Facebook Hashtags #finallyhere

Back in March, we told you that hashtags were coming to Facebook, and they’ve finally arrived. These now nearly omnipresent hashtags launched on Facebook this past Monday and are in the process of being rolled out to the masses. Each day, more personal profiles and brand pages are able to search and use functional hashtags.

So what does this mean now that hashtags are functional on Facebook?

You can search hashtags. Start by going up to the search bar at the top of Facebook and choose the hashtag search results option. You’ll then see content that contains that hashtag. Currently, it seems as if Facebook is giving preference to pages and people that are already connected to you. From there, the content seems to load in real-time.

Users and brands alike can use hashtags to be located. You can now include hashtags in your status updates and these hashtags become a clickable link that bring you to a search results page as if you searched that hashtag in the search bar.

What does this mean for marketers?

Some brand pages have already received access to this new functionality and may begin using them immediately. These hashtags will bring exposure to brands that some audiences may not be familiar with. Currently, the only types of paid advertising on Facebook featuring hashtags are paid status updates that include them. We are hopeful that paid advertising on the results pages for hashtags will be made available in the future, among other opportunities.

One last note: test before you #hashtag! Although a particular hashtag may work on Twitter, Google+, or Pinterest, it might not translate in the same way on Facebook. Better to be safe than sorry!