What Are Hashtags and Why You Should Use Them

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As a longtime marketer, it’s assumed that I know about everything related to social media. Well, I should, but let’s face it, things change quickly and it’s not always easy to #stayupwiththetimes. (JK, that’s not really a good use case for a hashtag.) But it is vitally important to utilize social media as part of your marketing mix. Depending on your goals and your industry, you may look to beef up certain channels more than others but the bottom line is that social media can be a useful tool for just about everyone. Although there aren’t really right/wrong ways to use social media, there are best practices, including when it comes to hashtags. So I thought I’d share some background and insights about hashtags and why you should use them in your own social media posts.

MERRIAM-WEBSTER DICTIONARY

HASH·TAG   |   /’HASH-TAG’/   |    NOUN

Definition: a word or phrase preceded by a hash sign (#), used on social media websites and applications, especially Twitter, to identify messages on a specific topic.

WIKIPEDIA, THE FREE ENCYCLOPEDIA

A hashtag, introduced by the number sign, or hash symbol, #, is a type of metadata tag used on social networks such as Twitter and Instagram and other microblogging services. It lets users apply dynamic, user-generated tagging that helps other users easily find messages with a specific theme or content.

You can think about the use of hashtags in a post as a way of allowing your content to be found and indexed by the hashtags you choose to use. Each major social channel allows you to search using hashtags and each catalogs hashtags a bit differently. I’ve summarized those here from this HubSpot article where you can find more detail.

TWITTER

People use the hashtag symbol (#) before a relevant keyword or phrase in their Tweet to categorize those Tweets and help them show more easily in Twitter search. Clicking or tapping on a hashtagged word in any message shows you other Tweets that include that hashtag. A Twitter hashtag ties the conversations of different users into one stream. If Twitter users who aren’t otherwise connected to one another talk about the same topic using a specific hashtag, their tweets will appear in the same stream. Keep in mind, in most cases, the text content of a Tweet can contain up to 280 characters so you don’t want to waste the body of your content on excessive hashtagging, generally speaking (because sometimes maybe you do).

INSTAGRAM

An Instagram hashtag ties the conversations of different users into one stream, just like on Twitter and Facebook. If Instagram users who aren’t otherwise connected to one another talk about the same topic using a specific hashtag, their posts will appear in the same stream. Hashtags are an important way to expand your Instagram audience. If you have a public account and add hashtags to a post, the post will also be visible on the corresponding hashtag page. If you want to add a hashtag to a post you’ve already uploaded, edit the caption or include your hashtag in a comment on your photo. You can include up to 30 hashtags on a regular post, and up to 10 hashtags on a Story. However, several case studies point to 11 as the magic number, showing engagement increasing with each hashtag as you go up to 11 in number, but then declining afterward. Over half of all Instagram accounts browse the Explore section at least once per month so if you want your content to get explored, hashtags are a great avenue.

FACEBOOK

Like on Twitter, a Facebook hashtag ties the conversations of different users into one stream. But unlike Twitter and Instagram, where many people have public accounts and their posts can be seen by anyone, most people’s Facebook posts and accounts are private. This means that even if individuals are using hashtags, they aren’t searchable. The result? The hashtags you can search for on Facebook tend to be published by influencers, brands, and publishers, rather than by individuals. So, be sure your post is public if you want people other than your Facebook friends to be able to find it.

PINTEREST

Pinterest also has character limitations when you are creating pins. So keep in mind that you only have 500 characters for your pin description however hashtagging on Pinterest has the same functionality as hashtagging on the other social platforms so it’s definitely advisable to use them.

LINKEDIN

When you create an update to share with your network from your LinkedIn homepage, you can add your own hashtag by typing # and the word or phrase directly in your post. You can also click on # Add hashtag at the bottom of the share box and type your desired hashtag. LinkedIn also will offer you recommended hashtags based on your content which can be helpful.

Many brands also choose to create and use their own hashtags which can be a great practice. If you choose to use your own unique hashtag, it’s a great practice to add your own hashtag at the beginning of your series of hashtags so someone can easily click on that particular hashtag to see more of your content. Using your own hashtag can also help you catalog posts, use an app or plug-in for your website, track questions from your community, amplify campaigns and drive conversations. It’s also common practice to use branded or unique hashtags for contests and giveaways.

There are plenty of free and paid tools out there to help you get the most out of your social media hashtags. Some of the social posting tools also include keyword research and planning as part of the package. Later is a posting platform that allows you to schedule and post to multiple platforms and has an upgraded plan with hashtag recommendations that can be a great asset if you are short on time. Another great tool if you have a Google AdWords account is the Google Keyword Planner which is free and is a great starting place to identify keywords relevant to your industry or product. It’s also a helpful way to identify competitors to keep an eye on. The bottom line is that hashtags are a useful tool and you should consider using them whenever you hope to have your content seen by new audiences.

#hashtagsarecool