Have you mastered the art of “hashtags” in your social media posts?
A hashtag is a word or phrase preceded by the “#” symbol, such as #pharmacy or #health. Hashtags make it easier for online users to discover similar content. And, hashtags help people engage with others based on a common subject or shared interest.
Hashtags aren’t just for fun; they have a practical use for businesses as well. You can use hashtags to expand the reach of your social media content, which can help bring foot traffic to your pharmacy.
Before you tweet on Twitter or share a post on Facebook, it’s important to first learn how to use hashtags correctly. Here are some tips to help you out.
Create hashtags
Spread awareness for your pharmacy with popular and relevant hashtags.
For example, promote flu shots at your pharmacy with a tweet like, “Stay healthy during the holidays. Get your #flushot today. #seattle”
If you’re using a hashtag to spread the word about a promotion or event, be sure to type out the hashtag in all your social media posts, so that your followers will remember. For example, “Get your free blood pressure screening this week! #hearthealthatTomsPharmacy”
Make your hashtags relevant
Use relevant keywords to help get your posts noticed and gain more followers—and potential patients.
For example, you could tweet, “We offer free, same day prescription delivery to the entire #denver area! #prescriptiondelivery #denverCO #independentpharmacy”
In this example, “denver”, “prescriptiondelivery”, “#denverCO” and “#independentpharmacy” function as keywords.
Hashtags related to your business can help you better focus your own posts. You can learn how to create content that will help you get more favorites, gain more followers and get more patients to your pharmacy.
Use it on multiple social media accounts
Although Twitter can take credit for popularizing the hashtag, other social media platforms now support hashtags. So, don’t forget to use key phrases when you post content on your pharmacy’s Facebook page, too.
Attend or host a Twitter chat
Twitter chats are live events on Twitter where a single hashtag is used at a predetermined time.
If you have some extra time during the day, sit down at your computer and follow a Twitter chat. You can learn from industry influencers and even state your own opinion.
Or, if you’d like to create buzz for your pharmacy, host your own Twitter chat. You could focus on an informative topic for patients, like #stayinghealthyinwinter. Or, keep it generic and let patients ask questions. Use a hashtag like #pharmacytalk.
Join the discussion
Follow what’s trending on social media and join the discussion, if it relates to your pharmacy business.
Providing your input on health topics, such as the importance of getting your flu shot, can help garner attention for your business when others (possibly potential patients) notice your expert advice.
Stay in the know
With all the patients you see, and all the work you do to manage an independent community pharmacy, time may not be on your side.
Hashtags make it easy to keep up with the latest pharmacy news and what’s trending in the industry. Check out #pharmacy, #communitypharmacy and #independentpharmacy.
Use them carefully
A hashtag has the power to both enhance and ruin the content that you post.
#Peppering #your #posts #with #too #many #hashtags #gets #obnoxious. So, use your hashtags sparingly and limit them to two or three per tweet.
Remember to make hashtags short and sweet. Twitter has a character limit, and hashtags that are too long may take up too much space. Also, longer hashtags make it easier for spelling errors to take place.
Finally, don’t break your hashtag with symbols like “&.” Hashtags can only include letters and numbers to work properly.
Use these tips to take your pharmacy’s social media up another notch.
