As most of us nowadays know, hashtags are an effective way to group together conversations or content around a certain topic, on social media. They can be used on every social platform, but are most popular on Instagram and Twitter. However, just because theyâre not the new kid on the block, they can still be tricky to understand and use. But the good news is, once you get the hang of them, the results pour in⌠In fact, youâll get 12.6% more engagement on average if you use hashtags effectively in your content strategy.
The first ever hashtag was used by web marketing specialist, Chris Messina, who sauntered (we assume) into Twitterâs offices back in 2007 with an idea â suggesting that due to the brevity which the platform prides itself on, that it started to use the âpoundâ symbol to group related Tweets together.
Hashtag basics
- They always start with # but they wonât work if you use spaces, symbols or punctuation
- They only work if your accounts are public
- The best hashtags work if theyâre relatively short and easy to remember â especially when used as a tool for generating user generated content (UGC)
- Be relevant and specific â if yours is too obscure, itâll be hard to find and not very popular
- That said, donât choose ones that are too popular – theyâll appear on the feed for a nano second
As well as being a great way to keep up with trends and breaking news, hashtags also enable potential followers and customers to find your content, organically. This can lead to better quality engagement.
How to find the best hashtags
Monitor social influencers and competitors:Â gather intel about the contemporaries within your brandâs profile. Make a note of which they use most often, and how many they use.Â
Trends: know which hashtags are trending. If you use a scheduling tool like Later or Meltwater, chances are you can see which hashtags are most popular. Some platforms such as LinkedIn or TikTok also give suggestions. But remember not to always go for the higher numbers – #love had cranked up 1.83 billion uses as of April 2022, which although may serve a purpose from an aestheti
c or messaging perspective, will make your post disappear from the hashtag feed almost faster than it appeared.
Listening tools: a social listening tool like Hootsuite also enables you to discover which hashtags are most effective for the platform youâre on.
Analyse: if you notice in your reporting that some of your most popular posts contain a few of the same hashtags, make sure you use these again in future.
How many hashtags should I use?Â
Instagram recommends using only 3-5 hashtags, per post. In fact, according to Hootsuite, overusing hashtags can even damage your reachâŚ
Twitter: 1-2 (depending on character count)
Facebook: 2-3
LinkedIn: 3-5
YouTube: 2-5Â
Pinterest: 3-5
TikTok: 3-5
Some final tips and tricks
- Avoid adding #hashtags in the middle of your captions or comments. This can look messy but also makes your content less accessible to people using text-to-speech readers.
- On Facebook you can monitor your brandâs hashtags and see which profiles are joining in the conversation by using the URL facebook.com/hashtag/_____ (and including the keyword you want to see at the end).Â
- Include hashtags and keywords in your profile/bio on Instagram as these are also searchable.
- Think of your platforms as a search engine and only use hashtags that are niche as well as trending, searchable and specific to your content.
Little Red Rooster offers full support with your brandâs digital marketing strategies, specialising in social media. If youâd like to find out more, get in touch.
