How to Use Hashtags On Social Media

One of the best ways to enhance your social media strategy is by incorporating hashtags. Learn how to use hashtags effectively to increase social media engagement. Here’s how a hashtag strategy can maximize your visibility and ensure your content gets discovered by the right people.

Understand Your Audience

Before you add hashtags to every post, understand who you're trying to reach. Do some research into hashtags your target audience uses. For instance, if you're marketing to chiropractors, hashtags like #ChiropracticCare or #ChiropractorsOfInstagram might be valuable. Tailor your hashtags to match the language and interests of the audience you're engaging with. Knowing how to use hashtags to align with your audience’s interests can help you get more relevant traffic to your content.

Use a Mix of Hashtag Types

Not all hashtags are created equal. A successful strategy involves using broad, niche, and branded hashtags:

• Broad Hashtags: These are general hashtags like #marketing, #business, or #digitalmarketing. They have high search volumes but can be highly competitive.
• Niche Hashtags: These are specific to your industry or your post, such as #ChiropracticMarketing or #SEOforChiropractors. They help you reach a more targeted audience who actively search for content in your specific field.
• Branded Hashtags: These are tailored to your brand and help create a community around your content. For example, you could use hashtags like #PageOneDigital or #SeeYouOnPageOne. These build brand awareness and help users find all of your business posts.

This mix of hashtags helps you build a comprehensive hashtag strategy that ensures you're reaching the right audience without overwhelming them with irrelevant content. Remember that a well-thought-out hashtag strategy also includes monitoring your engagement and adjusting accordingly.

Don’t Overload Your Posts

While it can be tempting to load a post with as many hashtags as possible, more doesn’t always equal better. A post on Instagram can have up to 30 hashtags, but too many hashtags can look spammy. Research shows that posts with 5-10 relevant hashtags get the most engagement. Focus on quality, not quantity. When you refine your hashtag strategy by using the most relevant hashtags, you’ll see more organic interactions.

Avoid Hashtag Spamming

Always use hashtags relevant to the content you're posting. Random or irrelevant hashtags may get your content noticed momentarily, but they won’t engage the right audience and can harm your credibility. For instance, using a trending hashtag like #ThrowbackThursday when your post has nothing to do with a throwback can confuse your audience and result in poor engagement. Instead, focus on using hashtags directly related to your content, ensuring they add value rather than distract.

Track Your Results

Hashtags are an evolving tool, and what works for one campaign may not work for another. Monitor the performance of your hashtags to identify which ones drive traffic and engagement. Social media management tools like Sprout Social or Hootsuite provide valuable analytics that can help you refine your hashtag strategy. By measuring the impact of your hashtags, you’ll better understand how you can increase social media engagement over time and make data-driven decisions.

With a well-planned hashtag strategy, your content will stand out in an otherwise overcrowded space, and you’ll be one step closer to achieving your marketing goals. Knowing how to use hashtags to align with your audience's behavior and how to increase social media engagement through relevant tags will make all the difference in your digital marketing strategy. Need help with your social media efforts? Reach out to Page One Digital today, and let’s work together to create a strategy that drives results!