One hashtag to bind them all...

Facebook has now (finally) started to include the ability to monitor the conversation courtesy of the #, a little overdue because recently trying to find out what people are talking about on the social networking site has started to become frustrating.

Despite Zukerberg buying the Social Media camera lens that is Instagram and the recently introduced Graph Search function, neither seem to have had quite the same social impact as the hashtag. 

So what does adding the hashtag mean for developing your brand or trend...well!

Promotion 

By adding the # to a tweet, you could effectively offer discounts for a level playing field when it comes to simple effective promotion for small businesses. Not only can you give discounts, and therefore bring in more customers, but this allows you to track promotional activity on-line.

Conversation// Hashtags open up the social media world to better converse about your company. A website or a URL post only brings you to the company’s website while a Hashtag allows people to use it in everyday conversations they have on social media. This also allows you to track the conversation and get a better idea of what is being said and how you can utilise that information. But be aware, your company has to have a good public perception. McDonald's tried this with #McDStories to hear from their fans about how McDonald's have centred around people's lives. Instead, if you type this into twitter you will see some pretty nasty tweets about their food, healthy choices and more.

Targeting// New marketing tools allow companies to target certain areas or people based on hashtags. For example, if you want to market to people with new homes you can use the hashtag #newhome to target those who are using that specific hashtag. Using this method is also beneficial because it allows you to pick out the individuals who are most likely to be using social networks and therefore more likely to give your company positive posting which you can then track using hashtags.

Innovations// Because Hashtags are so new they are still capable of great innovations. While hashtags and their use in business have begun to be utilised, there are still endless possibilities to what can be done with them. This is the most exciting realm of this new online world. With large companies like American Express announcing plans to allow customers to make purchases using hashtags the possibilities are vast.

So with just a hashtag this opens Facebook up to a whole new world for marketeers, brands and current events  – that’s a lot of valuable content Facebook’s been missing out on that it can now try to capture. Maybe you hate this idea, maybe you love it – but the attitude and feel of Facebook is about to get a major makeover. What you’re sacrificing is a sort of intimacy that many sites don’t have – and what you’re gaining is a News Feed that you can make even a modicum of sense of. But it’s ultimately up to you to decide if that’s worth it.