Social Media Trends and Hashtags- Do Not Miss Them!

Posted on by Sydney Fodiman

Before COM 427, I had never had a Twitter account. Creating an account on an unfamiliar app was a nerve-wracking experience at first; however, I grew to love Twitter and will continue to use it after the semester. At the beginning of the semester, I started my Twitter account @FodimanSydney with 0 followers. Right now, I have 36 followers making my Twitter follower growth increase of 36 (you can’t find the percent increase if the initial number is 0).

Most of my follower-base was primarily Syracuse University students. Posting relatable content, whether it be about Syracuse University itself, being a college student, or just content that I knew college students would connect with, helping me raise my follower count among this age group. Using Twitter’s trends such as adding hashtags or GIF’s to your posts, using the hashtag #ICYMI, and creating a voice through my content helped intrigue people to follow my Twitter account.

I might have had a little bit more success if I had any following before class; this way, I would have more people to engage with my tweets at the beginning of the semester. I did not gain followers until a few weeks into the class, so I do not know how far down people were scrolling to look at my first couple of posts, which may be the reason why they do not have as much engagement.
Another aspect that I found to work was using the #NHsmc hashtag. I regularly checked out the hashtag to look at what other students were postings and follow people whose content I enjoyed, and I feel that I must have gained a few followers who found my page who looked at the hashtag as well.

Twitter analytics identified the Tweet below to be my “Top Tweet” with 1,079 impressions, 19 engagements, and a 1.8% engagement rate. This happens to be my favorite tweet that I have ever posted. Professor Grygiel always told us to give it a shot at reaching out to successful people with large followings. If I am honest, I never really thought I would find success with this; however, I was wrong. I reached out to Glossier’s CEO and Founder, Emily Weiss. After a few days, she liked my post herself. It was so exciting that someone I have looked up to saw my message to her. Pretty cool!

My next “Top Post” according to Twitter Analytics is my #ICYMI post about Syracuse University Alumni’s Emmy 2019 winners and nominees. This post has 754 impressions, 6 engagements, and a 0.8% engagement rate. This tweet has 1 retweet and 1 like.  Although Twitter Analytics identifies this as my second top post, I thought it would do a little bit better. I thought posting this would engage all of my Syracuse University student followers more than it did. I think the hashtag usage (#SyracuseU, #Emmys) helped gain impressions.

The next top tweet with 601 impressions, 17 engagements, and a 2.8 engagement rate is my post of the Game of Thrones cast at the Emmys. This picture went viral since it was the cast’s first reunion after their 12 season show ended. Game of Thrones is a tremendous following, so this could be a reason it is one of my top posts. I did not receive any likes on this post, perhaps because I posted it on September 28th, which was towards the beginning of the semester when I have 1 or 2 followers.

The next top post is when I reached out to broadway star Jonalyn Saxer who was a Syracuse University alumn. This post gained 384 impressions, 3 engagements, and an o.8 engagement rate. Again, I have learned that hashtags are huge in the Twitter world. I believe that embedding @SUAlums tweet, tagging @jksaxer, and @MeanGirlsBway, and using the hashtags @NHsmc and #broadway all helped with impressions and engagements. I did not receive any likes, comments or re-tweets on this post.

I find it interesting my very first Tweet is my 5th top tweet with 335 impressions, three engagements, and a 0.9% engagement rate. I am not sure why this tweet did as well as it did. I would have thought it would be the last on the list since I started with 0 followers.

The next tweet with 282 impressions, two engagements, and a 0.7% engagement rate was my Anna Kendrick voice tweet. I loved this tweet because I felt it added personality to my page and made it less serious. The addition of the hashtags #Voice, #AnnaKendrick, and #NHsmc also helped with exposure. I received one like on this post.

For class, I created a new Instagram account because I was not comfortable using the current one that I have in private. I created my account with the handle sydneyfodiman_nhsmc. The account started with 0 followers and I gained 19 followers throughout the course of the semester.

My top Instagram post was my very first post. I am fortunate to have studied abroad in Tel Aviv, Israel. I tagged the location of the picture, and posted a sunset I captured at the beach. This post received 9 likes, probably because of the stunning sunset!

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Missing abroad and these magical sunsets ✨😍#NHsmc

A post shared by Sydney Fodiman (@sydneyfodiman_nhsmc) on

The nest most successful post on Instagram was my #latergram post. #latergram is a popular trend on Instagram. I included a bunch of hashtags, and I gained two followers on this post that I do not know because I included hashtags! It is also an asthetically pleasing breakfast.

Another relatively popular post earned three likes. This is a picture of my two rescue puppies and me after a hike. I included five hashtags on the post.

I tested out VSCO filters on a picture I took when I was in Italy. It made the picture appear to have the most incredible quality. I will continue to use VSCO on all my posts in the future because I love how this looks.

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Nothing like a little colorful village 🌈 #VSCO #filter

A post shared by Sydney Fodiman (@sydneyfodiman_nhsmc) on

Reflection:

After a semester of learning the in’s and out’s of social media, I can now come to some conclusions on how to keep my social media engagements high on Twitter and Instagram. To create great content, you have to remain on-trend. You need to scope out both Instagram and Twitter and find out what is trending. Find out what people are engaging with most on that platform. For instance, on Instagram, it is trendy to post an old picture with the #latergram. On Twitter, the hashtag #ICYMI is trending. It is essential not to miss the bandwagon and be alert to the activity around you on the platform. Additionally, I did not realize the power a hashtag has on social media. Before this class, I used hashtags because they look cool and add some spunk to a post. I quickly learned that there are ways to be strategic about your hashtag usage. Hashtags go a long way and are great to include on your posts to gain exposure to large audiences. I will continue to use the insights I have learned throughout my social media endeavors after the semester.

 

 

 

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