Unlocking Engagement: Expert Tips for Hashtag Research

Hashtags are an important part of posting on every social media platform. They help to drive traffic, increase engagement, and allow potential customers to find your content. Not to mention they can also help with Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and promotion of your content as well.

But, how do you know what hashtags to use when you’re posting? Is there such a thing as a bad hashtag? How many hashtags are too many?

Let’s take a look at some of these questions and learn about some best practices when it comes to conducting hashtag research.

Look At Competitors

A good place to start is to see what hashtags your local and national competitors are using. If a lot of your competitors are using it, it’s likely a good hashtag.

This isn’t cut and dry though. It’s important to look at what posts are ranking under the hashtags and see if your content would make sense among the ranked posts.

If there is inappropriate or vulgar content under the hashtag, you won’t want to use it to promote your brand.

Search Keywords Within Your Industry

Know that almost anything can be a hashtag. Think about what products or services you sell and what people might be searching for if they want to find your company.

For example, if you’re a hairdresser, you may search words like #hair, #haircut, #hairdresser. See what industry words work and relate to what you’re posting.

When researching industry words, start by looking at broad hashtags and view posts that use these tags. Then, see what other hashtags these users have on their posts. There are likely more narrowed hashtags that could be used for your social media.

See What’s Trending

Scroll through your social media and see what hashtags are trending that are unrelated to your industry. Some trending hashtags will have connections to what your business does and who you are. Don’t make every hashtag a “trending” one, but it’s good to use a few. 

It’s also good to see how many people have posted under the hashtag. 100 or less is not that many. 10,000,000 is a lot. It’s good to use hashtags that are more widely used because it will reach a bigger audience. It’s also helpful to use less common hashtags so your posts have a larger chance of ranking high. Find a good balance of both.

Know How Many To Use

For platforms like Facebook and LinkedIn, there is such a thing as too many hashtags. A good rule of thumb is 3-5 hashtags for these platforms.

Instagram is a little different as these posts should feature a lot more hashtags. You can use up to 30 hashtags on Instagram, but it’s recommended to use 10-20 per post. The hashtags on Instagram should be hidden further down in the caption by pressing enter a few times.

Make Sure The Hashtag Is Clear

If the tag is unclear or vague it could convey the wrong message. Since hashtags have no spaces between them, messages could get misconstrued if you’re not careful. 

An unfortunate example of this is the hashtag #amazonshitcarshow. This hashtag was supposed to be “Amazon’s Hit Car Show,” but it clearly sent a different message. Look at your hashtags all together and all lowercase before you use them to avoid a similar mishap.

Improve Your Social Media Conversion Through Effective Hashtag Research

Choosing the right hashtags can help your posts succeed and even convert more prospects into customers. Research your hashtags consistently to keep up with trends and make sure your brand is sharing the right message.

Have questions about hashtag research? We’re here to help!