SOCIAL MEDIA
Studies have shown the
recommended number of
hashtags per tweet is two,
whereas Instagram is a lot more
forgiving: You can use up to 11
hashtags per post. Using more
runs the risk of decreasing
engagement.
The reason why hashtags are so
popular is because they allow
your post to be seen by a wider
audience who might not already
be connected with you. It’s
important to understand they
were created as a service, as a
way to shorten the process when
it comes to finding more posts
about topics you’re interested in.
Understanding this and why
people use hashtags can help
you develop your strategy for all
the social media platforms you
use. Twitter and Instagram are
the most useful, but Facebook
and Google+ also allow hashtags.
However, because Google+ isn’t
as popular as the other networks,
hashtags won’t bring you the
type of exposure you may get
from using them on Instagram or
Twitter. Conversely, most people
use Facebook to connect with
people they already know, so
hashtags aren’t as heavily clicked
on or used as they are on Twitter
and Instagram.
Do Some Research
When you’re first starting to use
hashtags, it’s important to do
research. You don’t know what’s
going to work and what won’t be
helpful.
Visual Contenting
However, as long as you use
hashtags regularly, you’ll get a
better feel for what gets more
interaction, like clicks and
retweets, over other hashtags
that aren’t as popular. There are
a few tools you can use to help
conduct some hashtag research,
some of which are already built
into the platforms and sites you
already use.
Tagboard is a free service
that allows you to search by
hashtag across multiple social
media platforms, including
Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, and
Vine. Other hashtag analytics
and search tools include
Hashtracking.com and Topsy.
These three resources offer paid
and free versions.
A service like Tagboard allows
you to see how active specific
hashtags are across certain
social media sites. It can also
be used as a way to engage
more with your target audience.
For example, if you searched
for the hashtag #HIIT, which is
an acronym for “high intensity
interval training,” you would
find that this would be a great
hashtag to use for a supplement
company, a gym, or a personal
trainer who shares free workouts
and advice online. If you produce
HIIT workouts, this would be
a great hashtag to find more
prospective customers.
Twitter Search
There are several different
API services that allow you to
search Twitter, but Twitter itself
offers a search tool that’s easy
to use and lets you filter by top
results or live results. The results
are automatically sorted from
newest to oldest.