Hashtags aren’t new. Those of us involved in social media, whether as a business or individual, understand using them on posts, especially Instagram and Twitter. For a business, hashtags can play an important role in your posts to get your brand noticed.
But what is their true purpose and how, when, and where should they be used? If you need a bit of a refresher, we’re happy to share the latest #information and #trends here with you.
The Role of a Hashtag
- Creates interest for your social media post
- Allows users to find posts that fit their interests
- Gets businesses noticed
- Categorizes content and makes it searchable and visible
- Allows your content to show up in a user’s feed, since users can follow hashtags
- Drives conversations to your site
- Helps to support social issues
Should You Use Hashtags?
Yes, hashtags play a vital role in bringing visibility to your posts, which in turn, can help bring clients to your brand. It’s, quick and easy and will get you results. Hashtags are an important way to connect with customers and gain an audience, which can create leads for your business. Including the most effective hashtags on your posts will likely increase engagement. Do you ever search hashtags that might work for your business? You’ll see what resonates with your target audience and learn what they are looking for.
Using Hashtags on Instagram
Hashtags are a big part of every post and are essential to grow your audience.
- Using content-specific hashtags can help build followers for your business. This helps to target the audience you want.
- Look to see what hashtags your competitors and followers post and use those hashtags as well. Learn from others which ones are working!
- Create a hashtag specific to your business and use it on every post – this establishes your hashtag brand. Make it unique, such as the name of your business, part of your tagline or slogan, or a word that refers to your product.
- Only use hashtags that make sense for your post and don’t use the same list of hashtags over and over. (Instagram’s guidelines advise against using the same list every time.) Change them up frequently!
- Don’t shy away from popular hashtags but be responsible when using them – the more popular they are, the harder it is for your content to be noticed. Hashtags like #stayhomestaysafe might make sense at this time, as well as #werareopen. Be current with them if it’s applicable.
Using Hashtags on Twitter
- The use of general words like #construction, #build or #coffee, will help get you noticed beyond your followers.
- Longer hashtags and phrases make it harder for people to search. Try to stick with single words or just a couple of keywords in a phrase-think searchability.
- Using hashtags on Twitter will increase your visibility and brand.
What About Facebook?
Facebook was never meant to be searched with hashtags and it has never really caught on. When you see multiple hashtags on Facebook, it looks out-of-place, doesn’t it? Most brands won’t use hashtags, but there are some times when it might be advantageous to use one or two (at the most) placed strategically in your text.
- Use it especially if it is your own branded hashtag. Do this with every post in order to make it more searchable.
- A hashtag allows for interaction and those clicks might show what is resonating with your followers.
- A hashtag used for a promotion or campaign is a strategic play.
- Keep them short, sweet, and meaningful.
Tips and Tricks:
- Search a new hashtag before using it. What you think might be the best hashtag might have many posts that you wouldn’t want your post associated with. Periodically, search the hashtags you use frequently to ensure continued relevance for your audience.
- If you are using a business Instagram profile, you have access to Insights and how many impressions you are receiving from the hashtags. Knowing this can help you understand which hashtags are effective.
- Up to 30 hashtags are allowed on each post, but 9-10 is the sweet spot.
- Using the search bar, type in your keyword and click on the # icon. It will pull up all hashtags that use the keyword. The larger the number signifies many people follow the hashtag, but it also means your post could get overlooked. Play around and find a combination of popular and less popular hashtags for your brand. A hashtag with a smaller number of followers could get you more visibility.
- Another way to locate relevant hashtags is to look for the related hashtags when you are on a hashtag page. For example, #coffee has #instacoffee, #coffeelife, #coffeelove, #coffeeart, #icedlatte, #coffeetime and more are listed as related hashtags. These might provide you with more targeted and relevant words and phrases.
- Be careful what words you string together. Without the spaces, the combination might create some confusion.
- Hide your hashtags by adding the hashtags in the comment. Or hit return and add a piece of punctuation 3 times, then write your hashtags. It’s important that your content is the star of the post, not the hashtags.
- Try adding an emoji to the hashtag – this might create the niche hashtag you’ve been trying to develop for your brand.
Search the internet for popular hashtags. There are multiple lists available to spark some ideas for your posts. Focus on your audience and what they might be searching for. Provide value, the ability for them to engage with you, and access to your brand.
Do you need guidance with your social media or with your branding? Burgie MediaFusion specializes in helping businesses stand out, build brand awareness, and get noticed.