Social Media For Small Businesses: How To Harness The Hashtag (INFOGRAPHIC)

You've seen it everywhere: on TV advertisements and billboards, on Twitter and Facebook, on ironic T-shirts and baseball caps. You may have even heard a cheeky millennial say it out loud.

But the humble hashtag (#) isn't just a fad. In its true iteration — as early Twitter users truly intended — it served as a way to carry on a conversation with a diverse audience.

Today, the hashtag represents a golden opportunity for small-business owners to send a message across multiple platforms — quickly.

We've partnered with American Express OPEN for an in-depth look at how to harness the power of social media to build your business. With one simple hashtag, you can drive brand recognition, improve reach and engage in a give-and-take with your customer base.

Here's how.

by JPBravo.

Explore more infographics like this one on the web's largest information design community - Visually.

"; var coords = [-5, -72]; // display fb-bubble FloatingPrompt.embed(this, html, undefined, 'top', {fp_intersects:1, timeout_remove:2000,ignore_arrow: true, width:236, add_xy:coords, class_name: 'clear-overlay'}); });