So I’ve been a pretty regular Twitter user since the Fall of 2007. The only reason I know that is because Twitter puts the “Using since…” text right on the page when you open it. So that’s a pretty long time and over the years I’ve learned a few things.
And one thing I learned actually took me until the last year or so to realize.
Hashtags are a great way to increase engagement on Twitter.
I’m talking about favorites, retweets, follows and clicks.
All of those things are good on Twitter or really on any social network. And they all kind of help each other. You want followers and retweets can help with that. You want retweets, but you need people to follow you so they see what you’re sharing.
And favorites help give a little social proof to your content. If they see that a few people favorited what you share they’ll be more likely to pay attention.
Now, without hashtags your followers will see your content. Well, a certain percentage of followers will.
With hashtags, your followers will see your content and people following the hashtags you use will see it as well. I would now say that the majority of the engagement I get from Twitter (and whatever network you use) comes as a result of hashtags.
So what I’ve done is do some digging. I’ve looked into the hashtags I should be using when I’m sharing content and I looked at the ones that B2B Businesses should be using.
You might have a few industry hashtags that work better, but I think you’ll find success if you use these hashtags when you’re sharing content on social media.
Note: I used Hashtags.org to find some information and then used Twitter Search to see how often people were using specific hashtags to research this post.
1. #Leadership
Business leaders and especially those that want to grow as individuals and for their business will follow this hashtag for input on how they can improve. One trait business leaders seem to share is that they’re always looking for ways to improve. And they look to other leaders to see what should be done.
You’ll find all kinds of content with this hashtag on everything a business owner, manager or leader would want to find. Things like how to hire, how to lead a project team and everything in between.
2. #Management
This hashtag is a little smaller than others on this list, but I think it’s an important one. When you’re selling to other businesses you’re often selling to the owners or the top managers. These people are often looking for information on how to run their business. They’re looking for high-level information and that’s the kind of content you find shared on this hashtag.
You can share and re-share content that has to do with this that others have published. Or you could publish your own content and help with the issues business leaders have. Use this hashtag and your engagement will increase.
3. #Business
This one is obvious. The people sharing content here and the people following this hashtags are usually involved in business somehow. You’ll find managers, founders, CEOs and other business people following this one for tips about how to make their businesses and themselves better.
Provide those tips and that information and you’ll get engagement when you use this hashtag.
4. #Marketing
This is a big hashtag. It gets several thousand shares or tweets each other throughout the day. I would say that just about all people in business especially the owners, salespeople and obviously those in marketing are looking for ways to get more customers. So they follow this hashtag to find that information. Even if you don’t sell something marketing-related to you can create content or even share content that will help your target audience.
By doing so you’ll earn their trust as a respected source on social media and that leads to more engagement (followers, clicks, etc.).
5. #Entrepreneur
If you’re targeting more small businesses than the #entrepreneur hashtag is a good one. Entrepreneurs and even budding entrepreneurs will follow this hashtag to find information on how to improve what they’re doing.
And believe it or not, this hashtag without the “s” is more popular than the one with the “s”. People think of themselves as individuals so I guess that makes sense. So use the singular version.
6. #Startup
Like the previous one, the singular version of this is definitely more commonly used than the plural version. Use this if you sell to small business and to new businesses. There are a lot of startups in all kinds of industries, but especially the #tech industries. The #startup hashtag is often used in correlation with the #entrepreneur hashtag.
7. #SmallBiz
If you sell to small businesses or anyone that might consider themselves part of a #smallbiz then this is a good hashtag to use. It’s pretty close to the same traffic or following as #smallbusiness, but this one edges it out by just a little bit.
8. #Success
Like #leadership, the #success hashtag is for those business leaders looking for ways to improve. That’s a common trait among these people and if you’re looking to attract them to your social account you’ll share information you find or create that can help them to succeed in their lives and in their businesses.
9. #Innovation
There’s a couple reasons to use this tag. It’s fairly popular with a few hundred tweets per hour. That’s a good number where your tweets won’t get lost in the shuffle, but there is enough traffic to suggest that people will follow this hashtag.
And it’s also a hashtag that plays into the curiosity of people. Those looking for innovative breakthroughs will follow this hashtag.
And there are quite a few posts related to business, which leads me to believe it’s good for B2Bs. Businesses are always doing innovative things and you can share your own innovations or innovations you find interesting.
10. #Inspiration
This is more general and very popular. People of all walks of life will follow it, but a good number of people in business follow this one so you’ll attract the right kind of person to what you’re sharing.
When using this hashtag you want to share things that inspire people. That’s obvious. Share favorite quotes, inspiring images and photos and even your own stories of inspiration. That can all connect with people and lead to more engagement with your tweets.
Hashtag List
- #Leadership
- #Management
- #Business
- #Marketing
- #Entrepreneur
- #Startup
- #SmallBiz
- #Success
- #Innovation
- #Inspiration
Final Thoughts
A few last tips on using hashtags. I tend to use about 1-3 per tweet or update. That seems to be a good reasonable use that people won’t see as spam. I use them at the end of the update, but also sometimes in the middle of an update.
For example, when I share this post I might tweet The 10 Best Hashtags For B2B Businesses #SmallBusiness #SaaS #Startups or I might use The 10 Best Hashtags For #B2B #Businesses.
So stick with these as a start and you should see almost immediate more engagement on your social media updates.