Hey, do you know why do we use hashtags?

Yes, these crazy little pound signed words are everywhere these days right from Twitter to Instagram to Jimmy and Justin. Although they may seem a little stupid, but the truth is that they have become an integral part of social media. If used correctly, they have the potential to be truly valuable. So now, let’s review WHY you should use it and HOW to use it effectively across different platforms. With these awesome tools it will you choose the best ones on your next social media post!

Now, Let’s bring it on!

What is a Hashtag for?

A hashtag is used to categorize content on social media. It’s like a glorified tagging system.

Why should I be using Hashtags?

For people who work in social media, hashtags can be extremely valuable. Here you go…

• For the current young generation, hashtags are “as natural and common as writing a query in the search box”
• It connects your content to a trending topic and makes it viewable to anyone who is interested in that topic, EVEN if they are not in your list.
• Hashtags expand your reach to anyone who is interested in that keyword or phrase of the tag!

Sounds good, huh?

Hold on a second though, before you head out and start blowing up your social media with pound signs… Each and every social network has proven that their users have certain choices on how they handle hashtags. We shall go over on “how you should use the hashtags” depending on each site. Take a look at how to successfully use hashtags on each of these networks.

How to Use Hashtags across different platforms:

Twitter
First of all, statistics show us that just by adding hashtags to your tweet you’ll get 2X more engagement! That’s 2X more clicks, retweets, favourites, and replies.

Let’s check the reality!

• Tweets that include hashtags are 33% more likely to be retweeted than those without.
• Tweets with only one hashtag are 69% more likely to get retweets than those with two hashtags.
• Tweets that have more than two hashtags actually drop 17% in engagement.

If your tweet has a hashtag with 11 or more characters, it’s 117% more likely to get retweeted than hashtags with 6-10 characters. Click to Tweet this fact!

Takeaway:
Using Hashtags on Twitter is definitely a good idea.

Less is more when it comes to Hashtags in the Twitter world. Too many hashtags can actually lead to less interaction and less retweets! Don’t overwhelm your Twitter followers with too many hashtags.

Longer hashtags are selected by users. They also give you a chance to work with and to come up with something catchy for your content.

Instagram
Well, so Instagram is a whole new ball game. Apparently people on Instagram prefer hashtags. Research shows that interaction is not highest with one, nor two, nor three, nor 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, nor 10, but with ELEVEN hashtags or more.

Yes, you heard it right!

Takeaway:
Based on studies, there is no cap to how many hashtags you can use. It seems like if you are looking to grow your Instagram account quickly, it’s probably your best bet to include several hashtags in order for your pictures to be seen by more people. Including more hashtags makes your photos more visible on the search screen and users across the platform. So hashtag right away!

*Warning: It’s not absolutely necessary to include that many. So, don’t go overboard with irrelevant tags. Stick on to what your picture is about and you’ll be okay. 

Facebook:
Here again, we’re looking at a completely different story. What research has shown in regards to hashtags on Facebook is that, they actually do not help boost engagement. Rather, posts WITHOUT hashtags generally have more reach and engagement.

Posts with hashtags received only .8% viral reach, while posts WITHOUT hashtags had 1.3% viral reach to audience.

However, in the recent past there is a lot of information that has been released and Facebook users might be warming up to the idea, but just not enthralled with the overuse of them. New studies have shown that Facebook posts with just 1-2 hashtags outperform posts with 3 – 9 hashtags.

Takeaway:
Hashtags are not very much essential on Facebook platform as they are on Twitter and Instagram. However, they might be on top of your search list. Just like on Twitter, don’t go overboard and restrict it to one or two hashtags.

Google +
It’s true that Google is also in the hashtag world. Take a look at what’s happening with G+ in the hashtag world:

Hashtags are AUTOMATICALLY assigned to your posts for categorizing purposes. 

But Guess what? Hashtags are now a part of Google’s Search engine. This indicates that if you type a hashtag in the search bar, you will get a list of regular results in addition to relevant G+ posts.

G+ lets you include them in your comments too, which gives more opportunity to be visible or highlighted.

Takeaway:
The fact that Google offers space on their search engine for hashtags, we should be incentive enough to utilize them on G+. This information also shows us how important it is to use them on Twitter and Facebook because Google actually lists a link to Twitter search, for that specific hashtag in their results.

Okay, now that you know how to use hashtags on each of the distinct sites, we shall provide few tools that can help you choose the BEST hashtags for your posts:

Tools for choosing the best Hashtags:

1. Hashtag Search Tool: This tool helps you to find the hashtags related to the keyword of your posts. After finding the hashtags, you just need to copy and paste them on your posts before scheduling them.

2. TagBoard: TagBoard gathers information from Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, G+ and Vine related to any of the hashtags explored for. It’s brilliant because it organizes all the text, images and videos and presents them to you in an user-friendly interface.

3. Hashtagify.me: This tool shows you other relevant hashtags that’s most commonly accompanied with a certain hashtag. This information can help you choose the right hashtag to reach your audience. They also feature top influencers and usage patterns.

4. TalkWalker: This is an ultimate hashtag tracking tool which gives you information on geographic distribution, sentiment analysis, information on your competitors’ hashtags, gender distribution etc.

5. RiteTag: RiteTag helps you choose the right hashtag by showing you the right colour. It classifies if a certain hashtag is good, popular, or excessively used. They also survey them for you and allow you to create a library of hashtags to continue using.

6. Trendsmap: This is super good tool if you have a local business and want to see what are the most popular hashtags used in YOUR area.

Hashtags has its own value even if it sounds silly initially. There is also value in learning how to use and incorporate them into your social media strategy. We hope that you were able to pick up a few tips and tools that will help you when you post on social media.

Which is your favourite hashtag on social media? Do you find them effective for your social media marketing strategy…?

Source:  postcron.com