Hashtag enables Twitter users to tag tweets, giving more context to them. They can also be used as a way to designate the tweet to a particular conversation or chat. In sports, many commentators use hashtags as a way to get people who are watching the telecast to ask them questions.
Twitter users have to make sure that they fulfill the basic functions of hashtags to get noticed. The functions include: Chat/Conference participation, adding emotion or thought process, adding for a comedic effect and using it to mark a topic area for a specific audience. Moreover, here are three golden rules of Twitter hashtagging:
1. Do not use the hashtag out of context
One of the biggest mistakes is that Twitter users constantly use hashtags out of context. The common practice is “if there is a conversation or discussion on Twitter, the user will add a hashtag that has no relevance to the topic”. This is truly an ineffective way of getting people to read your tweets as it distracts the readers from understanding the tweet entirely. Those who are participating in the chat or conference will notice that the topics are off the topic and will lose interest in the discussion completely. In this scenario, the irrelevant tweets will be viewed as a spam tweet and it is most likely that it will go unnoticed.
When using hashtags, make sure that you are using content that is relevant to the topic. It will be easier for people to understand your tweets better.
2. Marking topic/audience
A great way to get your tweets read by the audience that you are targeting is to add the hashtag that is relevant to it. For example, if you are tweeting about breast cancer awareness, a suitable hashtag such as #breastcancer will automatically get more views as it is directed to those who are affected by breast cancer and those who are supporting its awareness. People who are interested in that particular area will want to see the tweets that you have made. One of the major doubts which Twitter users face is that they do not know how many hashtags to use in a tweet. Generally, the safe way to add a hashtag is to use it once in the sentence and about three times at the end of the tweet.
3. Be funny
Hashtags, if used in a funny-comical way, can attract many users to the tweets. To do this, make sure that you use a string of two to three words in your hashtag that creates a joke or observation, which is relevant to your tweet. For example, if the tweet is about going to the shopping mall with my parents, a funny hashtag would be #windowshopping #groceries #novideogames.