use the right hashtag and great things happen

You know the annoying tweep or instagrammer who publishes his/her tweet or photo with a gazillion different hashtags? Please don't be that hashtag-overuser. But by all means chose your # carefully and great things can happen. Both on a personal and professional level. More of that at the end of this post.

Myself I use hashtags that is relevant for the picture or tweet in question, some are well worked in and used a lot by many - like #vegan #vegetarian #svpol (Swedish politics), #swgreen (Green issues in Sweden) #vegomiddag (veg dinner in Sweden), #vegolunch (veg lunch in Sweden), #tbt (Throw Back Thursday), #notd (nailpolish of the day), #boktips (book tips in Sweden) - others I find relevant, amusing or I use as a part of my own marketing -

like #welcometosweden (which long after I began using it also became the name of a Swedish TV-series...), #teaftw (for all tea lovers), #prositordochbild (workrelated obviously) and #prosittipsar (when I want to give useful tips on different great things like vegan food, healthy options, design, books, animal and environmental-friendly alternatives etc). 

Recently I arranged a really lovely #tweetup with likeminded vegetarians and vegans in Stockholm. Of course you could then use the hashtag #vegotweetup, but just so it was very clear it was OUR meetup and noone else's the # was #vegotweetup211 (January 21). And simple as that, anyone could follow the discussion and planning via Twitter by following the hashtag in question.

Yes we are definitely going to have a #vegotweetup again. The hashtag will then be a new one as soon as we've set the date.

If you're a newbie find that these two articles on the use of relevant hashtags and the nonos quite useful. With some silly elements and advice thrown in, so go with your gut feeling and common sense. I find that 1-3 hashtags is usually fine on Twitter, where as 5-10 can be acceptable on Instagram. More than that and it gets a bit...nauseating.

Rules for hashtag marketing mastery

Best Instagram hashtags for different businesses

So what about my own experience with good stuff that comes from the right hashtag?

First of all, Instagram is for me personal, organisations or business accounts which tell personal stories or market with their own pictures only. I am fully and sadly aware that there are a whole lot of other accounts out there for other purposes. Myself I never enter any competitions on Instagram where you have to repost a picture that's not your own or shout out a company's name. I want to keep my account clean and my own. With my own photos only. And I don't see any point at all in posting quotes or cute animal pictures taken off the web -

which by the way is illegal if you haven't gotten the photographer/originator's approval. But you already knew that, right? Right. -

My Instagram account is me, myself, and I - or rather very few selfies and a whole lot of cats, vegan and vegetarian food, fika, design, colours, knitting, shoes, animals and pretty places. A miniature version of my blog.

Back to the hashtag business. When I got my new glasses I instagrammed the collage of four pictures and hashtagged it with #smarteyes (the optician and brand) and I noticed the smarteyes_official account liked the pictures, but didn't think much of it.

Then a few weeks later, last Friday, they left a comment on the picture which basically said "great looking! We would love to publish it alongside four other cool glasses-pictures that have been tagged with #smarteyes on Instagram. And for that you'll get a pair of glasses for free." Now that's a winwin as far as I'm concerned. Great and simple social media marketing which benefits all parties. And all because the right hashtag was used.

#prosittipsar - use the right hashtag on Twitter and Instagram and fun things happen!