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Hashtag Guidelines

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Pascal Chambon edited this page Nov 1, 2021 · 4 revisions

Hashtag guidelines for VictimTech organizations

Hashtags on social networks like Instagram are fundamental: they give visibility to our contents thanks to recommender algorithms, and help people interested in finding similar publications.

After reviewing good practices regarding hashtags, and studying the use of hashtags amongst VictimTech organizations, here are the guidelines that we propose to the community. Please get in touch to improve/correct them!

Common rules for hashtags

Hahstags must have no special characters : no spaces, no quotes, no punctuation marks.

  • EN : #WomensRights
  • FR : #DroitsDelHomme

Hashtags must be in the language of the target audience, even though it's common to borrow trendy English terms.

  • EN: #sexism #metoo
  • FR: #sexisme #sexism #metoo

Single-word hashtags must be written in lower case, and multi-word ones must be written with a capital letter at the beginning of each word (but it has no impact on hashtag finding).

  • EN : #sexism #PhysicalViolence
  • FR : #sexisme #ViolencePhysique

Regarding accents : there are no definitive rules, but generally we don't use accents, except when it prevents ambiguity, or when hashtag popularity is better with accents. Avoiding accents also helps compatibility with English words.

  • EN : #emotion #tolerance #culpability
  • FR : #emotion #tolerance #culpabilité (#culpabilite is too rare) #MariéDeForce

Singular or plural ? Generally concepts don't need to use plurals, so we keep singular words unless they sound weird, mean something different, or are less popular than plural alternatives.

  • EN : #violence #clothes
  • FR : #violence #sevices #sequelles (#sequelle is too rare)

Ordering : list the hashtags from the most specific and relevant, to the least.

  • #SexualHarassment #harassment #violence

Always rely on hashtag popularity, which is more important than all these rules : good hashtags must be widely used, but not too much, else your post will be invisible in the mass. For example, hashtags used on 1k to 50k posts and relevant to your activity are much better than trendy hashtags shared millions of times.

Use tools like these to track hashtag popularity:

Advice specific to VictimTech organizations

We promote the use of the hashtag #VictimTech as a rallying sign for all organizations which innovate technologically to help victims and tackle violence.

  • #rape #testimony #JudicialEvidence #VictimTech
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