Today, it’s not enough to create compelling content! In addition to knowing how to create content marketing articles, blog posts, books, premiums, and white papers, you also have to know how to efficiently use social media to promote your content and search out new prospects.
A #Hashtag Tracker, like the Mindjet mind map I’ve created for my clients and my own use, can be the starting point for making more effective use of your social media, and help you leverage social media for enhanced content marketing success.
Addressing the Potential of #Hashtags
My social media #Hashtag Tracker helps you in two important ways:
- Research. By providing shortcuts to prospects interested in topics relevant to your field, you’ll be better able to monitor current conversations and track the influencers in your field. Instead of trying to monitoring a deluge of Twitter tweets covering all topics, you can focus on topics most important to you.
- Targeting. Likewise, the #Hashtag Tracker will save you time targeting your contributions to those interested in specific topics, like #mindmapping, #smallbiz, #infographics, or #proposaltips. This is like replacing a shotgun with a rifle, helping you build consistent visibility to your most important prospects.
Learning From the #Hashtag Tracker
My Mindjet #Hashtag Tracker mind map is example that you can easily modify or recreate to suit your own requirements. Of course, the specific topics that interest me as a author, copywriter, and content marketer, will not necessarily be relevant to you. I encourage you to notice, however, how easy it is to scan the mind map and see the different topics, subtopics, and sub-subtopics.
To get an idea of how it works, simply click some of the Twitter icons at random. These take you to a filtered view of the latest Tweets in the desired topic, subtopic, or niche. This provides an entirely different Twitter experience than trying to monitor an unfiltered, constantly updated Twitter feed.
Putting the #Hashtag Tracker to Work
If you’ve already downloaded my Content Dashboard mind map that I described in a previous post, I encourage you to download the #Hashtag Tracker and link it to the Resources topic.
Then, I encourage you to either delete my sample topics, i.e., Authors, Writing orContent Marketing, or edit the topic titles and links as appropriate. Then, dig deeperand update the subtopics and sub-subtopics.
To update your map:
- Enter the #Hashtag names relevant to you. The best way to do this is to note the #hashtags found in tweets posted by others.
- To locate the URL associated with a #hashtag, click the #hashtag. Its URL will appear in your browser. You can also use Twitter’s Search feature to locate a #hashtag’s URL.Select and Copy the URL.
- Use Mindjet’s Create Link tool, or the Windows shortcut, CTRL+K, and Paste the URL as a link.
Tips for Making the Most of Your #Hashtag Tracker
Here are some tips for working with your Mindjet mind map:
- Sorting. Always sort topics after adding new subtopics. This makes it easy for you to quickly locate desired #hashtags.
- Show Branch Only. Use this Mindjet feature to display just the topic or subtopic you’re working on.
- Be selective. When considering adding a #hashtag to your mind map, do some preliminary research. You can get an idea of the importance of various #hashtags by evaluating the quality and quantity of the tweets, the absence or presence of known experts in the field, and how frequently new tweets are added. Beware of #hashtags that haven’t been updated in the last day or two.
- Tags. Tags offer an unobtrusive way to categorize and access #hashtags, taking your #Hashtag Tracker to new levels of functionality. For example, you can use A, B, or C tags to rate the importance of the #hashtags or the presence of top names in the field. Later, you can use Mindjet’s Filter capability to display only the most important #hashtags in each category.
- Keyboard shortcut. When copying and pasting from my Windows mind map, instead of highlighting the #hashtag, I use F2 to select the text, then the CTRL+Cfeature to Copy the text into memory, followed by CTRL+V to Paste the text into my tweet.
When working with multiple maps, I always add a link from the center topic back to my Content Dashboard. This saves time as I move from task to task. And, I always place all of my linked maps in a single folder where they can be automatically backed-up online.
Transferable Skills and Building for the Future
Best of all, once you master using the #Hashtag Tracker for Twitter, you’ll find the same basic ideas can be used for other social media platforms, such as Facebook, LinkedIn, and Pinterest.
Indeed, by creatively experimenting with Mindjet’s Notes, Tags, and Filters, you can probably use a single mind map to selectively display #hashtags for all of your social media. If you do, please share your experiences in the comments.