How to Find the Right Hashtags for Your Business

Think hashtags are outdated? Think again.

You have likely noticed that the pound symbol followed by a few catchy or descriptive words is still popping up on your timeline. However, many businesses still haven’t incorporated hashtags into their social media marketing strategy, which means they are missing out on the big impact hashtags can make.

If you are one of those that are standing on the diving board questioning if hashtags work, this blog will show you why you should take the dive!

Why Are Hashtags Important?

Hashtags were first recorded in 2007 being used on Twitter, and their popularity has only risen since then.

The hashtag trend has grown far beyond Twitter, now incorporating Instagram, Facebook and even LinkedIn.

Hashtags allow your posts to be seen by people who aren’t following you. When people search for hashtags relevant to something they are interested in, your post can be shown. So the bottom line is, hashtags increase visibility.

Best Practices for Hashtags     

As with any marketing tactic, you need to execute it strategically. Yes, you can just throw some hashtags in your post, but doing it that way is like playing the lottery – there is no guarantee your efforts will be successful.

Focus on the audience, not the business.

For most business owners, the first thought is to hashtag things relevant to their business. For example, a hairstylist might consider using the hashtag #hairstyling. However, you aren’t trying to reach businesses like your own, so why would you target them with your hashtags?

Instead, you should be focusing on the audience you are trying to reach and use hashtags that describe them, not your business. So, using the same business as an example, you should use hashtags like #chicagomom.

Step into your audience’s shoes.

Now that you’ve identified your audience and know you should be focusing on them, step into their shoes for a moment.

As a consumer of your product, what would you be searching for?

Consider who they are, what they do, what they like, and how they act on social media. This is also where case studies and various other forms of analytics can come in handy. You need to first understand that persona of your ideal customer.

Use hashtags with less than 500,000 posts.

Hashtags are more effective without all the noise. By noise, we mean all of the other things floating around on social media, and in this case, all of the other posts using the same hashtag.

Before using a hashtag, do some research and see how many other posts are using it. It is okay and still effective to use hashtags that are currently being used. In fact, you will likely have a bigger audience searching for that hashtag, which is why so many people are using it.

But, there does come a point where there are too many posts using it, meaning yours is far too unlikely to be seen to make it worth it. We recommend sticking to hashtags that have less than 500,000 posts.

The more, the merrier.

Why put all your eggs in one basket? Your audience is a diverse group of people – it might be that they have several different interests or that you are trying to capture several different people.

We recommend using up to 30 hashtags to ensure you are capturing your audience from every different avenue they might be coming from.

Hashtags don’t have to be in the caption.

The typical place that hashtags are seen is at the end of a post. However, their placement is indeed flexible. You can use them throughout the caption, or even not in the caption at all.

Wait, if they aren’t in the caption, where would you put them? In the comments.

People don’t typically read long captions. Since hashtags are more for searching ease, it can be beneficial to leave your captions to just simple, clever sentences and then place your hashtags in the first comment on your post.

Conclusion

Determining the correct hashtags for your business starts with a strong social media plan. And a strong social media plan starts with the right strategic partners.

At StartUp TakeOff, we understand the value of a strong team. We also know that finding the right people can be nerve-wracking and time-consuming, so we made it easy for our Clients. Choosing the wrong partners can be a costly misstep for any entrepreneur, which is why StartUp TakeOff’s founder, Stefani Thionnet, has assembled a diverse group of marketing experts from across the industry who will provide you with solutions that save you time and money. Our team of marketing industry veterans will get to know you and your brand so that we can provide solutions perfectly tailored to your needs. It’s difficult to find the best people, so we’ve brought them together to get results you will love. Call today: (855) 209-0226 (New inquiries, press 1; Current Clients, press 2).

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