Have you ever felt that as a “horse person” who spends most of their time in the barn, that you are not as up-and-up on technology things?  We were inspired to write this article, to help you have a great online presence, and also because AHA is having “Virtual Meet an Arabian Horse Month” this month of May which we’d like to continue to support. 

We want to teach you a few SIMPLE things about Hashtags, and with Hashtags comes a little lesson about Privacy Settings as well.  We want to help you connect with your community in very fulfilling ways.  We also want to see more horses online and would like to make it simple for you to have more people see your horses.  For breeders and trainers, there are even more reasons to learn how to build a following for your business.  It is called “branding” and “saturating” the market by having a consistent presence.  It very much works to have people instantly think of you when they think “______”. (Fill in the blank to whatever you do!)

Who can have a good presence on social media?

Kiddos, adult amateurs, instructors, coaches, breeders, trainers, and any type of Arabian Horse Enthusiast can create a community online!  

What can and should be posted? 

• Any daily ins and outs with your horse or of your business
• Anything “quirky”, funny, or unique about your horse/your barn
• Artsy or professionally done photographs or videos, with or without inspirational quotes
• Links to your website or other social media channels
• Stories from long ago, or current, about yourself or your horses
• Sales horses, breeding stallions
• Show results
• “Real life” horse things too! You’re trying to make friends, not have the image of perfection

When should I post?

• We recommend posting something at LEAST once a week.  It’s best to do about 3x a week.  A photo, or a video of some sort! 

Where do I make posts?

• Facebook is deemed, by teenagers, for “old people”! Well, good, is what we say!  We’re “old people”.  Facebook is probably the best platform available for community growth.  They also have “Facebook Pages” which makes it easier to create and maintain a business “page”.  Facebook can have pictures uploaded, up to 80 in one post, and unlimited photos.  You can also make “albums”, videos can be any length, and on Facebook, you can also post and share links of any sort: webpages, YouTube videos, articles from any source, etc! 
• Instagram is photos and videos only.  If you want to post links, it has to be in your “bio”, which is your own page (aka, your “landing page”).  Your “bio” is your info section right below your name and profile photo.  The videos on Instagram can only be one minute long on your main page, but there is now “IGTV” or “Instagram TV” which longer videos can be uploaded with a preview posted to your page.  Photo posts are limited to 10 pictures per post, and the character count is limited too.  But this keeps Instagram VERY nice for scrolling without the very long posts, or the articles and links that make Facebook sometimes unbearable to scroll and stay in a good mood.   
• YouTube – Videos only!  Any length!  You create a “channel” and you upload as many videos as you’d like to your channel. 
• Other’s that we won’t go into too much detail here: LinkedIn, Twitter, and Reddit! 

WHY should I make posts?!

Why is it important to have a good social media presence? 

• Well, its not… we admire privacy too, of course.  UNLESS:
• You want to sell more horses
• You want more clients or more students
• You need more people to buy your products
• You’d like to build community and followers to watch your journey

HOW should I make my posts? 

There are just two simple things we would like to teach you about!  

The first is HASHTAGS!  What are they?  The “pound sign… #” followed by words with no spaces.  The simplest way to think of a hashtag is to think of it as a “subject”.  Anyone can click on the hashtag, and it will take you to a page full of posts where people have used that hashtag.  This is used on many platforms.  You can also think of them, and they are sometimes called “key words”. 

You can use popular hashtags to organically get more views on your post. (See next subject for more ‘rules’ on this, and we’ll also give you a list of relevant hashtags. 

You can also make your own hashtags to find certain posts.  People who are really good at this, have a hashtag for each horse.  Then when they want to find pictures of that horse, they will search for or click on that hashtag.  This will also help your viewers to find “more of the same”.  

We took two screen recordings from Instagram.  The first one is of the popular hashtag on Instagram, #arabiansofinstagram –  We clicked on the hashtag (which showed up in our regular feed), and we saw “more of the same”.  It says that hashtag has 37.7k views and it shows that I am “following” that hashtag.  We clicked on the chestnut dressage stallion, and then we saw another hashtag we were interested in, #breedingstallion.  Then, on that page, we saw that there were 5000+ posts for that hashtag, and it gives us the option to “Follow” that hashtag if we would like to!  

On Instagram, once a person likes so many posts with the same hashtag, Instagram will send you a notification and ask if you want to “Follow” that hashtag.  

The second screen recording is of my own hashtag #sassyandharmony.  I noticed how “organically popular” they were by me using popular hashtags like “#kidsandhorses” “#funnyhorses” “#jumpingpony” “#equestrianlife” etc!  So, I thought a hashtag just for them, would help people see more photos and videos of them if they wanted to! 

SECONDLY, WHO CAN SEE? (Privacy Settings)

My Instagram page “@lesliehorsetrainer” is public.  I also have a private one where I will post more about my kids and “regular life” stuff.  I know that anything I put on @lesliehorsetrainer can be seen by anyone, which is what I wanted to build a following.  So, the hashtags work!  In my private page, my posts with the same hashtags will not show up on the public pages.  Only to me and my followers. 

I set my Instagram profile to “Public” purposefully, and you can make the same decisions as you are setting up your Instagram, and you can also change it whenever you wish.  

On Facebook, you can set the posts you made to “Only Me”, “Friends Only”, or “Public”.  Then if you TAG someone (type their name and click on their name and then its BOLD), then their friends will also be able to see the post, and the privacy setting will turn to “Friends and Friends of Tagged”, but you can choose to switch it back to “Friends” if you wish! 

You can change this setting on each post if you’d like!   As  you’re posting there is a “drop down” menu that usually says “Friends” if that’s what your settings are set to default to.  You can switch it there to “Public”.  Just make sure on the next post you do, if you want it to be “Private” that you set it back to “Friends”.  

IF you want your post to be seen by MANY, set it to PUBLIC and use HASHTAGS!  

Meet an Arabian Horse Month

The Arabian Horse Association normally would be pushing “Meet an Arabian Horse Day” that was set for March 17^th.  Now, due to the current circumstances, they are doing “Virtual Meet an Arabian Horse Month”! 

We see people making posts, but hardly anyone is using the hashtag they assigned!  To have THEM see your post, tag @arabianhorseassoc and use the hashtag: #meetanarabianhorse.  We also suggest using “#meetanarabian” and “#meetanarabianhorsemonth”. 

This grows awareness and love for the breed of horse we love so much!  If you have a “next step” for anyone interested, put it in your post!  (Next steps like, going to your website, following your page, coming to a future event, or looking at your sales list!) 

If you make a post with your Arabian and want to participate, use the above hashtags!  And try to tag @arabianhorseassoc on both Facebook and Instagram. 

As promised, here is a list of helpful hashtags!

#meetanarabian 

#meetanarabianhorse

#horse

#arabian or #arabians

#arabiansofinstagram

#halfarabiansofinstagram

#arabianmare – #arabiangelding – #arabianstallion

#equestrianlife 

#equestrians 

#horseriding

And you can literally make up any hashtag you’d like!  We have also used ones like #jumpingpony #jumpinghorses #englishpleasurearabians #funnyhorses #sillyhorse #chestnutmare etc!  You can even become your own trend-setter! 

Thank you for reading and happy posting! 

Arabian Horse Exchange also offers farm, trainer and stallion listings and promotions as well!  

Partnered with @LeslieHorseTrainer, we also offer social media consulting services, giving you advice or also creating and managing your social media presence.