10/19/2020 Digital, Marketing and Public Relations, Social Media

Pound these #hashtags rules into your mind

Despite many #jokes about the overuse of hashtags, when used properly, they can play a big part in your social media strategy. Hashtags can help increase engagement, build your #brand, support social issues, add context to a social media post and most importantly help your target audience find you.

So, how do you know which #hashtags to use? Short answer: trial and error. It’s important to try a variety of different kinds and monitor what works best for your brand. You can try a mix of broad hashtags with more specific ones. As a best practice, we aim to use these six types: 

  1. Branded: #TRIO
  2. Community: #MountPleasant
  3. Industry: #Marketing
  4. Content: #SocialMediaStrategy
  5. Campaign: #MarketingMondays
  6. Custom Events: #MixerAndMingleParty

There are a few different ways to find the best hashtags for your brand. You can monitor social media #influencers and competitors from your industry. Use their hashtags to search for even more related hashtags. There are also many helpful websites that rank the popularity of hashtags. Once you start using them more, you can begin to analyze which hashtags were most #successful on past posts.

TWITTER

Optimal number of hashtags to use: 1-5

You can use hashtags anywhere in your tweets. Use them at the beginning for emphasis, in the middle of your post to highlight a keyword or at the end for context. Hashtags can also be added in a comment and in a Twitter bio.

INSTAGRAM

Optimal number of hashtags to use: 10-30

You can include up to 30 hashtags on a regular post and up to 10 hashtags on an Instagram Story. We recommend adding your hashtags to the post’s first comment so followers can focus on the great caption. It’s also important to follow relevant hashtags (like you would follow a brand or influencer), if you want to see content from new accounts you’re not already familiar with.

With an Instagram Business account, the Instagram Insights allows you to see how many impressions your profile got from the hashtags.

LINKEDIN

Optimal number of hashtags to use: 1-5

You can incorporate hashtags anywhere into your LinkedIn update or in a LinkedIn article. If you are creating a caption in the platform (instead of a third party scheduling site), LinkedIn will suggest hashtags for you as you write. The “News and Views” section on the homepage will let you know which hashtags are currently trending.

FACEBOOK

The jury is still out on Facebook. It’s okay to use one here and there if it makes sense or if it is for a specific campaign, but research shows that if your post has more than two hashtags in it then engagement significantly drops.

Not sure where to start? We will create a #winning hashtag list just for you. Email Jenny today!

Caroline Hendry

Caroline Hendry

Digital Marketing Specialist

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