How to Find the Best Social Media Hashtags

When it comes to content marketing, you’ll continually hear over and over again how important social media is. And it’s true, especially for small businesses! But just “being” on social media isn’t going to help you. Social Media Hashtags can.

Utilizing social media hashtags will get your social media posts seen – it’s something every business SHOULD be doing!

Social media hashtags are used across several platforms, but the most common are Instagram and Twitter. Successful businesses on Facebook and LinkedIn utilize hashtags, but they are not as commonly used there.

Great! Let’s use them…but how?

With an endless number of hashtags you could be using, how can you choose the best hashtags? Better yet, how can you research hashtags to ensure you are using the right ones to promote your business?

Best Tools to Research Hashtags

When it comes to searching hashtags for a particular post, there are many tools you can use. Some may be better than others, but they all serve one purpose – to help you narrow down the best hashtags.

However, whatever tool you decide to use or if you choose to use a combination of some tools (which is what we do!), be sure that you select specific hashtags to align with your social media strategy.

1. Use the Individual Platforms

This might seem like a no-brainer, but the platforms you are using, whether it be Instagram or Twitter, will give you ALL hashtags possible in real time. In addition, Instagram specifically offers “Related” hashtags as you begin to search for unique hashtags.

The “Related” hashtags are a great way to see similar hashtags users use in addition to the one you’ve just searched.

On Twitter, check out the “Trends” section on your account. That will show you different hashtags or phrases that are trending. Common hashtags trend weekly based on your industry to look into.

But also, beware! While Instagram and Twitter can show you all the available hashtags, it can get overwhelming.

If you’re looking to narrow it down by industry, theme, or phrase – use one of the tools below.

2. Keyword Tool

We love Keyword Tool for a few different reasons. First and foremost, Keyword Tool has multiple benefits, not only for social media. First, you can search for keywords that will help you with search engine optimization.

Going back to social, you can find the best social media hashtags related to a term or phrase. This tool lets you see the number of related posts within that hashtag.

This is a great way to search for a popular hashtag and see additional hashtags that include that phrase or term. This is very helpful as prominent hashtags are often modified slightly to create a new group of posts that will be seen!

*Insider tip* – Hashtags with hundreds of thousands of related posts are great; however, the more often they are used, the quicker your post becomes bumped from being seen! Aim for hashtags with 50k to 500k in related posts.

Keyword Tool has a paid “Pro” version to see a more significant number of hashtags. However, if you aren’t looking to invest in just one tool, connect with an agency like us. We have a social media marketer who can develop a hashtag list that works for your social media strategy.

3. All Hashtag Generator

All Hashtag Generator is a solid hashtag generator we’ve been playing with lately. It takes a little work after you have searched for hashtags, but they take into account three factors – top, random, and live.

Top hashtags are hashtags that are the most commonly used – but can have millions of related posts.

Random hashtags are just that – random.

Live hashtags are hashtags that are being used right now, so they can be a mix of commonly used and not widely used.

One thing I have noticed with this generator is that it is not necessarily finding the best social media hashtags for your social media site instantly. Still, it gives you tons of hashtags that you can use within the platforms to see how they are doing.

4. Instagram Hashtag Generator

Take your hashtag research to the next level with SISTRIX Instagram Hashtag Generator. This is a great tool to search for hashtags related to a specific image – because you can upload one!

It generates related hashtags and niche hashtags. You can also upload a specific Instagram URL or a keyword.

This is one of our favorite tools! There is so much opportunity within this generator, and I like that it also considers hashtags that utilize emojis. This one is specific to Instagram, but I think you can modify it to work for other platforms.

Instagram

Hashtags Do’s

• You get 30 hashtags per post – use them!Use relevant hashtags
• Include 1-3 branded hashtags, 1-5 location-based ones (if your business is location-based), and a few generic ones that relate to your industry, and make the rest specific to your post
• Engage with hashtags you are using

Hashtags Don’ts

• Random hashtags that DON’T relate to your post can hurt you
• Hashtags that have over 1 million corresponding posts won’t benefit you as much as a hashtag with 50k-500k
• Utilizing the same hashtags for every post can hurt you if they aren’t related to that image.

Twitter

Hashtags Do’s

• Use 1-2 hashtags per post
• Posts have a short life span, so trending social media hashtags are vital.
• Use your character count wisely by using hashtags within your post versus afterward.

Wondering how to increase #Instagramengagement with hacks that actually work? Here are 11 tips that will help you get more likes, comments, and views on @Instagram that your brand may be missing. https://t.co/yHh1XBQDOK pic.twitter.com/PfHSgqZMs1

— WhitePeak.io (@WhitePeak_io) February 8, 2019

Hashtags Don’ts

• Using more than three hashtags can be “spammy.”
• Branded hashtags aren’t as important here unless you are starting a conversation or live-streaming an event. Save the space for relevant tags.

Other Social Platforms

Now that we’ve shared our favorite tools for finding the best hashtags for Instagram and Twitter – what about other platforms?

To keep it simple, hashtags on Facebook are most commonly used regarding a hot topic or a brand. Like other platforms, hashtags are clickable, so users can see posts within that hashtag if they are public long after a hashtag has been used.

Hashtags on LinkedIn are becoming increasingly popular and are similar to that on Twitter. Keep them related to the post versus branded and utilize them within the text so that it flows more smoothly.

Pinterest is another common one our clients often bring up, but just as a reminder, Pinterest is a search engine more than it is a social platform. It is also intelligent enough to identify #digitalmarketing as “digital marketing,” so utilizing them is not as necessary.

How will you use social media hashtags?

Take your hashtag game to the next level with these tips for researching hashtags. By implementing some of these tips, you’ll be able to drive traffic from your social media site to your website content. We can help you with Facebook and Instagram advertising if you want to get even more aggressive.