Why hashtag research should be an essential part of your social media marketing strategy

It’s impossible to scroll through your social media feed without seeing hashtags. It’s undeniable that the hashtag sign is ubiquitous, but do you know exactly what hashtags do? Do you also know how hashtags can be a core part of your social media marketing strategy?

In this blog post, The ValPal Network will give you a rundown on what hashtags are, what they can do for you and how to use them effectively.

What is a hashtag?

Hashtags are essentially labels used on social media which make it easier to find posts relevant to a specific topic. If you want to be more technical, a hashtag is a metadata tag. Hashtags are created when the “#” symbol prefaces a word or words without any spaces.

Why are hashtags important for social media marketing?

Hashtags help to make your social media posts discoverable. There’s an overload of information available online and people use hashtags so they can find exactly what they’re looking for. Hashtags are mainly used on social media sites such as Instagram, Twitter and YouTube. People can follow hashtags on Instagram as well as accounts. Popular hashtags on Twitter become trending topics.

 

Social media marketing is all about promoting your brand or business on social media and well-used hashtags enable your posts to be seen.

 

4 reasons to use hashtags

 

• It makes your content easy to find.

 

• They allow social media users to find and engage with content related to their interests.

 

• A good way of labelling and discovering niche social media content.

 

• It allows content to reach more people and be found by users all over the globe.

 

How to use hashtags effectively

 

1. Short and specific

 

Using long, unclear, generic and difficult to spell hashtags probably won’t give you the results you’re after. A more skilful way to use hashtags is to keep them short, specific and easy to spell.

 

A hashtag that’s straightforward about what it is will also give your audience a clear idea of what your brand is about.

 

A top tip is to find which topics are relevant to your audience. Find hashtags that are already being used and relate to your content and business.

 

1. Search hashtags before using them

 

Before you start using hashtags, you should search them before, so you can ensure the hashtags aren’t being used for the wrong reason. You want to make sure your hashtags aren’t at odds with your brand or can be interpreted negatively.

 

1. Use hashtags in moderation

 

You know that hashtags can help with engagement and visibility, but using too many hashtags can reduce their effectiveness. A study from Social Baker suggests using 10+ hashtags can reduce engagement by 68.2%.

 

1. How to use hashtags across social media platforms

Twitter: Use 2 hashtags per tweet for best engagement.

Pinterest: Use 2 hashtags for best engagement.

Facebook: Use 2 hashtags on Facebook; a popular hashtag and a tailored hashtag for your brand.

TikTok: Use 4-5 hashtags to improve your reach.

Instagram: Don’t use more than 9 per Instagram post for better engagement.

LinkedIn:  Limit it to a maximum of 5. If you use more than 5, the LinkedIn Algorithm might mark your posts as spam.

How hashtags have worked for us

At Angels Media, the company behind The ValPal Network, our Social Media Account Manager, Diyane Aydemir, has seen an increase in followers and engagement for her clients through her use of hashtags.

Diyane joined us in January and since managing our client Lawrence Rand’s Instagram, she’s seen their likes double.

Diyane said: “They receive an average of 9-12 likes compared to 3-4 likes before I started. This was just from hashtags alone.”

Diyane says she uses a variety of property hashtags to reach out to as many relevant audiences as possible. Diyane uses hashtags such as #entrepreneur for landlord posts, as landlords consider themselves as entrepreneurs. She has also found that location hashtags work well and attract local residents and businesses in the area.

Through her hashtag research, Diyane has found that businesses support each other a lot on Instagram and like to engage with each other. To tap into this, Diyane uses hashtags such as #ukbusiness #londonbusiness #ceo #businessowner.

To find out how The ValPal Network can help with your social media strategy, please get in touch with us today.