The Importance of Hashtags: Know Where, Why, and How to Use Them

Hashtags are no longer a new trend on social media.

However, if you’re new to this space, it’s important to understand hashtags. You might think the pound sign (#) is just for checking your voicemail, but it has a different role in social media: it represents the hashtag.

Hashtags are important for generating interest in your social media accounts and are widely used on platforms like X and Instagram.

Adding a hashtag to your posts helps organize content for your audience. For users, hashtags make it easier to discover posts that match their interests and connect with others who share those interests by participating in discussions about hashtag XY. For businesses, it’s an opportunity to gain visibility in those discussions and position your company as an authority on specific topics.

Understanding where, why, and how to use hashtags can greatly enhance your social media presence.

Why should you hashtag?

Hashtags work.

They help increase your social media presence as they make your content viewable by anyone who has an interest in your hashtag as it goes beyond just your followers.

Hashtags can help you build a brand for your business or yourself by engaging with customers and joining the conversation about what’s trending. If you participate in high-traffic conversation by discovering the biggest trending topics, you are more likely to gain great visibility to your business.

The more visibility you get, the more likely you are able to create a larger audience and a larger audience exponentially increases the likelihood of fresh leads for your business.

How to Use Hashtags on X

Hashtagging on X can have a major impact when it comes to your follower count by using general and non-specific hashtags. If you hashtag general words, like #creative, or events, like #TIFF, that are going on, it is more likely that your tweet will reach beyond your follower list.

Twitter hashtags encourage people to take part in conversations with the same topic and people engage with one another even if they are not following each other.

While hashtagging on Twitter can definitely help your social media presence, using long and wordy hashtags, like #bestcoffeeshopintheworld, in a Tweet can damage your presence as hashtags are supposed to make things easier to find and engage with others. In addition to long hashtags, using too many hashtags in one post can also be harming to your social media presence.

If your tweet is filled with more hashtags than content, it will come off to your followers as desperate and it certainly dilutes the message you are trying to convey.

How to Use Hashtags on Instagram

Similar to X, using hashtags on Instagram can help you engage with more than just your followers.

Hashtags on Instagram give “audiences an organic way to discover branded content through the topics and forums that interest them.” Engaging with a community is a good way to build a brand and Instagram hashtags allow you to engage with a specific community. Hashtags on Instagram are useful as they help other Insta users discover your profile, which can ultimately increase the likelihood of obtaining more followers.

Contrary to Twitter, using more specific hashtags on Instagram can help build a bigger audience for your business.

One tip you can consider when posting on Instagram: look at the hashtags your audience is already using and connect your hashtags with those. If you use general hashtags on your photos, you are more likely to not get many engagements and your photo will not stand out as much as you want or expect.

Why Hashtags on Facebook and LinkedIn Won’t Work

Even though hashtags are useful and drive engagement to your business social media accounts, hashtags don’t always work on every single social media platform.

For example: They are not meant to be used on Facebook or LinkedIn. If you continue to hashtag on LinkedIn and wonder why your hashtags are not clickable, it is because LinkedIn does not support hashtags. This completely negates the purpose and functionality of hashtags.

In terms of Facebook, posts without a hashtag perform better than posts that contain a hashtag. Facebook introduced hashtags back in 2013, and since then, research found that including hashtags in your Facebook posts does not pose any substantial benefit. Instead, it actually has a negative effect as it tends to irritate your friends.

The fact that hashtags are so unsuccessful on Facebook is partly because Facebook users are not using hashtags when they search.

The Benefits of Using Hashtags for Brand Building

Hashtags are more than a way to categorize content; they’re a key tool for brand visibility and community engagement. When used strategically, hashtags help build brand identity, increase reach, and make content more discoverable to relevant audiences. Here’s how hashtags can strengthen your brand:

• Increased Visibility: Hashtags expand your reach beyond just followers, allowing your posts to be discovered by a broader audience with shared interests. This heightened exposure attracts new followers, leading to increased engagement over time.
• Community Building: Branded hashtags, like #YourBrandName, foster community by encouraging customers to share their own content. By using a custom hashtag, you invite followers to connect with your brand and each other, building loyalty and user-generated content.
• Establishing Authority: Consistent use of topic-related hashtags can position your brand as an industry leader. When your brand frequently appears in conversations around specific subjects, it establishes credibility and authority within those topics.

Hashtag Do’s and Don’ts: Maximizing Impact Across Platforms

Using hashtags effectively requires tailoring your approach to each platform. Here’s a quick guide to hashtag best practices:

Do’s

• Do Research: Investigate popular hashtags in your niche to connect with relevant audiences. Use tools like Hashtagify and Trendsmap for insights on hashtag popularity and reach.
• Do Use Branded Hashtags: Develop a unique branded hashtag for customer engagement and brand recognition. Encourage followers to use it to share their own stories and experiences with your brand.
• Do Optimize for Platform: Use more hashtags on Instagram (around 10-15) to reach specific communities. On Twitter, stick to 1-2 focused hashtags for broader engagement.

Don’ts

• Don’t Overuse Hashtags: Overloading posts with hashtags looks cluttered and reduces engagement. Keep hashtags concise and relevant to maintain a professional and engaging appearance.
• Don’t Use Long Hashtags: Avoid lengthy hashtags that are hard to read, like #BestDigitalMarketingCompanyWorldwide. Stick to concise, memorable phrases.
• Don’t Use Irrelevant Hashtags: Using popular but unrelated hashtags for reach (like #Food on a tech post) can confuse audiences and harm brand credibility.

How to Track Hashtag Performance

To maximize the effectiveness of your hashtag strategy, it’s essential to monitor performance. Here are steps to help you analyze and improve your hashtag use:

1. Leverage Analytics Tools: Tools like Sprout Social, RiteTag, and Hashtagify allow you to track hashtag engagement, reach, and trends. Use these insights to determine which hashtags resonate most with your audience.
2. Assess Engagement Metrics: Look at metrics like likes, comments, shares, and reach for posts with specific hashtags. This data will help you understand which hashtags drive the most interaction and visibility.
3. Test and Refine: Test different types of hashtags—branded, industry-specific, and trending tags—to see which work best for your goals. Regularly adapt based on performance to keep your strategy effective.

Wrapping Up: Embrace Hashtags to Enhance Engagement

If hashtags are not something you have included in your social media posts for your personal or business accounts, it is never too late to join the fad. Hashtags are a continuously growing communications tool that can help you grow your social media presence and create more engagement to better your business.

Hashtags are a simple yet powerful tool to amplify your content’s reach and foster a sense of community around your brand.

By strategically using hashtags on platforms where they perform best, you’ll see stronger engagement and audience growth. As you hone your hashtag strategy, remember that effectiveness lies in selecting the right hashtags and adapting them based on platform-specific dynamics.