For your social media accounts to reach the max amount of people, you really need to utilize hashtags. Well, not on every platform, but you have to know the difference ! Disclaimer though: Just like with most other things, there’s a lot of contradicting information online. Some of it can be pretty industry specific. This is a general overview to get you started !
As a brand manager, I do a lot of social media management as well. So I’m giving you the information I’ve seen with my own two eyes !
I’mma be real with you… just don’t use hashtags on Facebook. Period. Or if you do, know that it’ll make absolutely no difference. The algorithm doesn’t count them towards anything but will penalize you if you use a lot of them. They consider it spam. A lot of people have hashtags on Facebook because they shared the post right from Instagram. It’s worth it to take the extra few seconds to go ahead and delete them off of your Facebook post.
Instagram Hashtags
On IG you can use up to 30 hashtags but it doesn’t always mean you should ! The less followers you have, the more tags you should use. The average is about 11, with bigger brands using between just one and four. No matter how many you use, make it a variety ! Include popular tags and branded hashtags along with ones that are specific to your post. Check out how many posts are using the same hashtag and use a variation of it that posts in the tens of thousands. More than that and your post may get drowned out making either less or nobody see the post.
Bonus tip: Have some space between the caption and hashtags or put the hashtags in the comments so that your post doesn’t look spammy !
Hashies on Pinterest are pretty pointless as of 2020. Pinterest themselves recently deemed them “optional”. The reason is that they’re no longer clickable on their own but also buried in the post. What they do rely on is SEO within the caption, which is very worth studying.
Twitter Hashtags
You’ll read some articles saying not to use hashtags on Twitter. That they aren’t helpful or you don’t need them. CAP. If you just look in the ‘trending’ section you’ll see that tags are sometimes trending. Using a hashtag in your tweet can double your engagement. HOWEVER ! Don’t use more than two tags. Really, using only one is best. Once you get to three of them, your engagement drop drastically. If you can use one that’s already trending, that’s usually best.
Tiktok
With Tiktok how many you use depends on how long your caption is but typically somewhere between one and five. Use a combo of viral and location-based hashtags then a niche one. On this platform thought the hashtags matter less than Instagram and more than Twitter. Here it’s best to focus on the number of times you post each day instead (which should be between 3 and 7).
Choosing Hashtags
How to choose your hashtags is way more important than how many you use. The greatest cheat code is to look at your competitors. If they’re successful and you’re targeting the same people, that’s going to be some super valuable research. Other than that, think about the offer, the benefits, the location and the type of person.
Example, you sell luxury hair extensions online. As a consumer, what would you be typing in to try and find the hair ? What type of person usually purchases luxury extensions ? What locations spend the most on luxury extensions ? The answers to those will let you know what type of hashtags to use. Your hashtags might look something like; #LuxuryExtensions #QualityHumanHair #WavyBundles #BrazillianBundles
Another example, you’re a caterer. This is a profession that’s usually a little more stationary. So local hashtags would be super grateful. What reasons do people hire a caterer ? Use hashtags that have to do with that. Find hashtags with food that have motion but aren’t completely drowned out. Your hashtags may look something like; #Chicagogram #Foodstagrammers #ChicagoCatering #ChicagoDateNight
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