upon and retweeted. All information published to Twitter becomes public and searchable through sites like Google.

Twitter is not a fad which is why every individual, business or professional that desires a web presence should have a Twitter account. Some advantages to having a Twitter account include getting insight by asking your audience questions, getting traffic to your web site and spreading your message through Twitter. Twitter is also a great way to connect on a personal level with employees, customers, potential customers and all others who might have an interest in you, your product or your service. Twitter can be used to help build brands and may be used to help get new customers by word of mouth (Tweets). Some Twitter users have connected with thousands of people they would have otherwise been unable to meet by any other means.

Twitter users have been known to book radio interviews, connect with potential business partners and find employment using Twitter.  Twitter users can search Twitter or use other free Twitter management tools to see what others are saying about their products or services. For example, a quick search using the hashtag #SemperFi will turn up information on the United States Marine Corps.  After finding what other Twitter users are talking about in #SemperFi, enter the conversation.

The above describes only some of the ways that Twitter can be used to help individuals, businesses and professionals on social media.  Look to the Social Media Creator Group to help setup your Twitter and Facebook page.

The Social Media Creator Group

The Social Media Creator Group quickly and professionally sets up and creates Twitter and Facebook accounts for individuals, business owners and professionals. Our founder successfully leveraged social media including Twitter and Facebook to help run a high level political campaign for the United States Congress. During the campaign the founder's Twitter account was in the top 100 accounts for retweets. We at The Social Media Creator Group are confident that social media can be used by everyone as a cost effective or free way to spread messages and brands to a wide audience. Get started today.

Automatically Schedule Tweets --- Free

SocialOomph offers many free benefits to its members. Free members can schedule tweets, automatically follow other Twitter users and automatically send direct messages to their new followers.  Lets take a closer look at scheduling new Tweets with SocialOomph.

Scheduling Tweets is a very useful SocialOomph tool. It allows a user to add a new Tweet and schedule it for when the user wants it published. A user can save drafts of Tweets that can be used later and then published on a rotating basis. This is helpful because users can select the distribution time for a large batches of Tweets with SocialOomph. For example, a SocialOomph user can schedule 12 tweets to be distributed over 12 minutes, 12 hours or even 12 days. How does this come in handy?  A SocialOomph user is able to set up a week’s worth of Tweets in a short amount of time on a weekend or some other convenient time.

Being able to use these free tools offered by SocialOomph  may help drive traffic to your social media accounts and will definitely save your time.