What are they for?
They’re used both as a way for people to search for content on a particular subject, and also for the social platforms to serve up content on that topic to people who follow that hashtag/phrase.
Which platforms do they work on?
They work very well on Instagram and Twitter.
This is because the algorithm is designed so that it can serve people a whole library of content based around topics they enter into the search bar.
Surprisingly they don’t necessarily work particularly well on all platforms. The most obvious of which being Facebook. That’s because Facebook algorithm works differently & doesn’t really use hashtags as a way for people to search for content. Historically it was anecdotally believed that posts with plentiful hashtags would even be penalised i.e. shown to fewer people than posts without hashtags. This is less the case now, but generally speaking the maximum number of hashtags to use in a Facebook post tends to be two.
So use sparingly here.
How many should I use?
You can use up to 30x per post on Instagram.
As above, use very sparingly on Facebook and only where it adds value to the text.
You can use as many on Twitter posts as will fit into the 280 character count.
Where should I put them?
There have historically been various schools of thought about whether it’s better to put hashtags in amongst the text, or below the post text, or even at one time in the first thread comment!
Nowadays, I tend to use perhaps one or two within the post main body text a bit like #this, but only if it makes #sense within the text. And then any others I put at the bottom of the post. This is to help with ease of reading and so it doesn’t clutter the main text body.
——
#LikeThis
#AndThis
What about accessibility?
That is an excellent point, and really important that you’re aware of this aspect.
Remember that many people for example, those with a sight impairment, need to use e-readers to read text aloud for them.
Sadly, e-readers tend to get a bit befuddled by hashtags, as they read it as one big jumble #abitlikethis which can be very confusing for the listener,
So to address this, it is important to capitalise each word, to help the e-readers. #ABitLikeThis
It also helps fully sighted people too, as it’s a lot easier to read what the hashtagged phrase is supposed to say if you can make out the words clearly.
How do I find which hashtags to use?
This is where a few minutes of research may pay off. Use your favourite browser search engine to search for “hashtag research” and you will be met with a plethora of free sites which can give you inspiration & help you find hashtags suitable to your business and to the particular content you’re posting in that post.
The general consensus tends to be a split between a selection of general ones which relate to your industry, or your geographical area eg, #DigitalMarketing or #Copywriter or #ShropshireHills, a few which relate to your business itself eg, a strap line and a few related to the specific content within that post (which will be different from post to post).
You can use the hashtag research sites to see how many people search for / follow that #hashtag. Then the consensus is again a split between some that have 500k-1.5million followers, some with 10k-500k followers, and some that you have coined yourself, which may have fewer followers eg, 100-1000 so you can begin to build them up.
But how do I choose? Really?
Okay, the best way is to think of your customer & what terms they might be looking up. So for example if you’re posting a job vacancy, then some examples might be #ShropshireJobs #PartTimeJobOpps #JobOpps #JobsInMarketing
Then check them out on the hashtag research sites.
Hope this helps.
As always, if you need help with this, do get in touch or book in a power hour and we will get this nailed for you.
Sarah 😀