6 Big Benefits of Hashtags

Issue #763 Nov. 5, 2013
Publisher: Joan Stewart

“Tips, Tricks and Tools for Free Publicity”

In This Issue

1. 6 Big Benefits of Hashtags
2. Booze & Reporters Don’t Mix
3. Videos Offer Freebies, Discounts
4. Hound Video of the Week

This Weekend in the Hound House:

Shame throughout Packer Nation today. The only thing worse than the drubbing last night by the Chicago Bears was learning that quarterback Aaron Rodgers suffered a fractured collarbone during a first-quarter sack. Before we knew exactly what he injured, @AndrewWagner asks on Twitter, “Does anyone have a list of churches hosting Aaron Rodgers Shoulder Vigils yet?”

1. 6 Big Benefits of Hashtags

The hashtag is quickly becoming the most powerful key on your keyboard.

It’s the character #, the hot new search tool that makes it easy for people to find your great content, and vice versa.

Hashtags started on Twitter but are now used by savvy Publicity Hounds on sites like Facebook, Google+, LinkedIn, Pinterest and Instagram. If I’m tweeting a link to an article on how to get free publicity, I can type #freepublicity at the end of the tweet. People searching for #freepublicity tips can find my tweet.

Here are six of the biggest benefits of using hashtags in a publicity campaign:

–Tweets that contain one or more hashtags are 55 percent more likely to be retweeted than tweets that do not, according to a survey by Dan Zarrella, a social media researcher for HubSpot. That’s huge!

–Hashtags can help you become instantly more visible. On your Facebook profile or page, for example, hashtags turn phrases and topics into clickable links in your posts.

–They allow your content to be seen, within seconds, by people who don’t even follow you.

–You can use them to find new customers. By monitoring hashtags related to important topics your ideal customers follow, you can find someone who needs help with a problem and reach out with advice on how to solve it. When people reach out and help me, I’m suddenly a loyal follower.

–A hashtag can help you find people unhappy with products or services provided by your competitors.

–They can help you also find people unhappy with YOU. I searched just now for #publicityhoundsucks and didn’t find anything, thankfully. But do a search for #unitedairlinessucks and see what you find.

Hashtags, when used incorrectly, can also anger and alienate readers.

Learn how to use them correctly during the webinar I’m hosting from 4 to 5:15 Eastern Time on Thursday, Nov. 7, on “How to Use Hashtags, the New Search Tool.” Register at here.

The webinar will give you the basics, as well as advanced techniques, on how to use the tiny symbol that has already become one of the most powerful marketing tools.

2. Booze & Reporters Don’t Mix

Smart Publicity Hounds know they should never drink when in the presence of a reporter.

If a journalist is interviewing you over lunch or dinner, you must be on top of your game, on point, and coherent.

Beware, especially, of after-work networking events like the ones hosted by the local Chamber of Commerce. If a reporter walks up to you and starts talking, but he doesn’t have a notebook in his hand, he can use anything you say on the record. If you’ve already had a few beers, you can end up looking like a fool on the front page of the newspaper the next day.

Press Club dinners and awards ceremonies can also be troublesome. Likewise for cocktail parties at trade shows where food and alcohol are plentiful.

I’ve identified four more situations when you must stay away from reporters if you’re drinking, or stay away from alcohol if you’re talking to anyone in the media. They’re at my blog.

Like it? Share it using one of the buttons to the left of the post.

3. Videos Offer Freebies, Discounts

Four examples of how businesses use freebies and discounts within YouTube videos to pull traffic, leads, customers, and have people talking about them all over the social media sites:

–A car repair shop creates videos for the local market that shows how much damage the local potholes are doing to cars and why they should bring in their cars for a free inspection.

–A florist creates videos that discuss the proper flowers to send for specific occasions, like wedding and funerals and offers a discount coupon.

–A real estate agent gives virtual tours of the houses they list and offers a free iPad to customers that buy a house through them.

–A restaurant creates cooking videos that show how to create some of their signature dishes and then offers a coupon to have the viewer eat at their restaurant.

Offer these discounts and freebies in the call to action at the end of your videos. These tips are excerpted from Jeff Johnson’s free Video #2. He also includes a tip at the end that shows you how to use a simple little trick that only takes 5 minutes to set up yet it’s so powerful that it practically forces YouTube and Google to instantly send you Free Traffic and Free Leads.

Access the video here.

4. Hound Video of the Week

This English Bulldog puppy rides the Roomba.