November 30, 2023
#Hashtags seem almost more important than the content itself, and yet oh so annoying for those of us more concerned about legit content than mastering a word or phrase preceded by a symbol ‘#’. But yeah, I get it, if I’m doing #outreach and I want to connect with people, I don’t know, #investors and like-minded people in #filmmaking and #entrepreneurialism, the hashtag is sold and marketed as the greatest silent marketing tool ever! Here is a handy article I found explaining what hashtags are and how we might use them: https://www.liveabout.com/what-does-hashtag-mean-and-how-do-you-use-one-892814 But how to use it properly, is of course, a bit of a debate even with cool articles about them, sure there are additional #youtube videos and written #tutorials, but none, it seems is a #magiclantern shedding light on the actual most effective way to use the almighty #hashtag. Take, for instance, that I am writing this piece and the previous 4 pieces to purge my #monkeymind and share my own #entrepreneurial experiences. It is also an experiment in boosting my presence on a platform such as #LinkedIn, as I had been encouraged by career counselor types: more about that later. One would think accessing LinkedIn’s #HowTo and staff advice would garner a tutorial or advice to maximize hashtags on LinkedIn, but also offer LinkedIn itself some badass marketing prowess. What I discovered is that even LinkedIn is befuddled. Owned by #Microsoft, with over 21,000 dedicated employees, an estimated revenue of #$13.8 billion, and #774Millionmembers, if they are not nailing it, how can I? Here is a snippet of the response from LinkedIn’s support consultant: “I would like to provide you with information regarding the use of hashtags within LinkedIn articles. We are currently in the process of testing how hashtags are generated within a draft post, which means they will no longer appear as typeahead suggestions during the article creation process. However, I want to emphasize that this change does not imply that the use of hashtags is deprecated on our platform. You are still encouraged to use hashtags to maximize the visibility of your articles and engage with a broader audience.”
Uh What?
What I have concluded, though, is that this is all a bit of an #experiment, just like life, I reckon. Try this, try that, stay within the general understanding of the game at hand, and figure out the #maze. So excuse me while I litter this and future articles with #hashtags to test the waters and try to understand the process…Additionally, and I think I am not alone here, how is it that some folks seem to just nail this process and some, no matter what, can’t get off the tarmac? Ok, that was a random, continuous Monkey Mind thought. Lastly, as #entrepreneurs we need to constantly branch out, to share, to express, to market ourselves, our product, with the greatest hope of soliciting curiosity from a random source.
Oh, regarding that career counseling advice, regarding LinkedIn: during this current strike(s), I sought the counsel of career advisors because, let’s face it, it was offered to me. I sat through a few seminars, hoping to glean a concept, idea, or strategy that escaped me. I did learn a few things… and I even scheduled some one-on-one sessions. Both seminars and one-on-ones were very LinkedIn-centric; they leaned heavily into the platform and encouraged us all to be super savvy with it. I must admit I was dubious, since I had not gained any real value out of LinkedIn in years, but I remained hopeful. So basically, here I am, willing to dive deep and see what happens. I figure if nothing else, if I continue to write one piece each week, I have added a new discipline into my endeavors, that is both proactive and constructive, and that has some positive rewards in itself.
I was also encouraged by LinkedIn that just adding #hashtags at the end may also help. As I ponder that, I really have no idea what works, but I’m trying. #filmmaking, #entrepreneurialism, #youtube, #tutorials, #magiclantern, #monkeymind, #entrepreneurial, #LinkedIn, #Howto, #microsoft, #$13.8 billion, #774MillionMembers, #maze