Well to begin with, all thanks goes to Chris Messina who is credited with creating a ‘hashtag’ revolution over the internet, which ultimately turned into a global phenomenon. Celebrating 11 plus glorious years of rule, hashtags serve a huge purpose for marketing and mass gathering over social media platforms. The hashtag was originally invented to gather people with similar ideologies under one platform to agree, participate and provide necessarily add-ons to a respective subject. But, social media being what it has always been, every hashtag started attracting participants that really did not have similar thinking and thus these hashtags had to face criticism as well; initially a little, but today these hashtags need to be correct otherwise they risk becoming an Epic Hashtag Fails.

Hashtag Fails is a new term, which let’s say, is more negative rather than positive… yeah you are getting there. The worst Hashtag that comes to mind first is #MakeAMovieAFatty, which was associated with a tweet by a popular cosmetic brand, Benefit. Trying to be hilarious with associated movie names, they made a blunder by unintentionally promoting fat-shaming. It turned out to be an epic hashtag fail, which surely bought heavy negative publicity and bitter trolling, especially when they themselves were a huge cosmetic brand.

If you are planning for a record breaking hashtag tweet, without adding to the Epic Hashtag Fails and be mercilessly trolled for it, then follow these 5 tips:

Tip #1: Make sure you have researched your hashtag enough

Before using already present hashtags, please make sure that you understand the core relevance of that particular hashtag on social platforms. Back in time, a pizza company tweeted and associated some joke to #WhyIStayed and pizza. This became an instant Hashtag Fail and made people really upset, since that particular hashtag was actually a reference to a popular domestic violence incident back then. You should make extra sure, you have fully read ‘cover to cover’ of what your hashtag means and it must have the right reference to your context.

Tip #2: Don’t ask for photos from old events

Trust me, you have been more than a mess than you think.. ask your friends any day. Don’t go on twitter to ask for back in day party pics, travel pics, adventure pics, etc. Yes, this could lead to complete chaos which you would have totally asked for, because ‘the internet’. Once you’ve created a Hashtag asking for your memories, you have a larger percentage of users sharing your wild side, especially in comparison to relevant pictures. Only if you have a brave heart, or absolutely no fear of trolling, then you are free to skip this rule.

Tip #3: Read Twice, thrice or even more before releasing a new hashtag

As they say, history has seen it all. #Susanalbumparty is one great example, that became a benchmark for hashtag fails. It actually meant to promote Susan Boyle, for her amazing singing talent. PRs went amazingly unknown on what their hashtag could really turn into. It turned into a slang interpretation, and it unintentionally attracted global users to troll and even create memes, that really went straight ahead into what we call as a negative global recognition. So before posting yours, break it and read aloud in your mind, in many different ways and times, so that you do not fall into the same trolling pit.

Tip #4: Never underestimate religious sentiments

All experienced social media users know it, and you should too… try to avoid incorporating religion and religious terms in your hashtags as much as possible. Taking for granted the religious sentiments can instigate a lot of users to bring a lot of backlash on your hashtag. You might have created it in good faith, but by the time you get around to explain your hashtags better, your hashtag might have already turned into a big Hashtag Fail.

Tip #5: Hashtags are meant to be relevant and extremely precise

Only if you are doing it for some records, please try avoiding the usage of long hashtags. Time is the main factor at the end. The reader’s mind must be captured quickly. If your hashtags includes one of the longest jargons, which normal users might have heard for first time, instead of getting what you mean, they might offend you with serious memes. If you don’t want to turn into a hashtag fail, be precise. You might even want to keep changing your hashtag formations between upper and lower cases.

Important Tip: In this age of ideology difference, you are definitely going to get some negative feedback, so before removing, apologising, or re-tweeting, wait and watch for first few hours. A few negatives can still healthy.

So there you are, 5 tips which will hopefully keep your next hashtag from becoming an epic Hashtag fail. Whether or not they become a success is another matter altogether, we’ll address that later. In the meanwhile, good luck.