Facebook has finally adopted the use of hashtags. And you may think I’m crazy, but this could be some great news for your business using social media.
Here’s why. The big deal is this:
Streamlining Hashtags
For Facebook to finally implement hashtags means your business can now utilize hashtags across all the major social networks. Hashtags are no longer relegated to just Twitter and Instagram, which means you can now streamline communication of a hashtag in your marketing and communication, and collect content from all the major social networks in one fell swoop. For most businesses the major social networks are Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, but hashtags don’t stop there. If your business uses Google+ heavily, you can also implement a hashtag there.
User Adoption of Hashtags
Until now, hashtags may not be something that most people use, or even know what they are for that matter. Even in Chicago (which you could call a young and tech-savvy city) we have a hard time getting people to use hashtags because it was largely reserved for Twitter, and if most people are going to tweet about us, they’re just going to use our Twitter handle and forget about any hashtag that is associated with our product. But over the past year, I believe hashtags have become more mainstream. With the growing user-base of Instagram, and now that Facebook has adopted hashtags, more ‘normal’ people will know what they are and will be more likely to use them.
Collecting Content is Easier Than Ever
Business
Now with tools like tagboard and storify, you can collect content from any social network that uses hashtags and setup a highlight board of sorts for people to follow and interact with.
So maybe you still think I’m crazy. Maybe you still think Facebook hashtags aren't a big deal for your business. And maybe they aren't -- yet. But give it a year, and before you know it the people that you thought would never use a hashtag may start using them.
Why? Because they are now available on Facebook.
Once again, leave it to Facebook to teach the masses about a cool technology, just by implementing it into the newsfeed.
Josh Burns is the director of web and social media at Park Community Church in Chicago, IL. He loves helping businesses and organizations learn more about how they can use social media to grow and share their story. He is also an avid blogger at joshburns.net.
