We recently blogged about some top tips on how to use and develop hashtags for your social media platforms, but we thought it would be good to take a look platform by platform as to how to use them correctly and not to be seen a lazy poster or spamming people into a coma!
Here we go!
Although Twitter was the original home of hashtags, Instagram is where they have matured and are used to their full potential!
We view hashtags on Instagram as the fuel to push your post as far as it can go. People can see them as spam, so various techniques have been suggested to help you to use hashtags but in a way that won’t annoy people but still give the posts the power they need.
When you write your caption in Instagram, we would suggest you create it, (long or short) then add (5 dots)
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And add your hashtags here. This way the hashtags, though vital, are below the fold and not causing too much busyness on your feed. I have employed this tactic for a while now and it allows me to add a good set of hashtags to propel my post without it looking busy.
An option to this is to write your caption as normal and post, then add the hashtags to your first comment box, again to propel your post.
You can add up to 30 hashtags to your post, and it is up to you if you choose to use all of those, it can depend on the subject matter. I usually use as many as I can.
So use as many as you can. But this is probably the only platform you can do this on! Take note those that have their platforms connected!
Hashtag research blog – coming soon
The original home of the hashtag, using them in your tweets can make your posts be easily searched and therefore increasing your visibility on social media.
Hashtags on Twitter are also indexed by Google, adding some strength to your SEO presence.
Yes, you can add hashtags on Facebook and I do in moderation. They just don’t seem to have the same impact as the other platforms.
I tend to stick to locations for those I use, just to add a bit more context to some of the businesses I work with. Certainly adding them in the quantity we suggest for Instagram is a definite no no and if very obvious when you can see posts that are linked across platforms. Yuk!
The hashtags on Facebook can still be used in the same way to search for people etc. if you click on them, but I find a lot of people don’t use the right hashtags on facebook to make this that worthwhile.
Yes, even Pinterest has jumped on the #hashtag bandwagon. thought they resisted for a long time, it is now actively encouraged when adding into your board descriptions.
The platform will allow up to 20 per pin but we would recommend 2-3 per pin is enough and base them on the keywords you want to be searched for
Last to the hashtag party is LinkedIn.
I have found these quite enjoyable on Linkedin as it can be a great way to read and find more content about specific contents, and due to Linkedin’s article and posts, you often get a decent amount of information too.
Linkedin also offers you the option to follow hashtags which again can be a great time-saving tool if there are specific areas of interest you want a constant stream of new information on. it helps to you find relevant and topical conversation to interact and get involved in.
I also use them in every post I add to LinkedIn, they will not be added to article directly but instead feature in the commentary above when displaying your article.
Once you have published your article you cannot edit, remove or add to the hashtags.
Three is also the maximum I would use on each post. As you use them more and more Linkedin is helpful to provide your most popular ones under your post so it is easy to pick them up and add to your post.
Hashtags will not be added to the article itself but can be found in the commentary that shows above your article in the LinkedIn feed.
