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What is a Hashtag and How are they used on Social Media?

What is a Hashtag?

Let’s start with an answer to that question. When you are on a social media platform and you see a word or phrase preceded by # (pound sign), that is a Hashtag. It’s purpose is to draw attention to words or phrases to make them easier to find on social media. That is the easiest way to explain it, for me anyway.

Here is a definition I found on the Sprout Social Blog: hash·tag: A word or phrase preceded by a hash mark (#), used within a message to identify a keyword or topic of interest and facilitate a search for it.

How are Hashtags used on Social Media Platforms?

That is where it gets tricky. Each Social Media platform has its own rules and guidelines for using Hashtags. From what I could gather, it is better on most platforms to use fewer Hashtags or you could damage your engagement. So, sounds to me like erring on the side of caution makes sense.

That’s all for Today!

Yes, I am just learning about all of this myself and plan on more posts going forward. In summary, Hashtags are important for organizing, categorizing and getting found on social media. But don’t get crazy and use too many of them or it could lessen rather than increase your chances of getting found.

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