I’m sure you are familiar with this word(Hashtags) as it is been used across all social media platforms. Thanks to social media, lots and lots of words have been added to the dictionary and widely used and adopted by people via social media platforms. Right? I know few of them are dropping to your mind as you are reading this line. Out of these new words, one of them is “Hashtags”.

Hashtags were originally made own by Twitter but now it’s now used across various social media platforms.

What is Hashtag

Gone are the days when people see this sign ( #) and the only thing that comes to mind is the pound symbols. But now it’s more than that.

Firstly you can think of hashtags as a way to connect social media content to a specific topic, event, theme or conversation.

Secondly, you think of hashtags as an easy way to discover posts around those specific topics.

Things you need to know about hashtags

• They always start with # but they won’t work if you use spaces, punctuation or symbols.
• Don’t string too many words together. Mostly hashtags tend to be relatively short and easy to remember.
• Use relevant and specific hashtags.
• Limit the number of hashtags you use. More isn’t always better

Why use Hashtags?

1. Increased engagement with your followers

when you include hashtags in your posts it means you are taking part in a conversation happening on the social media platform. And most importantly, it makes your posts visible in that conversation and when they search for that particular hashtag.

The proper use of hashtags would lead to greater engagement, boosting your brand’s social media engagement through likes, shares, comments, and new followers.

2. An opportunity to build your brand

Social Media platforms are one of the best ways to build brands,  and  Creating a branded hashtag is an effective way to achieve this and drive conversation. People will easily locate your brand online if you create a hashtag around your business or brand.

More also using a hashtag that’s connected to an issue beyond your brand is a way to mobilize behind an important cause or issue.

For example #EachforEqual and #IWD2020 were used across social media platforms, including LinkedIn, on International Women’s Day.

3. Add context to a social media post

Using a hashtag is a simple and efficient way to contextualize what you’re talking about, without using up valuable characters or writing repetitive captions. Especially on Twitter where you don’t have a ton of space to write a caption.

While on  Instagram,  longer captions aren’t always effective. The use of hashtags makes it easy for you to convey your thought in an efficient way and also make it visible to people at the same time. Same with Facebook, Pinterest, LinkedIn or any other platform

4.  Help your target audience find you

It’s also good to know that you can follow hashtags on Instagram and LinkedIn. Following some few popular hashtags can be another way to help new users find your brand.

What hashtags to use

For you to find the best hashtags that are specific to your brand, your industry and your audience, you’ll have to do a little research.

Below are 6 ways to find the best hashtags for your brand

 

1. Monitor social media influencers and competitors

If you are just starting to use hashtags for your business or brand you need to start by doing a competitive analysis on social media.

Gather information about your competitors and any relevant influencers within your brand’s niche.

Take note of which hashtags they use most often and how many hashtags they use in each of their posts. This will help you learn how your competitors are engaging with your shared target audience and which keywords they tend to use.

2. Use Hashtagify.me

Hashtagify.me  is a social media tool that helps you find the best Twitter hashtags or Instagram hashtags for your brand.

With this tool, you can search for any hashtag and see how popular it is.

For example, if you search the popularity of #digitalmarketing you will get results showing you this hashtag’s overall popularity, its recent popularity, and the trends for the month and week.

3. Know which hashtags are trending

RiteTag is known for generating trending hashtag suggestions based on your content. RiteTag lets you type your social media caption into the text bar and upload the photo you want to pair with your caption. While doing this you will see the best hashtags to get your post seen immediately, as well as hashtags to get your post seen over time.

4. Get a social media listening tool

Hootsuite is another well known social media tool that lets your brand use search streams to discover which hashtags are the best for each social network.  Search streams make it easy to see which hashtags are the most popular and the most effective.

5. Analyze which hashtags were successful on past posts

It is very crucial to keep track of which hashtags you’ve used on past posts. And also  Analyze which posts perform well. Then see if there’s a trend with the hashtags you’ve used.

If you notice some of your most popular posts always contain a few of the same hashtags, make a point to include those in your future posts as well.

How to use hashtags on every network

 1. How to use Twitter hashtags

An optimal number of hashtags to use:

1-2

Where you’ll find hashtags on Twitter:

You can use hashtags anywhere in your Tweets. Use them at the start for emphasis, at the end for context, or in the middle of your post to highlight a keyword.

Hashtags can also be added in a comment when you Retweet, in replies and in your Twitter bio.

You can also:

• Type a hashtagged keyword into Twitter’s search bar to find hashtagged content.
• See trending hashtags in Twitter’s trending topics.

2. How to use Facebook hashtags

An optimal number of hashtags to use:

1-2

Where you’ll find hashtags on Facebook:

Hashtags can be included in any part of your written Facebook post or in the comments.

Hashtags are also useful for grouping content in private Facebook groups by theme or topic. This is important for brands to keep in mind considering Facebook is seeing its users shift to private channels.

You can also:

• Search for a hashtag using Facebook’s search bar.
• Click on a hashtag to see a feed of Facebook posts using that same hashtag.
• Search hashtags used in private Facebook groups using the “search this group” bar under the group’s menu.

3.  How to use Instagram hashtags

An optimal number to use:

5-10

Where you’ll find it on Instagram:

Include hashtags after writing a great Instagram caption. You can also include hashtags in the comments section when engaging with your followers.

And you can include up to 10 hashtags in your Instagram Stories.

It’s also possible to include hashtags in your brand’s Instagram profile bio.

For even more tips on Instagram hashtags, read this detailed guide.

You can also:

• Search hashtags in the Tags tab of Instagram’s Explore section.
• Follow hashtags. That means content from any creator will show in your feed, as long as it includes the hashtag you’re following.

Where you’ll find  it on LinkedIn:

Incorporate hashtags anywhere into your written LinkedIn update and in a LinkedIn article you write.

You can also:

• Search hashtags using the platform’s search bar.
• See trending LinkedIn hashtags will show in the “news and views” section on the home page.
• Get hashtag suggestions from LinkedIn as you write an update.

Conclusion

• Business owners shouldn’t ignore popular hashtags, like, #throwbackthursday or #flashbackfriday or other. Daily hashtags can be fun ways for your brand to join a wider social media conversation.
• Popular hashtags differ depending on what social media platform you’re using. On LinkedIn, popular hashtags include #leadership and #productivity.
• While there are millions even billions of posts using popular hashtags, they’re relatively universal. They aren’t specific to an industry or a theme. And don’t say a lot about your brand.
• So, use these popular hashtags sparingly