Creating a Hashtag Strategy for Your Business
okay good day y'all wherever it is your place in the world i hope that you are enjoying some amazing caffeine cheers caffeine is aka productivity juice for business owners every week i come on and i have conversations around business and how businesses can be amplified by marketing specifically free marketing free marketing we get to do on the back of social media i also show up because i teach classes and i have conversations based on one thing and that's you like your questions and your ideas now i have to say that i have the honor and privilege of being ceo of social curator this means that over the past three years i've helped tens of thousands of business owners market their business now that's not to talk about that other than to let you know that i have conversations with tens of thousands of business owners every month and so what i get to do and what the team gets to do is look at what are the trends that are happening with small businesses as they market themselves what are the trends that are happening on social media what is getting the greatest impact for the least amount of work and then what are the long-term bigger strategies and visions so this conversation is going to be a distillation of things that we have learned in the past three to four months this is going to be like the newest the hottest the best the most strategic approach on how to market your business we're going to get into a particular topic right about now how to create a hashtag strategy for your business yes i know that the front of this keynote is my face on the phone so it's like we can create a mirror image that's kind of awkward okay let's get in and i'm going to talk about getting real for a second sometimes as business owners we put out content and it feels like we're invisible it feels like our content is going out and then just falling a little flat now there is a strategy to help you now we want to help you and increase your discoverability and we want your stuff to get seen on social media so if you say hey that's me how is she speaking to me drop like a yes in the chat no i know that you get annoyed because you're probably watching this on the go or just you don't really want to type it in but here's the thing whenever you leave a comment it just reminds me that it's just not me and my mom or my little sister watching this live because the only people i hear from in real life are my mom and my little sister so shout out to zoe and millie y'all are the real og's and then anybody else who wants to be an og drop yes because your girl gets a little lonely up in here so let's talk about what this strategy will be moving in specifically into 2022 and yes hashtags are alive and well now i know whenever we talk about hashtag specifically specifically hashtags on instagram when we talk about hashtag specifically on instagram people like yeah but jasmine are they still necessary and the question then begs necessary maybe not helpful very much so you do not need to use hashtags to get seen in the algorithm not at all good content gets seen good content doesn't need hacks but hashtags they're not a hack they're helpful so necessary no helpful heck yes because people want to discover you people want the thing that you're selling so why not make it easier for them to discover the thing that you're selling so what i'm going to break down for you is a four-step strategy this is what we teach on the inside of social curator this is going to be sharing a very high level with you today so this exact strategy what we're going to talk about specifically when it comes to the hashtag strategy in october 2019 social curator started uh was it 2019 2020 i think it was 2020. yeah i'm like look at me like back in my day listen ladies and gentlemen i need another sip of coffee social curator started an instagram account at social curators with zero followers we decided to deploy our content strategy our seven content ideas and then secondly a hashtag strategy and with less than two months it was not even two months we had hit 10 000 followers so i want to walk you through what those four steps are number one to identify your ideal client and this is where everyone's like no too busy i can't do this and it's a little bit difficult for me to actually talk about this because every great strategy i do not care if you are the top one percent of businesses worldwide i do not care if you're a 500 fortune 500 or ink top 20 i don't care if you're boiling wax in your grand pappy's basement for candles the way that content is created the way that goods are sold the way that you create a small group of people to really love and talk about your business is by knowing who the heck you're talking to your ideal client is going to be the thing that will move your business forward step number two we want you to create caption categories and a set of hashtags that go for each category now i have i teach live classes all the time these videos go up on youtube it's very common for me to explain in fact just last week i had taught a class on seven caption categories these are seven caption categories for you to use to never run out of things to say so those caption categories we recommend coming up with a small selection of hashtags that can be used interchangeably based on the topic that you are talking about now to be very clear hold on to be very very clear i am definitely not saying to copy and paste the same hashtags no what i am recommending is to have small groups of hashtags that you could be interchanging depending on what you are posting so let's go in now one of the seven caption categories on the inside of social curator is encouragement it is an encouragement category great so encourage me caption category hashtags now who are we actually uh talking about well for example let's use a budget coach a financial coach budgeting coach and his ideal client is a 27 year old woman who loves to travel great now we know the business owner now we know who the business is targeting so a few hashtags according to the category and ideal client hashtag daily encouragement dream big dreams remember they're trying to get out of debt they want to travel they want to do things on a budget and then hashtag encouragement for the day now you might be saying what is a budgeting coach using encouragement for the day well according to the social curator caption category we know that this is proven for engagement so we're gonna have a certain section of interchangeable hashtags for us to use so that we work smarter not harder now in step three of our three-part strategy we're going to choose visual hashtags right visual hashtags are things that are in the post that somebody could see and then when it shows up on a feed it makes sense now remember we're still using the budgeting coach and his dream customer is a 27 year old woman who loves to travel but remember she's on a budget she wants to get out of debt so what we're looking at let's use this as an example let's say that the budgeting coach uses this photo please do not use the hashtag beach please do not use the hashtag send right we want to make sure that we're using hashtags that this dream customer may be searching for as she wants to plan a vacation so visual hashtags hashtag wanderlusters like this is wanderlust this is travel hashtag travel beach trip so what we're doing is we're using hashtags that visually make sense with this photo but then also would be something that the dream customer is looking for now we're going to get into step number four which is to choose content hashtags now this is based on what you're writing in your copy and in your caption and word to the wise for everybody who says people don't read like my short caption or my long captions i can't even be mean hold on let me try it again people don't even read my long captions who reads long captions on instagram people do people who want to spend money they'll read captions and your caption is the ability to set you apart from your competition because if in this example you are a budgeting coach and you want to teach people how to travel for less expensive guess what honey there's a hundred thousand other budgeting coaches out on the interwebs there's free content and people can book their own bang thing why are they going to pay you same thing if you're a photographer if you're a dog walker if you're a jewelry maker if you've got essential oils everybody can buy the same thing from somebody else so why would we choose you oh because the copy that you create helps us connect with you helps us choose you helps us pay more wait longer drive father and then become evangelist on top of it that's what good captions do that's what connecting with your audience does okay so now let's go back into choosing our content hashtags remember we're going back and we're working with the budgeting coach whose dream customer is a 27 year old woman who loves to travel so the content right what we're gonna write this social media post about is how to use a savings account to help you pay for your next vacation that's what we're talking about right so we're going to be working on this and then the content hashtags things that related to the thing that we wrote hashtag savings goals hashtag savings tips spend less okay so you're like jasmine these are all hashtags according to a photo of a picture that has wanderlusters and travel for cheap and saving tips and i'm a budgeting coach how does this all work together remember hashtags help you get discovered they don't guarantee engagement and they don't guarantee a sale so how then do you guarantee engagement and guarantee a sale well first let's recap the four-part hashtag strategy to ensure we're on the same page step number one do the work very few people do and that's to identify your ideal client y'all do this work please number two create caption categories and a set of hashtags for each category step number three to choose visual hashtags and step number four to choose content hashtags and the thing that's gonna be most important is to engage engaging on the hashtags that you use helps your account get discovered by people who are most likely your dream customer and the good news is if we've walked through this process and you're kind of like well jasmine i want to know how to build out my ideal client but i try and i get frustrated and then i can't even give my dream client a name i was actually talking to a business owner two days ago they're like jasmine i tried following this but i couldn't even get past like the first objective which is to give my dream customer a name and because i couldn't name my dream customer i just gave up you gave up because you couldn't come up with a name name this person x name this person apple just name this person anything to move forward with the process and the good news with all of this is that social curator builds content and resources to ensure that it's happening for you and with you in fact this particular month we are focusing on how to create a hashtag strategy for your business but guess what we can't help you create a hashtag strategy for your business if you don't know who you're selling to agamo hoops i got my attitude and i'm just speaking the truth if you're hearing this and you're like i'm offended if you're offended to take action and find your dream customer cheers okay so inside of issue 53 what you're going to find to ensure that you're actually getting the things to do the work and make it easier is a detailed action plan this coming action steps to help you create a hashtag strategy specific to your business you're gonna get step-by-step instructions on how to identify your ideal client you're gonna have example hashtag sets for product-based businesses and service-based businesses now remember we're using data and analytics and feedback from our current business owners to build out what we can do at scale amen and then we're going to get into the hot topics of faqs around hashtags what to do what not to do how not to waste your time okay so you are going to get all of that in addition to everything that comes with social curator every month these are lifestyle photos a gallery of over four thousand you're going to be getting customizable caption templates you know those seven caption categories that i talked about what would it look like to have caption templates that fall into those categories you'll have story templates and you're gonna have daily actions five minutes every day to help you market your business you're gonna know what to do how to do it pop in get the work done go out your business and continue to get sales if you like this style of conversation i call them a loving kick in the pants i do group coaching on the inside every single month i pop in for two live classes on the inside of social curator we have guest master classes we have accountability coaching calls and we also have caption writing classes for people who want to go deeper with learning how to write about their business i would love to see you all at socialcurator.com forward slash join what we're going to do is some live q and a so let's get this party started okay so uh tiffany rodriguez this is a this is great i always hashtag what is in the photo and not what i'm trying to reach ooh girl you're welcome this is the when people talk about jasmine how do i get discovered well we don't want to be discovered for what is exactly in the photo we want to be discovered for what we ultimately want to sell that's going to be the main difference as business owners using hashtags on social media okay so let's go into donna asked how else do you get discovered by new people besides hashtags well one of the foundational things that i believe that i practice and that what we teach on the inside of social curator is that engagement is the fastest way to discoverability period the end hashtags help you get discovered sure but engaging that's powerful because the you're not just getting discovered by the person who you left that comment on that account right you're not just getting discovered by that person you're getting discovered by that person who on that account and then other people who happen to see your account and be like hey who is this person like let me just check this person out you never know who you're going to connect with or what you're going to get on the back of doing really powerful research okay um what is the right number of hashtags to use for your post a bit ago instagram came out and said oh we recommend using five to seven hashtags this was instagram creators they listed that and then all of a sudden everybody got into a tizzy oh instagram says you shouldn't be doing 30 hashtags you should be doing this no they didn't say that instagram creators account mentioned that five to seven hashtags would be effective but i believe the reason why they said five to seven would be effective is because people were using 30 in effective hashtags people who are just like i just want to be discovered i just want to go i'm going to be hashtagging jlo beyonce and a-rod i just want to be in everybody's mix but if your post had nothing to do with what your hashtags were the search yielded terrible results so instagram's just like listen we want hashtags to actually be the thing that people are searching for so what we teach on the inside of social curator is we don't say always use 30 but we also say only use five we say have a strategy around the hashtags that pertain to your post so that when somebody goes to that hashtag number one they're following and getting engagement because they're speaking their language you're selling something powerful it makes sense why you're in that hashtag so uh one thing as a point of clarity is there was a point in time where people would say should i put the hashtags in my caption or should i put it in the comment and before it didn't matter but instagram has come out and stated that if you want that post to appear in a hashtag search the hashtags have to appear in the caption and not the comment okay so michelle roofer asked what's the best way to interact with hashtags how do you bring over to dm well michelle the best way to engage with hashtags is to build trust before somebody sends me a dm or before i send somebody a dm who i have no contact with or no connection if i happen to find that person on a hashtag the first thing i do is i like three of their photos and then i leave a comment or two on their posts that's what i do because by you liking and leaving a comment it's the equivalent of walking down the street and saying howdy neighbor that's what you're doing in fact this morning i followed somebody new and you want to know what i did i liked three photos and i left a comment why howdy neighbor i'm not going to follow somebody go into their dms and be like hey what's up what are you doing this weekend i could but for somebody who's a complete stranger that's like me going up to somebody's house hey neighbor i want to have a kickback you bring the white claw that's a little too much too soon right okay so i believe direct messages are powerful for sales and conversions but far before you get to that point in the conversation you have to build trust and i am telling you comments and liking build that trust you ask questions and then once this person is somewhat familiar with you taking it to dm now when you say well how long does it take for somebody to become somewhat familiar with me that's on you honey how many comments are you going to leave how consistent are you going to be how much value you are going to give the more you do that with more frequency dm it if it takes you two months or if it takes you two weeks it's on you what is wrong with me did i come in with an attitude do i need did i do it did i wake up on the wrong side of the bed i did i did and i'm okay with it i don't apologize for being me remember it's the internet you came here i didn't come to you okay so lisa asked um what about facebook and i think that she's asking about what about hashtags on facebook you know you could use hashtags on facebook i just they're they're just not as effective remotely as they are on instagram youtube pinterest twitter no those platforms were built for searchability facebook was built for connectivity and so just that small difference alone i just don't think they're all that effective i have tried searching on hashtags for facebook and it will yield results but the results are weird like they're old they're random they're part of like these like facebook groups that i probably would never join so you could use them i just don't i'm just not like the biggest proponent if you're gonna use a hashtag strategy i think you should use it according to a platform that really endorses uses and advocates for hashtag use um okay so um i just somebody had asked are there platforms that you shouldn't be using hashtags on and i kind of just asked that right now so uh simone says is it effective to use hashtags on stories you can absolutely use hashtags on stories but before we dive into like the actual workings of that always remember that stories disappear in 24 hours so while you could use that hashtag the only time you can get discovered from that hashtag is in the 24 hours but here's the thing that you also have to you also have to like think about in function is if you're using a hashtag in stories that if i were viewing your story and i clicked on that hashtag i would be taken to the hashtag feed so i would be seeing other people's post using that hashtag but i wouldn't see other stories in order for me to see other stories using that hashtag i would have to click on your hashtag go over to the hashtag feed then i would have to click in the upper left hand corner to go to the stories for that hashtag now remember only 24 hours i could be discovered in the stories of that so you can and they're effective but they're just not half as effective as using a hashtag in the caption that pertains to the photo the content and what you sell in a post that lives on your feed okay so there's a couple other things that were coming up but um oh tiffany rodriguez asked is it true that you should have more followers than the amount that follow you no no whoever told you that unfollow them like i really mean that like i really like just i'm your homegirl you could follow 10 000 people and have 10 people follow you this doesn't matter you want to know what matters all right okay hold on hold on i'm gonna pin my hair back because i'm getting hot and bothered all right here we go see you know you know you found when you could peel your head back without without a rubber band i was like i command you to send back want to know what matters if you follow 10 000 people and you have a hundred people follow you if you have ten people who like or comment on your post with a hundred followers it is better than somebody who has 10 000 followers and has 10 people like and comment the number of people you follow has no jurisdiction and no diction around what it is you do your objective is to serve the hundred people that are on your account that's it you wake up every day and do not ask how do i get the next hundred or the next hundred thousand you wake up every single day and you say there's a hundred people who are here and they care about what i have to say serve the one hundred help serve the one because before you get to a hundred you have to have one and the way that you get from one to one hundred is to care about the one and then you cover the two and then you come up with the four and you care about the eight you will never speak to a hundred thousand people if you are not above speaking to the one or the one hundred so anybody who tells you that you should have more followers than you follow is dang trippin they're feeding their ego they care about vanity metrics and they're so concerned about what other people think do you think that i would be offended or feel less than if i followed a million people on instagram and only had 10 people following me heck no who i consume and what i watch has nothing to do with how i'm going to be successful as a business owner or how i serve please honey i'm not that happy now ladies and gentlemen hold on let me go back see that was like shoe jasmine pull back her hair jasmine star is back and we're here to talk about social media tips listen i'll deal it to you straight every single day and twice on sunday i go live because i freaking care about people i share free content because i freaking care about people i want the small person to win that's just it and the small people often are the people who follow more than they have followers and you know what i'm here to serve you i would love to do group coaching with you on the inside of social curator let's connect continue the conversations if the answer for you is right now is you're watching you're saying nope not gonna i'm not gonna follow her i'm not gonna join this thing guess what good news i don't hear it as no i hear it as not right now my job is to smother you in good content to build relationships and trust and if not today if not tomorrow might be next week or next year or four years from now guess what i'll still be here baby boo i'll still be here serving well and doing the best i can i hope you have a beautiful day friends take care bye y'all
2021-11-07 13:48
