Yesterday, the news media was a flutter with the passing of former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. As expected people took to social media to discuss her past and her legacy.

As people started using Twitter and GooglePlus, (both social media properties encourage the use of hashtags), an interesting hashtag emerged that caused a certain level of confusion and a lot of unnecessary stress. It was so obvious a social media blunder, which caused a huge reaction, news organizations around the world started reporting on the outcry surrounding the hashtag as part of their Margaret Thatcher coverage.

What sort of hashtag could cause such an uproar? Simply this; #nowthatcherisdead. A tag created to celebrate the occasion of Lady Thatcher’s passing. The problem wasn’t that people were angry others would celebrate the death of a political icon, the problem was that some people thought a different sort of celebrity had passed.

When it comes to creating hashtags, Digital Always Media’s 101 Social Media Workshops address and stress need to capitalize the first letter of the each unique word in a multi-worded Hashtag.

Why should you capitalize the first letter of each unique word in a multi-worded hashtag?

Here’s Why!

#nowthatcherisdead was intended to represents #NowThatcherIsDead. Unfortunately, many misread it as #NowThatCherIsDead.

This misunderstanding put Cher fans into a frenzy and was widely reported around the world, including this piece from the UK Mail Online, “”.

Now think what could happen to your organization when you create a clever hashtag for a marketing program. When people see it, where might people put the capitalization? What other words might they come up with?

The use of hashtags is going to grow as other online social properties (possibly including Facebook according to recent rumours) start embracing hashtags as way to group conversations to make searching those conversations more effective.

It’s time that your social marketing team learn to use hashtags and other social media tools correctly, if only to avoid possible misunderstandings and potential marketing disasters.

Jim Hedger

Jim Hedger is an organic SEO and digital marketing specialist. Jim has been involved in the online marketing industry since 1998 and a SEO since 1999. Best known as a broadcaster, interviewer, content writer and search industry commentator, Jim is a frequent conference speaker and organizer. He hosts the search focused radio show Webcology on WebmasterRadio.FM and is a WebmasterRadio.FM conference interviewer. Jim brings a wealth of knowledge, experience, passion and creative thinking to each project. Preferring a teamwork approach, Jim strives to inform and train his clients and their staff to run and maintain their own search and social media efforts.

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