The hashtag #ohiotravel can be a valuable tool in marketing your destination on Twitter.
If you are a regular Twitter user, you may already be familiar with hashtags. If you are new to Twitter, you’ve probably seen them but may have no idea what they are. Put simply, a hashtag is a word preceded by “#” used in your Tweets as a means of categorizing your messages.
The marketing aspect comes into play in that Twitter users can, and often do, search Tweets by commonly used hashtags. A user may search for #travel when looking for information on great travel deals – sometimes exclusively for Twitter users – or interesting destinations. Think of it sort of like search engine marketing, but with a twist.
As a community working together to promote a cause or event, such as Ohio tourism, common hashtags can be used very effectively. By including the tag in all relevant Tweets, you increase exposure to a wider audience for all participants. By everyone including #ohiotravel in their Tweets, we are able to create a common hashtag. Together, we harness the collective power of our industry to promote Ohio as a travel destination.
And finally, a word of caution: As always with social media, be careful not to become more of a blatant marketer than a participant. Including a few useful hashtags will get you noticed; making every word in your message a hashtag will get you labeled a spammer. Nobody likes a spammer, and the reputation can spread like wildfire.
For more information on hashtags, check out the Web 2.0 blog here.
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