Let’s be frank: learning Twitter lingo can feel like learning a foreign language. With the barrage of tweets, tweeps, @mentions, favorites, shortened phrases and #’s, it isn’t any wonder why you might be confused at first. In fact, I’d be surprised i
f you weren’t! While I could write a book on Twitter lingo alone, I want to hone in on one specific feature today: the # symbol, or “hashtags”.
The first time I saw a hashtag on Twitter (#lovecoffee), I had no idea what it meant. I soon learned that #lovecoffee was not associated with any number or pound. The # symbol was created organically by Twitter users as a way to categorize conversations. #lovecoffee is a public conversation on Twitter for people who–you guessed it–love coffee! Here is an example of what that looks like:
Once you send the tweet, you’ll notice that #lovecoffee becomes a link. When you click on the link, you can access all the conversations pertaining to this topic.
How can using hashtags benefit your business? Using hashtags can lead to increased exposure, more followers, higher engagement and interaction levels, strategic connections and much more. Possibly one of the biggest advantages of utilizing hashtags is the ability to increase the reach of your voice. Engaging in online discussions not only extends your online reach, it also allows you to reach your social media marketing goals, such as increased leads, higher website traffic, and more. Instead of sorting and searching for the right hashtags (which I often find myself doing), I’ve compiled an alphabetical list you can use and refer back to:
#401k
#advisors
#budget
#bonds
#boomer/#babyboomer
#data
#debt
#economy
#equity
#financial
#financialadvice
#financialnews
#FINRA
#finsev
#GDP
#homeowner
#investing
#linkedfa
#longtermcare
#liquidity
#moneymanagement/ #money
#mortgage
#NASDAQ
#NSE (National Stock Exchange)
#overvalued
#personalfinance
#retirement
#socialfa
#stocks
#taxes
#underwriter
#variableannuity
#warrenbuffet
#wealthmanagement
Other hashtag tricks:
- When you attend a conference or event, like SIFMA, use the appropriate hash for the event in your tweet (#SIFMA).
- You can use hashtags for current events. For example, during the banking crisis taking place with NatWest, people are using #NatWest and #NatWestcrisis to contribute to the discussion.
- To check out local and global hashtag trends, visit Trendsmap or Whatthetrend.
Now that you know a little something about hashtags–go out and use them! Many financial professionals have yet to discover these hidden gems, so this definitely gives you a leg up. Do you have any additional Twitter hashtags for the financial industry that we haven’t listed?
Great article with some wonderful suggestions. I will certainly try adding hashtags. Thanks!
The article was not only informative, it was very helpful and useful. Thank you.
Great thoughts on hash tags, however I think you missed part of what they are used for. The most common use for hash tags by young users is for humor or emphasis, not necessarily for categorizing tweets. It might be a play on words, or something clever, but rarely do users concern themselves with whether their tag can be searched.
Good list, thank you.
We use #SocialMediaFS from time to time when talking about social media in financial services issues.
Regards
Philip
I will share with Mosaic Financial Partners’ advisers. Thank you for the list.
Hashtags provide context for your tweets. They help readers understand what you are saying, especially if the tweet might not be clear without the hashtag. At a glance, the reader can tell if the tweet is relevant to them.
For that reason, financial professionals can also think of hashtags as a great way to attract prospect or client attention and help them to understand the value of your tweet. So a hashtag like #401k is good but a hashtag like #saveforretirement has a more meaningful benefit to readers and might therefore draw them to your tweets more effectively.