Make the most of hashtags on Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest.
Hashtags started as a quirk of Twitter and have since taken over the online world. They’ve even been featured in a hit song—Lost Generation by Rizzle Kicks. The irony is that even though hashtags have now arguably become integral to the functioning of the internet, it’s clear that there are people out there, including people managing social media for brands, who need some help using them.
With that in mind, here are three tips on how to make the most of hashtags.
1. Think of hashtags in the same way as you think of keywords for search engine optimisation
When users want to find something in Google, they enter their keywords, and the search engine will try to find content that looks like a good fit. Hashtags on social media work in almost the same way, except that, at this time, searching on a hashtag only brings up exact matches rather than close matches.
For example, if a user enters #blueshoe, social media sites will currently only look for posts containing #blueshoe. However, if a user puts the search term “blue shoe” into a search engine, the search engine would probably include results for “blue shoes” too, as well—probably—as “blue boots,” “blue high heels,” and so on.
With this in mind, keep your hashtag(s) relevant to the key point(s) of your post, keeping them short and obvious. With Instagram, however, longer hashtags that are in common use among your demographic or niche (e.g., #blondehairdontcare or #veganfoodporn) are good to use as they are clickable to help people find similar content.
Remember, YouTube does not use hashtags. Click here for videos.
Example
If you were a local dentist and you wanted to tag your posts with something that your patient audience may be following and interested in you could use #dentist, #dentistry, #dental, #dentists, #dentalmarketing, #localdentist #(your-location), #smile, #teeth, #cosmeticdentistry #cosmeticdentist, #lovedentistry, #dentistforkids, #dentistrylove, #pediatricdentist, #dentistappointment,
#dentalassistant, #dentalhygiene, #dentalhygienist, #dentalcare, #dentalwork, #dentalclinic, or for treatments #dentalimplant or #invisalign!
Still stuck: Instagram Hashtags: Everything You Need To Know in 2024
Tailor your hashtags to the platform and your content
Instagram and Pinterest are arguably the two most visual, hashtag-using social media platforms out there (as yet, YouTube doesn’t use hashtags). Therefore, hashtags tend to be used to identify the content of a picture.
A prominent example is when working with brands that want their specific products identified somewhere in the post. Facebook is more like Twitter in that it is much less visual, and hashtags tend to be used to identify topics, hence the trending topics section run by both platforms. It should be noted that, while hashtags certainly have their uses on Facebook, possibly the single, biggest difference between Facebook and Twitter is that Facebook is a much more closed network in the sense that it tends to be where people hang out with their established friends. In contrast, Twitter is much more open in the sense that it’s more likely that people will interact with strangers.
Brands beware: be careful mentioning brands by name
There are clear rules around sponsored content, and by now, anyone who creates content for social media should be aware of them. More.
If you are working with brands, they may well have their own requirements. Otherwise, be cautious about using brand names in posts. First of all, the brand belongs to the company that owns it rather than to you. Second, having brand names in a post can make it look like a sales pitch and raise suspicions that it’s unmarked sponsored content.
Even if you work directly with brands, using a descriptive hashtag that reflects their identity rather than hashtagging their name can be best.
