Hashtags on Different Platforms

This week I want to talk with you about Hashtags. Hashtags affect a post differently on different platforms. With some platforms you have to rely on hashtags to get your posts out there, otherwise the algorithm wont benefit you, favor you, or see you. With many platforms, if you don’t use hashtags, you won’t be discovered unless someone directly searches for you. The only people that will see your post are your followers. And that’s not going to do much good for social media marketing.

Let’s start with Instagram. When using hashtags on your own posts, the limit is 30. You can use all 30 or just the most popular hashtags relative to your post. I have found there’s hardly any difference between all or the best. Either way, hashtags are the number one way on Instagram that you can be discovered by potential followers and clients. Instagram allows you to discover more people and post by directly clicking on a hashtag and seeing all the post using it under that tab. You can then see “most popular” post or “most recent” posts, and also follow that hashtag so a mix of these show up on your feed. When looking for new people to connect with, scroll through the “most recent” tab and interact first with those there. Instagram also allows you to use hashtags in stories. Don’t forget to check out the stories with a given hashtag and also react or respond to those.

Moving along to Facebook. WholeWhale.com in 2019 says, “According to the most recent Sprout Social data, 1 to 2 hashtags on Facebook posts work best, and hashtags with 10+ characters see more engagement.” On Facebook use longer or bigger hashtags, more sayings, cute or goofy sayings, and trending hashtags. I have had very little engagement from hashtags on Facebook but it could still be a beneficial thing to use. On Facebook, you can click or search any hashtag and see the top post circulating around there. This is a newer feature for my Facebook and could help you find some people to interact with from your top hashtags.

The last platform I typically use for my clients is LinkedIn. LinkedIn is very similar to Facebook and can be thought of as a professional business version of Facebook. That being said, hashtags have a different and more professional vibe as well. A blog on Hoot Suit said, “There are no limits to the number of hashtags you can use in a post on LinkedIn. That said, we recommend that you limit each post to a maximum of five hashtags…Using too many hashtags on LinkedIn could also result in the LinkedIn Algorithm marking your post as spam.” While goofier and longer hashtags work well on Facebook, more specific and business oriented hashtags have found to be more beneficial on LinkedIn. For example on Facebook you might use #bossbabe #Imkillingit and on LinkedIn it might be more appropriate to post #womeninbusiness #busienssaccomplishments on the same post. LinkedIn also allows you to search and follow hashtags. As well as see “top posts” and “most recent” posts.

There are more platforms that use can use for businesses in relation to hashtags such as Twitter, YouTube, and TikTok. All of these function in similar ways to the platforms previously mentioned. I don’t have many clients that focus on these platforms and thus didn’t talk about them in this blog.

I hope this blog helped you out some with your business. Come back every Wednesdays for more blogs like this. My name is Mikayla Quinn, I’m the digital and social media marketing manager here at Datatech. Every video or blog we’ve made is a service or area we can offer our clients in need of marketing help. If you have any questions, feel free to reach out. Have a great day!