Use hashtags correctly: This is how it works!

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How to properly incorporate hashtags into your content strategy and find the right hashtags for your post

Hashtags are part of every social media content and have even become part of everyday language. But most of the time they are randomly assigned to the caption of the respective post and the correct use remains a mystery. In this blog post, you will learn how to best use hashtags and how to find the right hashtags for the content.

Why use hashtags?

With the hashtags, posts and content are assigned to specific topics and can thus be found more easily and quickly by interested parties. All content on common topics can thus be found by social media users at a glance. The skillful use of hashtags can contribute to significant success on social media and significantly increase the reach and engagement of the content.

How do I use hashtags correctly?

Finding the right hashtags is not that easy. It is therefore all the more important to get to grips with this topic in order to be able to use them skilfully.

In any case, a hashtag should clearly and individually match the selected topic of the content in order to be able to assign it directly. The target group actively searches for the hashtags because they are interested in this topic and accordingly also want to find the appropriate content. The more the target group now feels addressed with the content thanks to the hashtags, the greater the interaction of the community is also very likely. Here it is important to focus on the specific community that has a common “passion” for a specific topic.

It is also advantageous to adapt the hashtags to the respective platform and not to adopt them cross-medially due to the same content. Here it is important to find out over time which hashtags are particularly popular on which platform and which can be relevant for the topic of the content. No company and no creator should neglect this.

Examples: On Instagram, the hashtags mostly describe the respective image or video and not the overarching topic. On Twitter, on the other hand, the general topic areas are included in the hashtags in order to reach users in a targeted manner.

Another valuable tip is not to create the hashtags too individually. It is not important that every hashtag contains the company’s brand name. It is much more important to develop hashtags that encourage the community to participate. As soon as the community adopts its own individual hashtags and posts its own content on them, this hashtag will in any case be associated with the company and the brand: this leads to an increase in corporate identity.

The right amount of hashtags

Finding the right amount of hashtags is important in order to not overload the captions and still be able to take advantage of the hashtags. For example, posts with about nine hashtags receive the most interactions from the community. Again, it’s important that the hashtags are relevant to the content. The more specific the hashtags, the more defined the target audience.

Hashtags can also be used in the stories to increase the reach as well. This is possible with the help of the hashtag sticker or simply with the text tool. Up to 10 hashtags can be added in a story (up to 30 hashtags are possible in a post). These can be shrunk, hidden or hidden behind emojis, stickers or GIFs.

How to find the best hashtags for your business

Use hashtags that are related to the industry or brand, because: specific hashtags increase engagement. It is also helpful to observe your competitors and see which hashtags they use for which content and what public metrics their content has. Adapting to these hashtags of influential competitors increases the chance of achieving a high reach with these hashtags as well.

Another option is to use the Instagram search function to find out which hashtags are often used and searched for. Here it is recommended to try out simple hashtags and record the results.

These are the don’ts of hashtag use

 Elaborate and long

The hashtags should make it easier to search, find and interact within a social media platform. For this reason, the hashtags should not be too elaborate or too long, as these will most likely not be found and searched for.

Too many hashtags

The caption should not be overloaded with hashtags. The hashtags should not exceed the actual text in the caption.

Hashtags in every post

Hashtags are not necessary in every post. In the case of a simple announcement, statement or information about a particular topic, the hashtags can also be dispensed with once.

Always the same hashtags

The hashtags should always vary and be varied. Even with the same type of content, the hashtags should be changed to once again exploit the greatest possible potential.

Conclusion

Hashtags are an important and valuable companion to content. The use of hashtags is not about reaching as many people as possible, but rather about reaching the right people. In any case, when using hashtags, attention should be paid to quantity and relevance so as not to waste the opportunity. But if they are used correctly, they can increase the posting reach enormously and increase engagement.