2022 Best Practices For Hashtags
If it seems like hashtags are always changing, that’s because they are. And it’s important to keep up. Done well, this form of marketing can significantly boost your brand’s visibility, attract more customers, and generate buzz around your latest events, services, or products.
Hashtags are both an art and a science, however, requiring a high degree of creativity and careful attention to best practices. The internet is a lucrative but constantly evolving marketplace and what got your brand noticed in 2021 may earn you a social media shaming in 2022.
Following current best practices for each platform can help you take advantage of trends, reach new audiences, and refine your hashtag strategy to become a social media superstar.
Using hashtags on Twitter
Given how ubiquitous they’ve become on the platform, it’s no surprise that the inventor of hashtags was a Twitter user. The feature debuted in 2007 and enjoyed instant popularity, quickly migrating to other social media platforms as users saw the benefits of the search and sort tool.
On this network, it’s not unusual for posts to get hashtag heavy but Twitter recommends using no more than 2 per post for maximum engagement. These can be fairly specific, honing in on a topic to better filter engagement. For example, if you’re selling insurance, try #HomeAndAutoInsurance rather than #insurance. And yes, capitalization matters. Using caps in this way makes hashtags easier to read and more accessible.
Twitter hashtags allow people to easily follow topics they’re interested in, with the most popular becoming ‘trending topics’. These are a good opportunity for businesses to reach a specific audience, appear relevant, and promote engagement. Businesses that use hashtags to connect with what’s happening on Twitter experience an 8% jump in brand awareness and a 3% lift in purchase intent.
To make the most of your Twitter hashtags, the platform recommends the following:
Always use correct spelling
Choose hashtags that are relevant to your brand, and easily understood
Make sure the same hashtag hasn’t been used in a very different context as that can create confusion
Create unique hashtags for one-off campaigns like events or product launches - use them frequently to generate awareness and retire them once the campaign is over
Using hashtags on Instagram
Instagram users can let loose with their hashtags, adding multiple tags to each post to make sure they’re discovered by the right audience. In fact, hashtags are the only way to appear in searches on Instagram as, unlike other platforms, it doesn’t provide a keyword search tool. If users want to find something, they have no option but to click on topic tags.
Loading your post up with hashtags is a great way to expand your reach and build a community on the busy platform. Instagram users can follow hashtags they’re interested in, and click on each to see every post with that hashtag. Best practices for tagging on Instagram include:
While you can add up to 30 hashtags to a post, that can quickly get tiresome for readers. Try to stick to 12-14 and make sure they’re relevant.
Choose hashtags that relate to your niche, but don’t use the exact same set every time. Switch up a few to tailor your tags to each specific post. You can save time by creating sets for categories of posts e.g events or promotions but don’t get repetitive
Be wary of using spammy hashtags. Instagram can ban hashtags associated with inappropriate content, meaning your tagged post won’t be seen. It’s also bad practice to use blatant follower grabs like #FollowMe or #FollowBack
Carefully research your hashtags to see how they’re being used - context matters!
Using hashtags on LinkedIn
With the first appearing in 2016, hashtags are relatively new to LinkedIn. But that doesn’t mean you should overlook their potential on this platform. LinkedIn is less competitive than Twitter or Instagram in terms of content, giving businesses a great opportunity to get noticed.
Standing out from the crowd on LinkedIn means tweaking your strategy. What works in the frantic feeds of Twitter and Instagram won’t land you followers here. LinkedIn is a platform for professionals, so the tone is very different. This is your chance to establish credibility and create meaningful connections with your consumers.
LinkedIn recommends the following best practices:
Use no more than 3 hashtags per post. General tags work well here (e.g #FinancialPlanning rather than #FinancialPlanningForKids) but it’s also a good idea to mix it up and try a combination of broad and niche hashtags. Keep in mind that the more niche hashtags won’t have as many followers (if any) so make sure you’re using a more general hashtag alongside a niche one.
Do your research - follow hashtags relevant to your brand to see what your competitors are doing, and monitor hashtag frequency
Avoid gimmicky hashtags, keep it professional and business-focused. The top performing hashtags on LinkedIn in 2021 included #innovation, #management, and #HumanResources. These attracted over 30 million followers each.
Location-based hashtags are a great way to reach local audiences
Always capitalize multi-word hashtags for readability
Using hashtags on Facebook
Hashtags have come and gone from Facebook over the years with users slow to embrace them on the platform. Facebook itself hasn’t updated its hashtag best practices since 2016, and doesn’t provide any data on how they’re being used.
So why bother? For one thing, hashtags make your posts more discoverable so they don’t get buried in Facebook’s massive search engine. Now that people are used to searching via hashtags on Instagram, they’re likely to continue that practice when filtering through their Facebook feed.
Hashtags are also helpful in pushing campaigns and engagement - Facebook uses hashtags to group communities and conversations so they’re a chance to meet your audience where they are.
Follow these recommendations to make the most of your Facebook hashtags:
Use 1-2 hashtags per post, and don’t worry about getting too specific. As with LinkedIn, general hashtags work well on Facebook
Jump on trending hashtags where possible so you can be sure of a guaranteed audience
Use your hashtags within the sentence rather than at the end of the post
Hashtags used on other platforms that have been connected to Facebook are clickable and searchable from within Facebook (this is most relevant for Instagram, which Facebook owns)
It’s tough to accurately track hashtags on Facebook given the number of private accounts but you can get an idea of how it’s being used at the URL: facebook.com/hashtag/___ and adding your keyword at the end e.g facebook.com/hashtag/fridayfun
Check your spelling and use capitalization for readability
