#Fail: Facebook's hashtags are not paying off for brands, shows study

This ain’t Twitter, hashtags don’t work here! Using hashtags in Facebook posts may be a fun strategy for companies trying to grab the attention of consumers, however, it doesn’t appear to be paying off, a new study has claimed. The study by a social media analytics firm, Simply Measured, showed that although 20 percent of Facebook posts among top brands now include hashtags, however, there is no evidence that such tactics is influencing their engagement. Hashtags provide users a way to group messages of similar content. Researchers show that posts using the newly introduced hashtags perform only as well as those without it, suggesting that users are not yet finding brand posts by their tags. [caption id=“attachment_994515” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Facebook’s Hashtags in this file photo. Image from Facebook[/caption] The study showed that visual content is by far the primary driver for engagement on Facebook. Pictures posted by top brands average more than 9,400 engagements, which includes likes, comments and shares, per post, while videos average more than 2,500, BusinessNewsDaily reported. Researchers said when it comes to text posts, brands must walk a fine line. Analysis of more than 500 status updates from the top brands shows that the longer a status update is, the less engagement it typically receives. However, if a status update is too short less than 50 characters it may not be long enough to capture viewers’ attention or provide the necessary context to drive the number of likes, shares and comments a company would like. “For most brands, Facebook is no longer just a network; it has become the hub of their social marketing efforts and one of the most effective ways to engage with fans,” said Adam Schoenfeld, CEO of the firm Simply Measured. PTI