I have been having so many conversations with clients in the last year around HASHTAGS!

• How to use them
• Where to use them
• How many to use
• What platforms to use them on
• What they are actually all about
• How can they help you grow your presence on social media and get noticed by the right people (buyers/customers) at the right time

If any of those questions are something you have pondered relating to hashtags, then today’s blog is just for you!

WHAT ARE HASHTAGS ABOUT (and what are they for?)

This is a big question!

Hashtags are a way of cross-referencing content and sharing the content of a particular topic or theme.

In a nutshell, hashtags make content discoverable in on-platform searches so you can (in theory) reach more people.

For example, if I use the hashtag of #smallbusiness on a social media platform search, it should theoretically gather all the posts about small businesses in one spot.  I say theoretically because there’s no hashtag police you say you can’t use #smallbusiness on your photo of your dog doing tricks for instance – you can use it – but you probably shouldn’t unless you are in the business of training dogs, but no one is going to stop you!

From a business point of view, we use them to boost our social reach and engagement.

We use them as an attraction strategy to try and attract people who are interested in that subject.

You might follow a particular hashtag set or search a platform using that hashtag. If you are using hashtags relating to your business, it helps people to find you, love you and buy from you!

Hashtags can be used to nurture too, in that you are nurturing those already in your world with amazing content, some strategic content until they are ready to buy or buy again.

HOW MANY HASHTAGS SHOULD YOU USE ON DIFFERENT PLATFORMS

While you can hashtag your little heart out on most platforms and put in as many as the system will allow, more is not always better when it comes to Hashtag usage. Below are the currently recommended hashtag amounts.

Twitter – 1 to 2 hashtags

• Doesn’t matter if you use them at the beginning, middle or end of your tweet.
• You can also use them in comments, in your bio or when you retweet something.
• With only using 1-2 of them – thinking trending ones for most traction.

Facebook – 2-5 hashtags

• You can use them anywhere – in comments or in posts
• Remember, you are using them to group content together – someone of them probably should be all about you and your business to keep all your content together.
• On Facebook, people will use hashtags to:
  • Search for things
  • See a feed of Facebook posts using that hashtag
  • Search in private groups for a particular hashtag

LinkedIn – 2-5 hashtags

• LinkedIn is similar to Facebook in this respect

Youtube – 2-3

• I have asked those in my world who are YouTube experts, and they tell me that using 2-3 is the optimal way to go.

Pinterest – 2 to 5

• Again, this is similar to Facebook

Instagram – up to 30!

• This is the BIG one where there is capacity to use up to 30 hashtags

MORE ON INSTAGRAM HASHTAGS

There are SO many people with SO many opinions on how many hashtags to actually use on Instagram.

I’m sure some people are reading this blog and perhaps internally yelling “NO WAY – not 30, such n such said to use X number blah blah blah”.

But my advice on this? The platform gives you room to use 30 – so use 30!

My reasoning for trying to use all the available hashtags is that when it comes to these big social media companies, how often do they give us a tool they don’t want us to use?

So, if they didn’t want us to use 30, they wouldn’t allow up to 30. It comes down to a bit of maths in my opinion – if you only use 10 – you have 10 chances of people found, if you use 15 then you have 15 chances – and so on and so forth.

Use all 30 you have 30 chances of coming up in someone’s feed who might need exactly what you sell and you are their new bestie!

BUT, and there’s always a BUT – it’s marketing after all – don’t use 30 for the sake of it. You must keep your hashtags RELEVANT. If there are only 20 that fit in with the theme of your post, (or 12 or 18) then just use those.

But honestly, if you aren’t using at least 10, in my opinion, you aren’t playing the Instagram hashtag game right!

My biggest tips when it comes to hashtags on Instagram:

1. Follow the ones that you use the most or want to be found for the most
2. Keep an eye on what’s trending, who’s trending in the hashtags relating to your business. For example, if you want to be seen as a marketer (and if you are in the business of marketing), you will start to see trends and things to help you in your own hashtag strategy
3. These 10, 20 or 30 hashtags that you are using, are a liquid document – not a set and forget them.
4. Analyse the data around your use of hashtags. Are you coming up for them in searches? Are you being found because of the hashtags you are using? If yes, great. If no – then change them.
5. Don’t use the same ones over and over with no result and expect a different result!  Do some hashtag research at least every 2 months.

HOW DO YOU ANALYSE WHAT HASHTAGS YOU’VE USED?

Once you are using the hashtags on your posts, click on them to see if your posts are in the feeds for the hashtag you’ve been using.

Another way is to look at the analytics the posts on the platform – some do give you stats on hashtags.

It’s not rocket science, but it is work that needs to be done to make sure your hashtags are hitting the mark.

WHAT HASHTAGS DO I USE?

I’m going to give you my hashtag three-part strategy here that concentrates on Instagram – because this is where the volume of you will be using hashtags and its where most confusion comes from with which ones to use and not use.

Most people will go straight for the obvious and often big ones – even if they don’t realise they are big ones because they didn’t do their research first, just starting hashtagging.

So, let’s say you are going to use 30. We need to break the 30 into thirds. (So, if you’re using 10, do the same, if you’re using 15 do the same – break them into thirds or approximate thirds).

• First third – less than 10,000 posts against them if possible.

These are your niche/super niche set of hashtags. In this category could be: your business name, your name, your location, locations, your slogan, and so forth. Think niche for these – they give a little about you and the product or service you are posting about. (NOTE: It might be a bit harder if you are using a location hashtag like #bondi as these will generally have more than 10000, but do some searches and see how you go).

Why niche? Because those #’s are the BEST chance you have of being found – best chance of traction because they are smaller, less noisy, less competitive – more likely to be seen by your potential buyer.

• Second third – hashtags the size of 10,000 to 300,000

This can be the sweet spot. Using well selected and relevant hashtags in the 10-30k range have a fair-to-good chance of being discovered. The sets aren’t so big you get lost, but aren’t super niche either. Look at leading competitor accounts and see what hashtags they are using that are in this number range.

• Last third – 300,000 + up to the millions. There higher the number of usage the less chance of coming up or being discovered under these highly competitive and noisy hashtags – but happy days if you do!

As you can see from this section above, if you are JUST using MASSIVE hashtags, your chances of being discovered in the noisy and crowded marketplace of that hashtage are so small and therefore you are really wasting your energy if you are only shooting for the big stars.

Now, all this theory needs to be tailored to your audience, your business and your goals!

If your books are full and you can’t take on more clients but just want to nurture your audience without anything to sell – your strategy looks different.

If your business is very local and you don’t sell online or can’t sell online, then again, your strategy would have a much more local focus and you would tailor this advice to suit.

I often find that initially, if my clients follow this information that we just ran through aboe, and they then:

• Look at the numbers against hashtags
• Why that matters in their own business
• The purpose of the hashtags being used

This generally makes something click for people and they have an aha moment with their socials and start to be a bit more purposeful, all by just by thinking about things a little different – like I’ve presented here!

Maybe that’s you!  I hope it’s helped and given you some insight for sure.

But – if you need to get advice specific to your business – then you can reach out and book a chat with me! I’d love to help you nail your hashtag strategy!

IN SUMMARY:

• Change your hashtags them up where appropriate (especially Instagram, do your research)
• Watch your own insights and make sure your marketing efforts are working the best they can be for you.
• Do a competitor analysis by having a look at your competitors’ social media and see what they are using and if they are successful in using them.
• Follow the hashtags that are appropriate for your business and put them in your feed so you can see patterns, and trends as they happen.
• And an extra tip for retailers – you are selling a brand that’s not your own – for instance, selling Maxwell and Williams products – research which hashtags that brand is using.  Often your suppliers have much bigger marketing and research budgets than you and are possibly using hashtags that are engaging their shoppers already – so you can piggyback on that success by using them too!

I hope this has un-muddied the water a little around hashtags for you and perhaps give you some tips on how to make your marketing efforts work better for you.

Let me know in my Like Minded Business Owners group your insights and questions around hashtags – happy to chat more over there for sure. If you’re not a member, come join in!

CONTACT JENN:

One that that I so enjoy in my work is assisting clients with all things relating to Social Media. Did you know I have free discovery calls available? Book a call with me at: https://calendly.com/jenn-smm/discovery

And don’t forget – if you haven’t joined my Like Minded Business Owners facebook group, please do! It is such an awesome community of business owners, and everyone is super supportive of each other and in sharing of their knowledge!

Or you can DM me on Instagram or send me an email jenn@jenndonovan.com.au

I wish to acknowledge the Traditional Custodians of the land, the Yorta Yorta People, on which I conduct my business today and pay my respects to their Elders past and present. I extend that respect to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples reading this blog post today.

About the Author:

Jenn Donovan of Social Media & Marketing Australia.  Jenn’s a coach and mentor from rural NSW and is all about empowering business owners to earn what they’re worth so they can make a bigger difference in the world.  The Founder of Buy From a Bush Business, Co-Founder of Spend With Us – Buy From a Bush Business Marketplace and host of the very popular podcast Small Business Made Simple, Jenn is all about community and humans interacting with humans!  H2H Marketing – human to human marketing. Jenn talks the talk but importantly walks the walk! Jenn’s online community is over 320,000 with her famous Facebook Group currently at almost 351,000 members and still growing every day.  She’s the major of her own little online city!

Get in touch – www.socialmediaandmarketing.com.au

On Instagram – @jenndonovan_

On Facebook – Social Media and Marketing with Jenn Donovan

Or on LinkedIn as Jenn Donovan

​