How to Hashtag Like a Pro

No matter what your ultimate goals are for your social media strategy, much of it comes down to getting your content in front of the right audience. One way to accomplish this is by using hashtags. Hashtags help to increase the visibility of your content by positioning it within ongoing conversations. But as with most things, there’s a right way and a wrong way to do it

Before you dive in too deep, here are some general tips on how to use hashtags effectively.

Be specific.

To avoid getting lost in a sea of posts, it’s important to be specific when choosing hashtags. For example, the #food hashtag on Instagram is currently attached to over 27 million posts, which makes it really hard for anyone using it to stand out. As you get more specific, it increases your chances of being seen. If it’s really a dinner recipe you’re talking about, go for a hashtag like #dinneridea or #dinnertime. Not only will you have fewer posts to compete with, but you’ll reach a more relevant audience.

Conduct hashtag research.

Tools like Hashtags.org and Hashtagify.me are invaluable when it comes to finding the perfect hashtag examples, but you can also conduct hashtag research on your own. Check out the hashtags your competitors are using and stay on top of Twitter’s trending hashtags to see if there are any opportunities for you to join the conversation.

Keep it short and simple.

One of the main points of using hashtags is to make it easier for people to find you. If your hashtag is too long or complicated, no one is going to remember it, or even think to search for it in the first place. Concise hashtags are especially important on Twitter, where you only have 240 characters to get your point across. If you take up half your character count with a hashtag, there’s not a lot of room for anything else.

Create a branded hashtag.

There are two main ways to use hashtags: piggybacking on an existing hashtag or creating your own. Establishing a branded hashtag can be a great way to promote your brand and easily track any online conversation. This will involve some initial hashtag research so that you can be sure you’re choosing something unique that isn’t already in use.

Don’t go hashtag crazy.

Have you ever seen those social media posts where every other word is hashtagged? It seems kind of desperate, right? As a general rule of thumb, you should have significantly fewer hashtags than you do words in your post. The last thing you want is for followers to feel like you’re just spamming them.

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