Are you using hashtags to your advantage?

Do you take time to research and apply the right hashtags to every one of your social media posts?

Or do you type in a couple of random phrases, click ‘upload’, and hope for the best?

I wouldn’t blame you if you’re guilty of the latter.

Even I’m suffering with a bit of hashtag fatigue.

Keeping up with the latest hashtag trends often seems like a full-time job in itself. As marketers, we can’t stick with the same ideas forever – we need to be constantly refreshing and updating our hashtag strategies to make sure we’re using the right words and phrases to connect with the right audiences. 

But there are a few tips we can all follow to take the stress out of finding and using the most appropriate terms in our content, regardless of the industry we’re in or the business we’re promoting. 

Keep your hashtags as short as you can.

Nobody wants to spend their valuable time trying to decipher a long tag! Keep your hashtags short and concise, and they will be easier to read, repeat, and remember.

Remember, you can’t use spaces or special characters.

Hashtags are a string of letters and numbers. Nothing more. Apart from the obvious # at the start of the tag, you won’t be able to use additional punctuation marks. (Apologies to all the grammar gurus and spelling sticklers out there – you’ll just need to accept there’s going to be limitations!)

Use hashtags at different points in your posts.

When it comes to hashtag placement, there’s a lot of conflicting advice out there. Ultimately, where you put your hashtags will depend on whether you want to use them at the start of your post, to emphasise your point; in the middle of your post, to highlight your most important keyword(s); or right at the end, so they’re all grouped neatly together.

Whichever approach you choose, the algorithms will still index these tags and show your content in other users’ feeds if they think it is relevant.

Bear in mind that your content might work without hashtags – but you may not get the same reach.

Think of your hashtags as the cherry on the cake. They won’t convince your followers to tuck into your posts, but they will add a sweet, juicy layer of visibility to everything you share. It’s this finishing touch that’s going to make all the difference in terms of achieving better reach for your carefully crafted content and connecting with new people. 

Don’t be tempted to guess which hashtags will work best for your business.

When it comes to choosing hashtags, you can’t make any assumptions. You need to pick words and phrases that are not only relevant to your business, but also widely used across the platform you’re working with.

I don’t research my tags manually. I definitely don’t have the time for that! I use Flick to find, analyse and manage hashtag ideas for my clients (and for my own content, of course). I can research concepts, create tag lists within the app’s Collections feature, then store them for later.

I particularly love Flick Hashtags’ smart filters, which let me sort through my tags according to the number of times they have been used, the number of times they have been ranked, their ranked ratio, and their average best rank. These filters save me from having to work out which of my hashtags are performing well, and which tags need to be removed because they’re just not cutting the mustard – the algorithm does all the hard work for me!

So, after reading the above, do you think your posts are benefitting from the hashtags you’re choosing – or could you improve your strategy to boost your metrics that little bit more?

If you feel like it’s time to up your hashtag game, book in for my Hashtag Package. My team will happily do all the time-consuming research on your behalf, then provide you with a library packed full of hashtag ideas that will fit your content strategy and help you achieve your wider social media marketing goals.