If you’re new to social media, it can no doubt be pretty daunting… What does a hashtag do and why did someone retweet me? What does it all mean? If you’re one of those people, relax. It’s not as complicated as you might think, and there are all sorts of great resources available online to help you – like this blog post!
I have taken three common social media terms and demystified them. Here goes…
Hashtag – Let’s start with one of the most commonly perplexing items to social media beginners… The hashtag (#). Hashtags originated on Twitter, but have since been adopted by Instagram, Google+ and even Facebook. Somewhat like a keyword, they are used to show that a particular post is relevant to a certain topic (note: they are sometimes used ironically too). For instance, if I was going to tweet the link to this article, I might use #SocialMedia #SocialMediaTips etc. As you can see from my hashtags, the # goes before the term, and tags must be all one word.
So why would you use a hashtag? For the most part, you use a hashtag to help people find your post or to explain what it is connected or relevant too. Hashtags are searchable on Twitter (and many other social platforms), so using a hashtag allows people to search out your tweet. For instance, if someone is looking for social media tips on Twitter, my hashtag may help them find my post.
Selfie – You may not know what a selfie is, but you’ve almost certainly seen one! Did you see Ellen DeGeneres’ famous photo from the Oscars recently? Well, that was a selfie! A selfie is essentially a self-portrait taken with a camera or, more typically, a cell phone.
Retweet – A retweet can only occur on Twitter. Let’s say you found the tweet about this article that I mentioned earlier and you like the tweet and the content, so you want to share it with your followers. You can do so by hitting retweet (unless the user has a private account). If someone has retweeted you, they have shared your post with their followers.
Well there you go, there are three common social media terms broken down for you. Obviously, there’s waaaay more to it, and many more terms out there though. The best thing you can do is keep researching and reading articles like this, talk to friends/family members who use social media and start using it yourself. You’ll pick up the lingo in no time!
If you have any questions about your social media marketing or your company’s social media marketing plan, please contact us.
