Using hashtags with your social media posts is one of the best ways to get more engagement. For those that don’t really understand the world of hashtags, you need to make learning their uses an immediate part of your digital advertising strategy. Instagram and Twitter, in particular, require a strong hashtag game, especially if you want to be productive in your social advertising efforts.
What is a Hashtag?
A hashtag is simply a combination of letters, numbers, words, and/or emojis preceded by this symbol: #. Here are a few examples of popular hashtags on Instagram:
- #love
- #instagood
- #photooftheday
- #like4like
Instagram users can follow or search particular hashtags that interest them, and any post that has that tag will show up in their feed. Selecting your hashtags carefully is very helpful to your social advertising results.
Tips and Tricks for Using Hashtags
Here are 6 tips to help you increase your hashtagging skills.
- Be Relevant. Don’t just cram your posts with hashtags simply because they happen to be trending. You want to ensure that whatever tags you are using are completely relevant to your post. For instance, if you are sharing a photo of an adorable kitten, don’t tag it #ootd (outfit of the day.)
- Don’t Go Overboard. While it is a good idea to include several relevant hashtags on your posts, you don’t want to go crazy and add hundreds. The number you should use depends on the platform. For Instagram, an ideal number seems to be between 9 and 12. On Twitter, you really don’t want to use more than two.
- Get Specific. While it would be tempting to just jump on the biggest hashtags on the platform, that actually isn’t a good digital marketing strategy because you will often get lost in the thousands of other posts. Get very niche specific with your hashbrowns to really build your engagement. For example, if you are posting a picture of a BMW sedan, choose #BMW over #car.
- Sprinkle in the Popular Tags. After you have chosen the best niche-specific and relevant hashtags, you can add one or two of the trending, popular tags. It doesn’t hurt to throw in one of the big tags if it is 100% relevant to your post. It can help you to spread your reach a little bit, but it is important that your post fits perfectly within the tag or you will just look spammy and desperate for likes.
- Know Your Tags. It is important to research your hashtags before slapping them on your post. It has happened that brands have accidentally associated themselves with something raunchy or not at all what was intended with poor hashtagging. You also want to remember that there are no spaces between the words when you hashtag. It is important to take a look at the entire phrase to ensure that you haven’t written something lewd or offensive.
- Make a Database of Tag. If you find that there are several hashtags that you use on a regular basis, you can save time by creating a hashtag database. This will allow you to copy and paste quickly, and you won’t have to worry about accidentally misspelling your tag.
Organically has Experts in Social Advertising
The social media experts at Organically know a whole lot about hashtags. It is one of our specialties! So, if you need help building your engagement on social media, and would like some help with your digital advertising strategy, contact us today. We can discuss your engagement needs and make a solid plan for how to proceed.
Source: https://blog.hootsuite.com/instagram-hashtags/
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