Article

3 Simple Rules to Prevent Hashtag Abuse

Hashtags have become somewhat of a mockery, and for good reason. Follow these 3 simple rules to prevent hashtag abuse.

Every single day, countless numbers of innocent hashtags are inhumanely mistreated and abused. You might think it’s limited to those reckless hoodlum teenagers lurking in the shadows of Instagram, but the troubling truth is that it’s all around us. It could be your boss, neighbors, friends, family... even your mother. No hashtag is safe when it comes to the cruel world of social media and every day the epidemic gets worse. Do your part today to stop the horrible abuse of hashtags and help keep them safe.

 

In all seriousness though, hashtags have become somewhat of a mockery, and for good reason. Follow these simple rules to prevent hashtag abuse.

 

Do:

Use hashtags to extend the reach of your content to connect information and conversations to a much larger audience. Through their use, you have a huge advantage to extend content beyond your opted-in audience. In reality, hashtags are really just public containers for all content with the same tag. If you tag a post with #digitalmarketing, your post will be placed in the public #digitalmarketing container and shared with everyone searching for that specific tag. This is equally important for content publishers as well as content searchers since publishers want their content included in highly active, highly visible public hashtags while searchers loyally follow hashtags that have great content.

 

Don’t:

Don’t use hashtags in your personal comments and conversations. Face it, no one is that interested in your #loserexboyfriend or that #soupisyum. Save those for your friends and family.

 

 

Do:

Use hashtags that are relevant to the content you’re posting and support a deeper conversation. Remember, your hashtagged posts are going to a public forum. Do your homework and research which tags your audience is most likely to connect with or search for. Hashtags that don’t support the content you’re trying to promote aren’t worth using unless you’re also creating a unique campaign around it (but that’s for a completely different discussion). They should be easily understandable and identifiable while adding as much meaning and value to someone else as they did for you.

 

Don’t:

Whatever you do, avoid the random nonsense of hashtag babbling. You might think you’re witty, inventive or creative, but everyone else thinks you’re annoying. Don’t be that person. You might feel the need to hashtag #every #single #word #you #say, or create ones #ThatMakesYouTheKingOfTheHashtag, but either way these have absolutely no impact to anyone other than you. If you are your only audience, then congratulations. Otherwise, stop it.

 

 

Do:

Use keyword rich hashtags on your posts to allow for easier searchability. Google+ has already begun indexing hashtags to align keywords with content for search engine results and I would be surprised if Twitter, Facebook and Instagram aren’t heading in that direction as well. Get in the habit now to help your content succeed for the long-term.

 

Don’t:

Avoid using meaningless words or phrases. Fancy and inventive tags won’t help anyone find your post if they don’t know what to search for. You might be able to get away with it if you already have 500,000 followers, otherwise you might just be creating the best posts no one will ever see.


The lack of understanding of what a hashtag is and how to use them correctly is beginning to overtake social media pages while bordering on ridiculousness. It’s obvious that the list of unwritten rules needs to be finally written to control the madness. What rules would you add to this list?

 

 

Please login or register to add a comment.

Contribute Now!

Loving our articles? Do you have an insightful post that you want to shout about? Well, you've come to the right place! We are always looking for fresh Doughnuts to be a part of our community.

Popular Articles

See all
The Impact of New Technology on Marketing

The Impact of New Technology on Marketing

Technology has impacted every part of our lives. From household chores to business disciplines and etiquette, there's a gadget or app for it. Marketing has changed dramatically over the years, but what is the...

Alex Lysak
Alex Lysak 22 September 2020
Read more
It’s Time For Brands to Move From Personalised, to Personal

It’s Time For Brands to Move From Personalised, to Personal

At a time when almost every brand is tailoring content and offers to individual customers based on their demographic data, purchase history, and online behaviours, are these personalisation efforts still adding value?...

Shafqat Islam
Shafqat Islam 27 November 2023
Read more
The Carrot of a Bigger Market is More Powerful Than the Stick of Legal Action in Driving Web Accessibility Investment, New Research Finds

The Carrot of a Bigger Market is More Powerful Than the Stick of Legal Action in Driving Web Accessibility Investment, New Research Finds

Getting web accessibility right is a massive commercial opportunity. The World Health Organization estimates that 1.3bn people worldwide are living with some form of impairment. The benefits of making it easier for...

Michael Nutley
Michael Nutley 30 November 2023
Read more
The 3 Most Important Stages In Your Presentation

The 3 Most Important Stages In Your Presentation

If you want to deliver a presentation on a particular topic and you have to prepare yourself for it you should make sure that you go through several very important stages in order to craft a compelling, persuasive and...

Nicky Nikolaev
Nicky Nikolaev 16 February 2016
Read more
From Success to Setback: Lessons in MarTech Decision-Making

From Success to Setback: Lessons in MarTech Decision-Making

We often talk to clients about the consolidation of MarTech capabilities across vendors, to the point that it’s often not too difficult to pick up a new technology if you’re comfortable working with an alternative...

Andrew Addison
Andrew Addison 29 November 2023
Read more