Tag: hashtags

What is right and what is wrong when using #hashtags for a cake business?

A good group of #hashtags at the end of an image can make a big difference, to both bring more traffic into your account and adding more followers to your profiles and brand

As I said before, the order should be something like this, however, it is not a science, it can be flexible to your audience and your intentions.

We can play with the content of the #hashtags just like this:

Niche: #food #desserts #cakes

Theme: #cakedesign

Brand: #theartcakeexperience

Place: #cristina_theartcakeexperience /here I prefer to use my profile account than my location in order for people to follow me more easily, however, the profile of your account should include your location but that can be a topic for another post on how to use your profile Bio to grow your business.

 

Ideas and “Trends”:

There are many #hashtags that we can use and follow easily that will help us get in the game of social media marketing. I would like to share with you some simple ideas that can help you organize your social media posts.

However, another thing I learn about it is that there are platforms and apps that can help you do that, schedule your posts, tell you what works better in terms of #hashtags, recommends which ones to use and also what time is better to post according to your target audience.

These apps run statistics and really make your life easier. I use Tailwind and Planoly which are very good and easy to use, also Later is a great one. But there are many in the market that can really help you organize your posts.

We can use simple trend #hashtags to get our publications out there, for example:

Days of the week: #mondayfunday #transformationtuesday #wisdomwednesday #throwbackthursday #foodfriday #socialsaturday #selfiesunday

There are many ideas, don´t stop exploring and using your favorite social media platforms and don´t forget to use this to your advantage and to grow your business. But if you want a small piece of advice, don´t get too caught up in this game, it can take a lot of your time and can be very competitive and demanding, so I don´t want to add more things to your cake design business to-do list, I just want to help you get out there and show your wonderful work!

I loved writing these posts for you and I really hope you liked them too.

If you did, don´t forget to like, comment, share and subscribe!

Lots of love,

Cristina

 

 

 

 

So, let´s keep talking about #hashatgs

How to write a good (#) hashtag.

It must be memorable, unique and relevant to the post or the image. It should be easy to memorize and not too long so followers will not lose time trying to figure out what we are saying.

Good Hashtags!    #caketopper  #cakedesign  #cakesforher

however, over this last year, I have realized that more specific hashtags even if they are too specific can have a better impact. Let me explain why…

A very trendy hashtag can have millions of followers, so if your business is new and not too famous, it will take a longer time for new followers to find, that is because your post will be lost amongst millions of other posts.

Usually, good hashtags, trendy enough, with an average of followers can be a better option for new audiences to find your product.

For example: 

#caketoppers can have 424,070 publications

but

#harrypottercaketopper 589 publications

That means that if you use the second option for your publication, your post will be placed between 589 posts and will be easily found instead of being among a sea of almost half a million posts.

Now, not so good ones:

#caketoppersforlittlekidswholikebatman #cakedesignnewtrendsofthisyear #cakesthatshewouldliketoeat

Why?… too long, too difficult to read and not enough followers for you to lose time using them.

Before using a #hashatgs, make sure to know what the words mean and if together the words won’t have a different connotation, that way we prevent ourselves from sending the wrong message.

Just imagine this:

#mywormcake followed by an image of a good looking woman in the kitchen taking a cake out of the oven… that can be miss understood and could lead to unwanted comments.

However, imagine a steamy cake fresh out of the oven, a close-up picture followed by the #freshbakedcake better right?. We avoided the word “my” and give it a less personal connotation also all the words are easy to follow and without any different meaning.

To give you an example of my own experience, let me share with you this post from my Instagram account that had a big impact due to the use of #hashtags.

#beautyandthebeast  / First the theme of the cake  without talking about cakes to attract an audience interested in Beauty and the Beast and not just cake design

 #cakedesign/ #bolosdecorados( Usually I make my hashtags in two different languages because I live in Portugal but want a more international audience)/ Now is the niche, the specific group of people your post is intended for. In this case are cake designers or people interested in it.

#beautyandthebeastcake / #beautyandthebeastcaketoppers / even more specific to the post and the theme

#theartcakeexperience #cristina_theartcakeexperience #theartcakeschool/ finally my brand and my Instagram account so people will easily follow me.

Next time I´ll talk about what to do and what not to do when using a #hasgtag

If you liked this post, don´t forget to like, comment, share and subscribe!

See you later…

Love,

Cristina

 

#arehashtagsreallyinportantquestionmark

Did you see that? It looks more like a tongue-twister than a #hashtag

But it got your attention, right?

Apparently, we are nothing in social media without a #hashtag, but do they really work? are they good for all social media platforms? is it worth the trouble?

I have to say that since last year I´ve been quite active on social media in order to promote my online teaching business and cake decorating business, even my personal brand. And I also have to say that I´ve learned a lot since last I wrote a post about hashtags and social media. Not because I became a master in everything that there is to know, more of a try and fail kind of situation, and be aware that by the time I finish this post, the algorithm in social platforms have changed and #hashtags too!

I found out two good things: what really work for me and what gives me less work to do.

I have a lot of information to give you, so I will divide this post into several parts.

Now, going back to the # hashtags, believe me when I say they are a big help, and I can recognize the advantages of their use, but like many or some of you, I didn´t even know what they were until last year.

So, If you are any like me, here I have for you a little crash course, a simple 101 on how to use #hashtags to your advantage for your cake business.

What is a #hashtag?

It is a tool that allows us to identify and easily follow a product, place, event or personality as well as promotions and trends. Consists of using the hashtag symbol of our keyboard (#) followed by a word or words that refer to what we want to identify and they are always in lower case and without space between the words.

For business it is a great and useful tool, it helps to showcase our product, be followed or even discovered by users around the world.

What social media platforms use #hashtags?

At least the main ones, Twiter, Facebook, and Instagram are the most common ones. But also Pinterest and more Social Media platforms use them. I confess that I´m not a big Twitter user, I prefer Facebook and Instagram because they work for my business and my target audience, but that can be a different case for you. Pinterest can be a great platform for cake decorators and cake designers, but to really take advantage of it,  it should be used in a very specific way and that is for another post.
For Facebook, even though some people use the hashtags (#) I don´t recommend it. It is proven that the posts with hashtags in FB have no difference in their success. FB posts rely on images, that is what truly makes the difference, so don´t bother wasting time creating hashtags for FB, remember we as cake decorators are always short on time so we won´t want to waste it.

Now, Instagram in the other hand is the home of the hashtags. It is a must to use them!

I have seen the number of my followers grow with the use of hashtags.  The number of interactions; meaning the likes and comments, have to do not only with the use of hashtags but with the quantity, quality of the hashtags and frequency of the posts.
Instagram allows you to use a large number of hashtags, and it is proven that posts with more than 10 hashtags work even better than others with less. We can even follow hashtags instead of a person or a profile.

Now, I don´t want to bore you with a long post, so I´ll ask you to just think about what social media platform really works for you and you are willing to commit to. Then in my next post, I´ll show you how to write a good hashtag and how to use it.

If you liked this post, please comment, like, share and subscribe.

See you next time

love,

Cristina