You’re probably aware that hashtags have a key role on Twitter, but what about Facebook, LinkedIn, and Instagram? In this post, we’ll discuss how and when you should use hashtags to organise and track topics in your social media and the best practices for each platform.
What are hashtags?
Hashtags are a great way to categorise your content and make it easier for users to find. By including a hashtag in a post, you’re attributing a topic to it and ensuring that anyone monitoring that topic or hashtag will see your post. This means that the potential reach of your post improves as you’ll be visible to people who aren’t currently connected to or following your page or profile.
General vs niche hashtags
Hashtags can be general or niche, depending on the topic. General hashtags are used for a wide range of topics, such as #MondayMotivation. Niche hashtags are used for a specific topic, such as #GameofThrones or #GOT. However, it’s important to use niche hashtags sparingly depending on the platform, as using too many can make your posts look spammy.
When using hashtags on social media, it’s important to use both general and niche hashtags. General hashtags will help your content reach a wider audience, while niche hashtags will help you target a specific group. For example, if you’re posting about a new product, you can use the general hashtag #newproduct and the niche hashtag #gamingproduct. This will help you reach people who are interested in both gaming and new products.
Hashtag best practices by platform
Hashtags on Twitter
Hashtags on Twitter are commonly used to index posts and track conversations. You can use them to keep up with topics or add context to your tweets. They work best when they’re short – no more than a couple of words. It’s important not to go overboard with them or your tweet will look like spam.
Hashtags on Instagram
Hashtags are a great way to find new people to follow and explore different content on Instagram. If you want your photos to show up in searches, using a few relevant and popular hashtags can be beneficial in increasing the visibility of your posts. There is a limit of 30 hashtags per post on Instagram, but using hashtags that are relevant to your content is much more important than trying to use all 30 hashtags. In fact, according to Hootsuite, using 3 – 5 relevant hashtags will give you the same amount of reach as 30!
Hashtags on Facebook
On Facebook, you should use hashtags sparingly and only when they’re relevant to the post, again, otherwise it will appear spammy. It’s important to remember that Facebook is designed for friends and family rather than followers, so using too many hashtags can turn people off. However, using two or three hashtags can still be beneficial in helping your post reach more people.
Hashtags on LinkedIn
Use hashtags sparingly on LinkedIn; they should only be used when you want to attract attention from people outside of your network. Hashtags are not commonly used on this platform, so including them in your posts is not likely to increase their reach. The best way to approach it is to create a small selection of relevant hashtags that accurately reflect the content of your post and add context. This way if someone is looking for the topic you’re talking about, it’s much easier for them to find your post.
How many hashtags should you use on social media?
The truth is that there is no one-size-fits-all answer to this question. The number of hashtags you should use will vary depending on the social media platform, your target audience and your goals. It’s important to test the number of hashtags you use on your social media pages and find what works best for your company and your audience. However, if you’re looking for some general guidelines to get you started, here’s what we recommend:
- Twitter – 1-2 hashtags
- Facebook – 2-3 hashtags
- LinkedIn – 0-5 hashtags
- Instagram – 3-5 hashtags
Social media marketing for your business
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