Hashtags and Research - A Productive Weekend

byNateThomas7

604 followers

6 years ago

Recently I posted about the importance of hashtags and it seemed to get some responses as to how they work. By no means am I an expert, but here is a story from this weekend.

Family Getaway - Helping Out Dad

First, a thank you to all who have served in the military. That is the reason for the long weekend we had in the United States.

My dad moved in to his house about a year ago in a beach town nearby. He had the house built to his specifications so we thought he was good... then he decided he wanted a hot tub. At first he lined my brothers and I to help frame in the slab he wanted to pour and decided that this was the weekend...

But it has not stopped raining and the forecast was for more rain. The wife, son, and I decided we wanted to get away anyways so we drove up. My brothers decided to go elsewhere so it was a nice time for us.

A funny thing happened, the forecast was wrong (that never happens) and it was sunny... that meant I spent the better part of Saturday removing 150 square feet of sod and framing in where a slab was going... I am not that handy and usually spend most of my days stuck behind a computer so...

I was completely sore and miserable on Sunday. We got a few things from the hardware store and decided to go out for lunch.

Research and Becoming Hipster - Part 1

So count my wife and I as those who wonder why people take pictures of food and drink and post it to social media. I had absolutely no clue why people would do this. Who is interested in seeing it? We referred to this as "hipster" posting... that is our way of defining something we don't understand (or don't feel cool enough to participate in).

Well, if you follow my blog, you will know that my niche is beer. So my family and I decided to visit my dad at his new house. Since we were in a different area, I decided to do some "research"

Sidenote: It took a while, but my wife is now on-board with my business so she is open to "researching"

Back to the story of the weekend, we decided lunch at a brewery was a good idea... you know for "research". It turns out I missed the tour, but learned that this brewery will help you brew a large batch of beer (I am scheduling with my buddies for a return trip).

So I posted the above photo with the hashtags #craftbeer #homebrew and of course added the @ for the brewery...

Back To Work - And Time To Leave

Monday rolled around and we did a few things to get the base ready for concrete. We had breakfast and then it was time to head back home :(

Well, traffic always sucks, but on holiday weekends my 2 hour trip is easily 4 hours. We decided to take the scenic route by the lake and stopped by a Roadside Park... my son was ready for jungle gyms and swings, but that wasn't this park.

Turns out, the park was a path to a beach... with 10 people on it! It was a blast. We skipped stones and hunted "fossils" and other rocks for my son.

Sidenote: If you kid is into collecting rocks, then have them store them in a box. That way you have a ready-made "dad joke"... is this more fun than your box of rocks? ... I love it, my wife hates it :)

So we had our rocks and started the rest of the trip home. It was around lunchtime so we were looking for a place to eat...

Research and Becoming Hipster - Part 2

Suddenly, a sign for another brewery!!! Of course we had to stop!

The picture above was walking up. I added the filter in Instagram, not because I know what it does, but because I felt like it (does this stuff even work?). This one I added two hashtags (my website and #craftbeer) and @ the brewery (they liked the post).

We left and made it back home. Yes, the drive still took 4 hours, but it was worth it.

Food Pictures?

I know, I said pictures of food and beer, but I didn't post them. I save those for my blog and website when I write up a review of the trip. Still can't bring myself to posting them on social media.

Now, back to the hashtags...

Do Hashtags Work?

Here are the stats from social media after posting the 2 pictures above and one from Friday showing ingredients for my latest batch (#craftbeer #homebrew). All total, 3 different hashtags.

• 4 new Twitter followers (It will get there)
• No new Facebook followers (Facebook kind of sucks, but it will get there)
• 40 new Instagram followers!!! (I am kind of excited about this one, I was starting from 29)

Moral of the story, find hashtags that your audience is using and use them. It is baby steps, but all it takes is one post for your following to grow (remember, their followers see their likes).

Let's do a test... what is your "best" post? It can be defined however you would like, but mine is from the first picture... 23 likes and 2 comments. Give me a target to shoot for.

Cheers!

Nate