Back in June, Facebook announced that status updates will include clickable hashtags. For years, users have been using hashtags in their statuses and posts on the walls of other Facebook users, but they were never clickable until now. Not too many people were surprised by Facebook’s adoption of hashtags, which have been most commonly used on Twitter. Several of the most popular social media platforms often steal popular features from their competitors.

Facebook’s adoption of hashtags won’t only be useful for users, but for brands as well. Brands that have seen success in using hashtags in their marketing campaigns on sites such as Twitter and Instagram should look into using Facebook’s newest feature also.

Here’s an example of a luxury brand using Facebook hashtags:

And here are the main reasons you might want to consider using hashtags in your Facebook post:

1. Brand Awareness: A brand should always try to maximize its reach. A way to do this is to include trending hashtags in statuses when relevant. People who have an interest in a particular trend can discover your brand simply by clicking on a hashtag.
2. Engagement: Like Porsche did above, you can use hashtags to engage your audience using contests or by simply beginning conversations about topics your audience is interested in and are relevant to your business.
3. Customer Service: Smart brands always seek to find out what customers are saying about their products and overall business practices. Brands who listen to their customers on Facebook now have a quick and easy way to collect feedback – and respond. Those who respond the right way are way ahead of the competion; many brands don’t respond at all.
   
4. Potential: The use of Facebook hashtags for brands is still in its infancy. Facebook hashtag functionality has yet to be extended to mobile devices, where most users are on when logged into Facebook, but the number of posts with hashtags is expected to significantly increase as time goes on.