What is a hashtag?

Hashtags started with a web site located at Hashtags.org. They are a simple, shorthand way of tagging a tweet with a common keyword to find it later on a search page. Originally, you could only see all of the people using your hashtag by visiting the Hashtags website. That didn’t last long! Hashtags were soon integrated into Summize, and later into Search.Twitter after it absorbed Summize as well. I am told my many that the Hashtags web site is also still functioning, though I tend to only see 404 errors when I visit it.

Who can use a hashtag?

Anyone can use a hashtag. Twitter users generate their own hashtags, putting them at the end of a tweet to track a topic easily. It’s helpful to take a quick glance at your desired hashtag on Search.Twitter before choosing it, as you never know how many other people may have come up with the same brilliant idea. For example, one of the more popular hashtags is #wishlist, used for everything from asking for software features to actual presents – this reduces it’s usefulness somewhat as the search page for it shows such a wide variety of disjointed information.

How do you get a hashtag started?

This is a little more tricky. One of the more useful uses for a hashtag is to track live tweets from a conference or event. Often several large egos or a simple case of impatience in waiting for the “official” hashtag may get in the way, causing multiple hashtags. In most cases hashtags are very DIY, but in the case of events and conferences it is best to hold your hat a while and let the conference planner or the MC for the day choose the hashtag. That avoids confusion for people not in attendance trying to follow along.

If you are not live tweeting a conference, but instead just want to track a topic, starting as hashtag is easy. Just take a quick glance at Search.Twitter to see who may be using it, modify it accordingly, then start putting it at the end of posts you make relevant to that topic. I did that this weekend when I was having a little fun playing with Blip.fm and cover songs by using #coversonglove, and several people picked up the hashtag and played along with me.

What are some benefits to using hashtags?

The biggest benefit to the hashtag is keeping track of a topic in real time. Hashtags helped Andy Carvin spearhead hurricane relief for the victims of Gustav, then Ike last year in tandem with Ning and Twitter, getting people the help they needed quickly. Whether you need to track a national initiative or just who is talking about your breakfast meeting (we used #SMBNH to track our breakfast meeting last week), a hashtag is a quick and simple way to do that.

Another benefit is seeing a topic trend in real time. Today I watched #skittles trending to number one and staying there for quite some time as the people on Twitter noticed, then commented on, Skittles jarring new home page. It’s an excellent way to keep your finger on the pulse of something that has caught the internet’s attention, however briefly.

Can you use hashtags on other sites?

Yes, you can use them on other sites then search for them on Google or within the site in question, like Flickr, the same way you would search for them on Search.Twitter. The results are not quite as focused and dramatic, but it is an effective way to tag blog posts, photos and videos related to an event or topic.

Update 3/5: Allow me to call your attention to Alex Howard’s post on IT Knowledge Exchange today (3/5) on using hashtags for #compliance information

I love this. Not only does it add value for the people who hire us, it adds value for us here at Uptown Uncorked. The more talented people we bring together, the more we learn and grow ourselves. This is nothing new – Chris Brogan has been talking about pirate ships and collaboration for months, Laura Fitton just started a collaboration with SHIFT in addition to the collaboration she was already embarked on with myself and Michael Gruen to write Twitter for Dummies, and I see more and more people making connections for shared work on social networking tools like Twitter.

Why am I so excited about the idea, beyond the potential for learning and increased quality? Because I think this is the first positive fallout from the wobbly economy. Great stress provides a platform for great change. I am loving seeing the concept of competition turn into an overall seed for increased collaboration and consensus. I can’t wait to see how this sea change affects us on and off line as a whole community in 2009.

Do you think collaborative economy is as exciting a concept as I do? Do you think it will be the mechanism for pulling the economy back together over time? Can it work on its own, or is it missing something that would push it over the top and make it even better? My strengths are in writing, business development and social media and not complex national economics, so I’d love to hear your input in the comments.

In order to truly tap the new possibilities that the social web offers for your business, you need to turn the way you think of ROI on its head. In the past, ROI has been a direct effort-to-money correlation. Marketers and companies could predict how many real and direct dollars would result from a certain off line ad campaign based on known factors like seasonal shopping habits, location, target markets and more.

The New Capitol

What sets ROI in a social media environment apart is the change in capitol. Where old ROI used to be direct money returned on invested time or budget, the new ROI is not money. The new capitol for any business is human capitol. Human capitol is abundant on both the enterprise side of the fence and the customer side of the fence. Instead of thinking of every thing you do as making money, think of it as cultivating people.

Engage and Listen

Ideally, you want to think of everything you do for your business in terms of engagement and listening. Marketing is no longer a soapbox with a captive audience. Now that your audience can find (and share) the information they need anywhere, anytime, the customer no longer believes everything they are told by a company. They talk to each other, to perfect strangers, to friends and family. They have access to reviews and product information, both good and bad, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Your success depends on the information they choose to filter out and how they filter it.

First, learn to listen to your customer. Customers you have or customers you have yet to earn, they are communicating with each other and with you right now. Use the tools of social media to find out what they are saying about you, your products, your customer service levels, and everything else related to your brand. Don’t defend or excuse while you listen. At first, just take notes, pay attention, absorb the good and the bad.

Once you have a feel for your brand perception, you have a better idea of how to enhance the positive and embrace the negative. That’s right – embrace the negative. Instead of worrying about how to control what people are saying about your brand, use the negative feedback as a way to address problems. Fuel your growth by letting go of control and harnessing the power of people as the new ROI.

Everything The Goes Around, Comes Around

In order to get involvement, engagement, interaction, innovation, conversation, community, feedback, and the other benefits of the new ROI, including indirect revenue, you must give back to the community you are building online. People don’t exist in a vacuum. Give back more than you plan to take. Be accessible. Listen, and when you speak, offer value. Let your customers become personally involved with your brand and reap the benefits of human capital as ROI.

Social media users reject outright being sold to online. To think you can make a FaceBook account or start using Twitter solely for the purpose of trying to direct sell or spam your customers would be a mistake. A better use of your social media time is to find out how to give your customers what they need and want by interacting with them. Toss your ideas out and get real time feedback. Ask for their ideas, and listen.

The new ROI is reshaping what it means to do business. Companies that don’t innovate will be left behind in this new economy. I’ll be talking in more detail about tapping and measuring the new ROI at Jeff Pulver’s Social Media Jungle on November 13th in Melville, NY. Check back next week – I’ll be posting the full details of the discussion as well as my slide deck and links to any footage of the event.