When should you use hashtags? Where should you use hashtags? How many hashtags should you use?
Before we start, lets find out what the definition of hashtag it…
Hashtag is a word or phrase preceded by a hash (pound) sign (#), used on social media websites and applications, especially Twitter, to identify messages on a specific topic.
Although you can use hashtags on any social media platform, should you? Let’s break down each platform and chat about the pros and cons of each.
Hashtags are used more on Instagram than any other platform and you’re able to use up to 30. Now this doesn’t mean you have to use all 30, that’s just the limit. In our research and testing we have found that around 20 seems to work best.
Now, how exactly do you use them? When posting, we have found it’s best to have your hashtags in the first comment of the post so that your content is easy to read and doesn’t look “spammyâ€.
One thing to avoid is having just hashtags or having hashtags throughout your post. Some will have a post and have a handful of dots to separate your copy with your hashtags. This works as well but we prefer our hashtags in the first comment to keep things looking cleaner.
If you’re looking for a platform that allows you to not only schedule your content on Instagram but gives you the option to schedule your hashtags, we recommend Planagram.
There is a lot of debate about using hashtags on Facebook and for us, we prefer NOT to use them. You are still able to use hashtags on Facebook just like any other platform, although they are “searchable” they are not used like the other platforms. When you use them and use to many of them it just becomes “spammy†and takes away form your content. If you are going to use them, we recommend using one and make that a branded hashtag.
Should you be using hashtags on Twitter? YES!!! Absolutely you should be using hashtags on twitter and you should also be keeping up with the latest trends and following what’s trending. This goes for all platforms as well. With Twitter however, you don’t want to overdo it. We suggest using a max of 3 hashtags. Keep in mind you are limited to what you can write on Twitter so you don’t want it all to be hashtags.
Hopefully this clears a few things up and when using hashtags for your business, keep in mind you just don’t want to use random hashtags to have hashtags. Make sure you’re using hashtags that are specific to your target market and make sure you do your research on what hashtags are getting the best results.
A tool we use that helps with research is called Social Info. If you want to know more about this program and how it can help, we’d be happy to chat about it.
Still want to know more or need help with using hashtags?