If you've ever been on Twitter, then you probably know what a hashtag is. For those new to the social media site, a hashtag is a keyword prefixed by the hash symbol (#) that is used to mark and identify relevant tweets for people following a particular topic or movement.

Non-profit organizations can benefit from the use of hashtags in several ways: to share information, to connect participants at events and conferences, to build movements and to advocate for a cause.

For example, the hashtag #socialgood is added to tweets discussing a topic related to social good, while tags like #charitytuesday enable you to share your favorite nonprofit with followers every Tuesday. The Grantwell's hashtag is #grantwell. You can find a list of hashtags to follow here. If you want to search for a specific tag and see how it is used you can look for it at search.twitter.com. Sites such as hashtags.org and Trendistic also enable you to search for hashtags and follow trends on Twitter.

You can join an existing conversation or create a new hashtag and start your own. To create a hashtag, all you have to do is add the # symbol to the beginning of a word, include it anywhere in your post (although it typically goes at the end) and tweet it. Twitter will automatically create a link to your hashtag that will take you to a thread of recent tweets with the same tag. One thing to remember when adding hashtags -- don't clutter up your post with too many. The general rule is no more than two on any tweet.

There are already hundreds of hashtags in use by the non-profit world. Socialbrite.org recently created a flyer of 45 Hashtags for Social Change that you can print out and have at the ready.

You can find out more information on Using Twitter for Good from one of our earlier posts.

The Grantwell is now offering social media assistance packages! We can help you create and manage a social media presence for your organization. Contact us today for more information on how we can help.