Hashtags present a unique opportunity for online marketers. You can cross-promote your products, services, and brands with hashtags in very powerful ways that before was not possible.
For instance, if you have an active presence on Twitter, Facebook, Google+, and Pinterest, you can post to each of these social networks separately and keep your social media marketing segmented and siloed OR you can tie them together with a unique hashtag that allows your target market to find you on any social network where they may have a presence.
Suppose you sell yellow widgets. Some of your target audience may be active on Pinterest but none of the other networks. Some may be active on Google+ and Twitter. Others may stick to Facebook. If you use one hashtag that is common among all of your social networks, you are more likely to find your audience and more likely to allow your audience to find you when they conduct a hashtag search. The key is to train your audience to conduct that search.
That requires branding your hashtag.
You could use something generic like #yellowwidget, but that’s not as effective as using something that inspires a little more mystery. For instance, you could use #yellowbrickwidget. Then you could use a marketing tagline that reads follow the #yellowbrickwidget. It’s a little clever twist on a recognizable cultural reference, which makes it a bit more memorable than anything generic. If your audience sees it enough times, they’ll be intrigued enough to follow it.