By Maurice Moore on Feb 27, 2022
Hashtags for business can make a huge difference in the success of your social media campaigns, particularly on Instagram. Using them effectively can greatly expand your reach and increase your followers. Yet many small businesses are using them ineffectively. In some cases, hashtags can even decrease engagement. It takes a bit of finesse.
Hashtags are words or phrases preceded by the # symbol. You can also use emojis and numbers as well as letters.
They are a way to categorize content so people can find it. When you click on an Instagram hashtag, you will go to a page of posts that also use that hashtag.
Hashtags have been around for awhile now. Their first use can be traced to Interlay Relay Chat (IRC) in 1988. It’s a bit of a discussion who used it first on social media, but the consensus it that using hashtags on social media started on Twitter in 2007. Two years later, Twitter added it seal of approval when it began immediately hyperlinking anything preceded by the # sign. And the rest is history.
So, let’s take a look at where, why and how to use them.
When people explore a page that uses a specific hashtag, they can bring up posts. If someone is of interest, they can follow that creator or brand. A lot of people follow hashtags for just this reason, to find more content of interest to them.
In addition to using hashtags that are popular so people will find you, you can also develop hashtags for a campaign you are running or that are specific to your brand. You can use these hashtags to help define your brand. But you can use them in other ways too.
For example, you could ask your audience to post photos of themselves using your product and add a particular hashtag. This might be part of a contest or just for the chance for them to be featured on your page.
Then suddenly you have people all over the platform using your brand’s hashtag where their audiences can see it. Some of those people will also become your audience.
Though you can designate your location on some platforms, it still doesn’t hurt to use a local hashtag for business. If someone sees those fabulous cream cheese brownies are from a bakery in their area, they may be motivated to visit.
If you are trying to get attention from those interested in anything from an upcoming marathon race to buying Christmas presents, hashtags can help point that audience to your related post.
A lot of people follow regular hashtags every week such as #TBT or #throwbackthursday. There’s no reason you can’t get in on that action, in this case maybe showing an early photo of you and your partner opening your first shop.
Hashtags are a lot more important on some platforms than others. They demand a full-blown strategy on Instagram but aren’t nearly as important on Facebook or LinkedIn for example. (Which doesn’t mean you shouldn’t use them there too. We’ll get to that.)
You can use up to 30 hashtags on an Instagram post and 10 on a story before the platform rebels and refused to post your caption or comment.
Hashtags are more critical on Instagram than probably any other popular social media platform. However, that doesn’t mean you should always post the maximum number. More in a bit.
Hashtags are also important on TikTok for the same reasons they are on Instagram. But people don’t tend to use as many at least in the captions. TikTok does not have a limitation on number of hashtags per se, but it limits the number of characters in the caption. Until recently, the number of characters permitted in the caption was a measly 100. TikTok has increased that to 300 recently.
TikTok may have started as a dance trend app, but it’s evolved into an app that features extremely varied content. For creators who deliver posts that need a bit of explanation, and as businesses enter TikTok, the increase is very helpful.
Pinterest has been inconsistent on its recommendations about using hashtags. They may get you a short burst of extra exposure however. We wouldn’t recommend that you worry about them a great deal. You can find out more here.
Definitely use hashtags on Twitter. They can increase engagement as much as 1,065%.
However, don’t overdo it. Twitter isn’t as visual as Instagram. Though you can post images, usually people are just posting words. Your audience doesn’t want you message to be buried in hashtags. Using a couple is plenty.
Facebook introduced hashtags late in the game, in 2013. Nine years later, hashtags still have not caught on that well on Facebook. However, they can still help someone who is searching for something specific to find you. Instead of dumping a mountain of hashtags into your posts, monitor which ones work. Then use no more than a few.
Linked In
Hashtags are relatively new to LinkedIn. Their use isn’t as critical to your business on LinkedIn as it is on Instagram. However, they might help your post show up on Google search. Just select a few key hashtags though.
You can use up to 15 hashtags in your video titles and descriptions. Don’t ignore putting them in the title, because they can aid in your quest for your videos to appear in Google search results.
When using hashtags, there are several rules to keep in mind:
When you’re running a business, it can be difficult to find the time to keep up with the evolution of various social media platforms. You may prefer to focus on your business and leave the social media management to experts.
If you don’t have the time, inclination or expertise to run the kinds of social media campaigns you would like for your company, contact Umbrella Xact for a free consultation.
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