Recognition

July 19, 2021
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What is so important about this symbol? What has made it the MUST–use item in the world of Social Media? Recognition! 
It has become one of the many recognizable faces of the corporate, writing, and small business owner’s world, to name a few.
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In the social media world, #hashtags have become a way to enhance, promote, and identify your brand. A #hashtag used with your product, your company, or your book’s name gives much sought-after advertising without spending any money. The more you use #words about you and your product, the more it spiders out to the world. It is your identifier. It is one of the things followers, friends, and family can use to support what you are doing. 
There is etiquette and guidelines to follow when journeying through the #hashtag world. A few things to keep in mind are: 
  • Use relevant hashtags. If you are promoting #woolsocks, using #doyouwearcottonsocks is probably not a good choice; however, #writinginwoolsocks or #spinningwool could fit in. 
  • Place the majority hashtags at the end of the post. The use of a few within the post, depending on its length, is accepted. 
  • Keep it short. Use common hashtag acronyms and short forms of the word. #tbt equals #ThrowBackThursday. #yyc equals #Calgary. 
  • Twitter suggests using 1-3 hashtags. The allowable number of characters is 280. That’s characters, not words, and includes hashtags. 
  • Instagram says up to 30 hashtags is acceptable. A side note to using hashtags on Instagram – use 3-4 at the end of your post. Once it is posted, open the comment section for the post and add more #hashtags. This allows for a few things. 1. Your post is short and sweet and not overwhelmed with hashtags that may or may not get read, and take away from the message in your post. 2. It gives your post at least one comment, which helps in the algorithms. 3. Provides a space to promote more than the post’s topic – although this should be minimal.
  • Blogs are another good place to add a few hashtags, and  Facebook, Pinterest, and any other social media platform.
  • Create a hashtag cheat sheet for your social media. Include book titles, writing topics, company name, genre-specific, and trending topics you share on social media. Add on a few miscellaneous hashtags such as #bookstagram and #amwriting. I live in Alberta, Canada, and I include #canadianwriter and #albertaauthor, along with #annedallrobsonbooks.  Cheat sheets can be added to and manipulated to what works for you. 
This old-fashioned number sign is one of the best friends you can have when promoting and selling you and your product. When a rancher sells his cattle at auction, buyers may not know the seller personally, but the brand says it all about the owner, thus providing credibility and the want or need to buy the animals. 
The summer was spent cutting wood. The results would be used in the wood stoves to cook the meals and heat the house in winter.
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How do you use hashtags to promote yourself and your writing?
Read what others are saying about this article and leave your comments, too.
#CRLC #QuiteSpirits #Hashtags #RanchRelated #AnnEdallRobsonBooks #OldFashioned #UsingHashtags #GetRecognized #CarrotRanch