The word hashtag has been incorporated in modern vocabulary to pertain to a particular social media function.

Mostly associated with Twitter and Facebook, hashtags are effective for increasing the viral potential of simple declarations in as little as 140 characters. It would therefore be right for B2B marketers to use this function as a means to promote their products and services. But on a different note, hashtags can also be leveraged as lead generation tools catered towards events marketing.

Many businesses now consider holding events because of the immense business opportunities they can gain. Hence, every effort has to be exhausted in order to attract as many attendees as one’s budget permits. Along with telemarketing, social media promotion can be an essential factor for driving awareness and inviting the right kind of people to an event using hashtags.

Little do most marketers know that hashtags are subject under certain rules, a failure to follow which will result can result in lower invite confirmations.

Keep them short and clear. What’s the common thing that binds effective Twitter or Instagram hashtags? For one, they are short and clear in a way that instantly catches one’s attention. Simple things like the tagline of your event can be used to draw interest towards your event.

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Make personalities stand out. If you have an important influencer to be one of your participants, you can use his or her name in your hashtags. Familiar names in your respective industry have a following of their own. Having them in your event also means drawing in people from their own networks.

Highlight the topics. What specific topics is the event mainly focused on? Whether you are going to lead a social media conference or a seminar on lead generation, you will need to post hashtags that reveal in advance what your event is going to tackle.

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Use your brand name. This is perhaps the most basic rule to follow and yet the most important. According to certain studies, online users react effectively to brands that exhibit confident social media presence.

Most important of all, use them sparingly. We all know that one friend who gives away hashtags like they were promotional flyers. Social media experts will perhaps point out he or she perceives it the wrong way, as though hashtagging was just another fad exclusive only to “tech-savvy” cool kids. It goes beyond that, really. Effective use of hashtags for scouting attendees provides a tremendous boost to one’s events marketing efforts.

More of events promotion and marketing tips from Suzzane Evans.