In our previous blogs, we’ve talked about taking this time during lockdown to really focus on how to up your social media game. One of the things you could focus on looking at, is your usage (or none usage) of hashtags.

Hashtags initially started off on Twitter, however nowadays we see them on other social platforms including Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest and LinkedIn.

Whichever platform your business is using, knowing how and when to use a hashtag will really boost your engagement.

If you think you’re doing everything you can for your brand with #FollowFriday or #ThrowbackThursday, stay right there. There is so much more you could be doing.

What is a Hashtag?

A hashtag (#) is a way of connecting social media content to a specific topic, event, theme or conversation and they always begin with #. They make it easier to find posts around the topic, as hashtags collect together all social media content with that same hashtag. For example, if you’re looking for images on Instagram of vanilla ice cream, by searching #VanillaIceCream you’ll see all the posts that use this hashtag – makes sense, right?

Before we go hashtag crazy, here at Social Soda, we’ve put together a list of tips to get you started using hashtags in the correct way.

1. Make Sure They Fit your Brand

It’s so tempting to jump on every hashtag trending, but if it doesn’t fit your brand’s image, message, content or audience it’s probably best to leave that one be. For example, if your brand is aimed at the over 50s market, using a hashtag heavy on youth slang, may look a bit #awkward!

2. Keep Them Short and Simple

Twitter only allows 280 characters, so if your hashtag is taking too many of those characters up, people won’t want to use it because it will take away from their content and it gets a bit awkward if people don’t know how to spell it. You also don’t want to lose attention from your content by overcrowding it with too many hashtags.

3. Consider Putting Capital Letters at the Start of Each Word

Sometimes when you put words together in a single hashtag, it can be confusing what the hashtag says #doyouknowwhatwemean and sometimes the meaning is lost.

If you put capital letters at the start of each word #TheyBecomeALittleClearer

This is, however, individual choice and one to consider, depending on the hashtag.

4. Does It Make Sense?

We’ve all seen those hashtags gone wrong. The ones where two words put together have been misconstrued to be something else. For example, when Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher died, a trending hashtag #nowthatchersdead was misunderstood by some people as ‘now that chers dead’, resulting in a number of #RIPCher posts trending on Twitter. We’re sure the popstar saw the funny side to it; however, this could have been easily avoided with a simple use of capital letters - #NowThatchersDead.

5. No Spaces, Punctuations or Symbols Please

Social media networks won’t pick up hashtags that have a space in them and don’t think about putting punctuation marks like apostrophes or hyphens in – they won’t be recognised. For example, The Queen’s Speech becomes #TheQueensSpeech and Super Bowl becomes #SuperBowl.

It’s also OK to use numbers, as long as you complement them with some text like #10DowningStreet or #London2012

6. Quality VS Quantity

Limit the number of hashtags you use. It’s quality over quantity here and too many can sometimes look a little spammy.

Photos with 11+ hashtags are known to get the most interactions on Instagram; however, they can also look like spam when overdone. If you are looking to get more interaction with hashtags, make sure they are relevant.

You’ll also see brands and individuals that use popular hashtags and just throw them in to their social messages, with no context, just so other accounts can find them. This is pointless and whilst it may work in the short term, you may lose followers if Instagram does a ‘clear out’ and sees this as spam, therefore, stay clear of this.

7. Add a Hashtag to your Bio

On Instagram, people can follow hashtags. This means your content can end up in a users’ feed even if they don’t follow you. So, if you’re sharing great content and tagging it with relevant hashtags, many of them will start following you. Consider adding a hashtag you’ve created to your bio in Instagram.

8. Go Public

If you want your content to be included in a hashtag search, make sure your account is public, otherwise non-followers won’t see it.

As you can see hashtags can make or break your social media messages and engagement. When done right, you really can see some fantastic results, you just need to know where, when, and how to use them.

We hope you’ve enjoyed this blog and you are now aimed with some tips to get you started in the right direction. If you have any questions, please get in touch at hello@socialsoda.co.uk