HOW TO USE HASHTAGS EFFECTIVELY

HASHTAGS ARE A VITAL PART OF SHARING CONTENT ONLINE. WHETHER YOU’RE SHARING A NEW PRODUCT OR HOLIDAY PHOTOS, HASHTAGS MAKE SURE THE THINGS YOU POST GET SEEN BY THE RIGHT PEOPLE. THIS BLOG WILL GIVE YOU SOME SOLID TIPS ON HOW TO UTILIZE THEM IN THE BEST POSSIBLE WAYS.

LINK TO YOUR SUBJECT:

You want to keep you Hashtags linked to your image or post. If your posting about a business meeting you have had, you do not want to tag random things like #livingthedream yet you can take some liberties. You could, for example, tag the city you are in, as this will gain more interest with those looking specifically for the goings on in that location.

Most of the time you would want to keep direct links, i.e #businessmeeting #workinprogress #officelife. This ensures people will be looking for that style of content and will be less likely to skip over your post.

KEEP IT SIMPLE:

Occasionally, you will see a long Hashtag containing four or five words. These will be far less likely to gain traction when compared to a simpler Hashtag that uses one or two words. This is because algorithms will favor the most used Hashtags, which will most likely be smaller ones like #Visualstorytelling.

This is simply because the smaller the Hashtag and the less words used, the easier it is to remember, the more it gets searched. This is highly prevalent on Social Media sites such as Instagram. The modern internet is incredibly fast paced, keeping Hashtag’s simple allows you to keep that pace. 

MAKE IT RELATABLE:

In a world becoming ever more connected, relatability is becoming ever more important. As stated earlier, people will look for things that interest them, whether this be for work or hobbies, people are naturally drawn to things they either enjoy or recognise. 

Looking back at the business meeting example, only people who have been in business meeting will understand the post, so how can you make this relatable to a wider audience?

The answer is fairly simple, using Hashtags like #officelife brings in an audience that has worked in an office and may be drawn to your post via the Hashtag. Keeping the balance between relatable content and keeping to the subject matter is a difficult one, but there is a balance. 

#9to5 can apply to a wide audience, meaning more eyes on your post, Hashtags are this are the versatile sweet spot you want to find, something with a relatable and wide appeal, whilst also honing in on what you are doing.

SPECIFIC VS WIDE BRUSH:

As we went over briefly earlier, you want to keep your Hashtags related to your post, but how broad can these actually range? Well there are pros and cons to both sides here.

SPECIFIC HASHTAGS

(i.e. #graphicrecording, #businesstransformation #londonvirtualevent)

Pros:

• Will guarantee intended audience

• Will receive more audience interaction due to shared interest

• Gives accurate information on picture

Cons:

• May not reach a large audiences

• Can deny some audience interaction on post as they simply won’t see it

BROAD HASHTAGS:

(i.e. #business, #london #art)

Pros:

• More people could see your post

• Could increase audience interaction

• Could bring in more new followers who discover your content

Cons:

• May lower audience interaction if people are not interested

• Could lead to your post being buried under thousands of others

In short, the specific Hashtags hold more weight but supporting them with one or two Hashtags that are a bit more broad can’t hurt. It's all about keeping the balance.

Also look at how many Hashtags your posting, some big influencers can have 50 on one of their posts, but some will only have five. Looking at the variation of the best performing posts on Instagram, it's safe to say the best amount is around 15. This allows for posts to contain a majority of specific Hashtags, with a few broader Hashtags as the icing on the cake.

Conclusions

EVERYTHING IS ABOUT BALANCE. YOU WANT HASHTAGS THAT WILL SUM UP WHAT YOUR POST IS ABOUT, YOU ALSO NEED MORE GENERALISED RELATABLE HASHTAGS AND FINALLY YOU NEED HASHTAGS THAT MEET SOMEWHERE IN THE MIDDLE, COMBINING THESE SHOULD ALLOW YOU TO EFFECTIVELY USE HASHTAGS AND BOOST ENGAGEMENT ON YOUR POSTS.