The Benefit of Hashtags Across Social Media Platforms

Written by: Haley Smith

To hashtag or not to hashtag? When it comes to driving traffic to your social media pages, hashtags are the way to increase views, followers, shares and likes. Hashtags take your content to the next level and are the key to making your content discoverable to a captive audience.

You might not think that adding a couple of key phrases related to your content after a # symbol could help you out, but it may be just the thing that gets you recognized. You put a lot of time and effort into curating your content, so let hashtags help you tell your story.

How to Get Started

So, how are hashtags used? It varies across social media platforms!

Companies with a strong social media presence are usually those who have more than one social page. Diversifying content on platforms such as LinkedIn and Twitter (X), Instagram and Facebook, even TikTok or Snapchat is always important, but hashtags are a key way to make sure the content still flows and the message is received as intended across each page.

Keep these tips in mind when determining which hashtags to use on each social media channel:

LinkedIn: LinkedIn is more formal, and tends to be on the shorter side of written content, especially for brands. Three sentences, typically under 100 characters is the goal, with relevant hashtags but nothing crazy. The most relevant hashtags are usually the first three that correspond to your post.
Twitter (X): Twitter (now X) on the other hand, is much simpler and its content is less formal than any of the other platforms, especially LinkedIn. Twitter has a maximum character count of 280, however hashtags perform very well on Twitter. The “Trending” section of Twitter is usually full of different hashtags that are popular across the world and if relevant to your post, it is encouraged to use two or three of them in your own copy!
Instagram: When it comes to Instagram, your content can be longer and hashtags must be strategic to limit the chance of bots interacting with your posts. Your copy on Instagram should be no longer than three sentences with no more than five relevant hashtags.
Facebook: Finally, Facebook additionally utilizes a limited number of hashtags. The content being spread on Facebook does not necessarily qualify for hashtags, as Facebook is one of the most widely used social media platforms across the world and has a multitude of content being shared every single day.

Be Open to Change

Hashtags are the way to truly find your engaged, connected and assertive audience through organic social media efforts. If your target audience is engaging with posts that look like yours, connect with them in a deeper way! It is always important to use relevant hashtags that fit your company image and the audience you want to reach. Change is bound to happen in every industry you encounter, so make sure that your hashtag research is consistently being enhanced and updated. You wouldn’t want your content to be outdated, so why would you want your hashtags to be? By continuously staying up to date with industry trends and researching existing hashtags, you can ensure that your hashtag use is consistent with what your audience wants to see and engage with.

Experiment with Your Hashtags

Switching it up by using hashtags within the copy, versus at the end of your written copy, can help make your content more engaging! There are different ways of using hashtags, and it is up to you to decide which you would like to use. Even with hashtags you can personalize your content. On LinkedIn and Instagram, users can follow hashtags, as well as other users who are posting with the hashtags. Using popular hashtags is a way to get yourself noticed on the “Discover” page and can help boost social media engagement.

Keep in Mind

While hashtags are great, there are some things to keep in mind when incorporating them. Your competition is also using hashtags in their social media strategy. Check in to see how successful they are at engaging with your mutual audience. Pay attention to not only what the hashtags say, but the quantity of them as well. It is important to recognize that sometimes, too many hashtags can make you seem unprofessional and make the copy look unorganized.

Good social media strategy should include a mix of popular and relevant hashtags that help tell your story. Using hashtags in your social media posts increases the visibility of your posts and allows you to participate in relevant conversations. Remember: less is more, and hashtags can be a simple way to sum up what is in your copy.

It’s time to tap into hashtags, and Slice can help!

Contact us today to learn how our social media experts can take your strategy to the next level.