Despite the acquisition of hashtag-loving Instagram back in 2012, Facebook has never been on the forefront relative to hashtags. Some recent developments, however, may indicate that Facebook is changing their tune. In fact, there’s evidence that Facebook is actually encouraging the use of hashtags to increase organic reach.
Facebook’s algorithm shifts in recent years have severely reduced organic reach for businesses, frustrating Page owners. Businesses pining for ways to increase their organic Page reach may be encouraged by the notion that a simple action like using hashtags will improve organic reach. Even if it’s just a whisper so far, the news is a welcome shift.
In a post earlier this month, social media expert Mari Smith notes several revealing changes noted during creation of status update posts. She cautions, however, that Facebook has not made any official announcements.
Hashtag basics and background
Hashtags, popularized on Twitter and Instagram, help users find and categorize information around a particular topic. Hashtags attach the # symbol to the beginning of a word or phrase, such as #easyrecipe or #livemusic, enabling users to identify and participate in conversations within a larger community.
Clicking a hashtag in a social platform will bring up content from other personal profiles or business pages that included the same hashtag.
Hashtag history on Twitter and Facebook
Back in the early days of hashtags, Twitter was the primary hashtag-using social network, with users focused on engaging in public dialogue. As a result, most posts on Twitter were publicly viewable (except direct messages or posts by those with private profiles).
Facebook’s evolution — initially and primarily as a personal social platform — took a different path, with most content viewable only by friends. Facebook noted that the introduction of hashtags was “the first step” to help people participate in public conversations.
An interview with a Facebook product manager published in the Washington Post at the time said “posts that have been hashtagged … follow the same sharing and privacy rules as normal posts.”
Privacy evolution and hashtags
Since the initial introduction of hashtags, online privacy has become a hot-button topic. Social networks, including Facebook, responded to user concerns and improved control over the privacy of posts. Facebook offers detailed privacy settings procedures for personal and Page posts.
While you may prefer to limit exposure of your personal posts to your friends (or a specific subset thereof), generally if you’re posting as your business, the goal is to maximize visibility. To ensure that your Page post reach is maximized, verify your privacy settings. When using the scheduling tool within Facebook, note the privacy column and ensure your posts are set to Public.
Hashtags can increase visibility of your Page posts by exposing them to a new and larger audience. Identify the optimal hashtags by simply typing # followed by your search term in the Facebook search box. Facebook will auto-suggest a list of related hashtags. Use the filters on the left navigation to filter results for recency, location, by group, page and more to identify the optimal hashtags for your post.
You’re a wealth of interesting information and I always learn so much from your posts, Nancy.
Glad to hear that the posts are useful. Thank you for the encouragement, Jacqueline!