how to conduct hashtag research

Jun 5, 2023

Leveraging the Best Hashtags: How to Do Hashtag Research

Gabriella Layne-Avery

If the question "do hashtags even work anymore" is on your mind, our answer is a resounding "Yes," IF you know how to leverage them correctly.. While the chances of a hashtag helping you go viral isn't as guaranteed as it was in what many people like to consider the 'good 'old days' of Instagram, they have still proven to be highly effective in expanding your content's reach beyond your existing audience. Even if the results of hashtags aren't as significant as they were a few years ago, we still think it's worthwhile to put effort into using them.  

‍ Instagram Algorithm Updates & What They Mean for Hashtags

Over the years, Instagram has been putting in serious work on its algorithm to improve its search functionalities.

Due to these search upgrades, the secret sauce to optimizing your content's reach is now a healthy blend of strong captions with relevant keywords, the right combination of hashtags specific to your industry and niche, and visually appealing content that stops the scroll. As a result, hashtags are no longer the platform's say-all, be-all of discoverability- but they certainly remain an important piece of the puzzle.

PRO TIP: Once you find hashtags that are just right for your brand, use PLANOLY's hashtag manager to create groups of hashtags and save them in your hashtag library for future use.

‍ How many hashtags should you be using?

The answer to this question has been widely debated, especially since Instagram CEO Adam Mosseri made a statement on social media in 2022 that hashtags do not help increase visibility for content. He also mentioned that you shouldn't use the maximum 30 hashtags that you can use per post on the platform. However, many social media experts disagree with Mosseri, sharing screenshots of their insights as proof that hashtags are indeed still effective for visibility.

‍ https://twitter.com/astronomydeepIG/status/1565496137544597506?s=20  

While Mosseri recommends using as few hashtags as possible, we recommend using as many relevant and specific hashtags for your posts as you can.

‍ How do you find hashtags?

We've nailed down that hashtags are still important and effective. So how do you know which ones will actually turn into your content landing on Instagram's coveted Explore page?

‍ Begin by Analyzing Your Top Competitors - What hashtags are they using in their posts? When you search for a common hashtag relevant to your brand or business, what type of content do you see? For example, if you own a vegan restaurant, which accounts dominate the results when you search #veganmeals? Dive into those posts and view the other hashtags they use frequently. (Related: How to Research Hashtags for Your Audience )

‍ Develop a List of Hashtags for Your Common Types of Instagram Content – For every content bucket or theme, develop a list of 10-20 hashtags you will use for each post. For example, if you frequently post pictures of your product, create a set of hashtags for all product-related posts. For each type of core content bucket or theme, establish 4-5 hashtags for these hashtag types to ensure a balanced mix.

• Brand-specific (e.g. Bumble uses #makethefirstmove)
• Niche (e.g. a plant shop uses #snakeplant)
• Location based (e.g. Austin restaurants use #512eats)
• Product-specific (e.g. Adidas uses #yeezy)

Repeat this process to identify a list of 10-20 hashtags for each type of content bucket or theme you frequently post in the feed. You can use PLANOLY's hashtag manager feature to create hashtag lists and easily add custom groups of hashtags to posts before they are scheduled. (Related: How to use PLANOLY's Hashtag Manager )

‍ Are there universal hashtags that everyone should be using?

The short answer is no. The long answer is that every industry and audience is different, so it's essential to research and use hashtags that align with the interests of your specific audience. Not only does this help you better target the people you want to reach, but it helps you refrain from using overutilized hashtags that are often shadow banned and can lead to reduced visibility of your content.

‍ Instagram Hashtag Best Practices

• Understand Your Target Audience – Before creating relevant hashtags, make sure you understand what your target audience is searching for and how they search for it.
• Use 10-20 Hashtags for Each Type of Instagram Post – Use the strategy of developing a balanced list of 10-20 hashtags for each content bucket.
• Mix it Up – Use brand-specific, niche, location-based, and product-specific hashtags in each Instagram post.
• Put Hashtags in Your Caption – While it isn't the most aesthetically appealing approach, Instagram has stated that hashtags should be in captions to be effective.

Researching and establishing a set of frequently used, popular hashtags is a part of every effective Instagram growth strategy. With the right mix of hashtags with these tips and well-researched hashtags, look forward to generating more engagement, followers, and sales on Instagram!

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Gabriella Layne-Avery is a Content Strategist, Creative Director, and the founder of the content marketing agency Strut Communications. Known for coining the term ‘sustainable social media,’ she believes it’s 100% possible for small business owners to leverage social media to cultivate engaged, loyal communities for their brands without spending 24/7 doing so.

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Hashtag Research: The Ultimate Guide to Finding and Using Hashtags

Hashtags first appeared on the social media scene in 2007 when Chris Messina suggested using the pound sign followed by words to group Tweets. Since then they’ve — in Chris’s own words — “turned out to be a big thing.” Today, they do more than group Tweets.

Hashtags are an important element in social media marketing. You can use them to do the following:

• Increase engagement with your audience
• Build your brand
• Promote your favorite causes
• Advertise products and services
• Create context for captions
• Give viewers a tool for finding your content

If you’re not using hashtags, now is a great time to learn how to find and use hashtags for your next campaign. If you are using hashtags, read on to discover ways to make your hashtag research more effective.

What Is Hashtag Research?

Hashtag research is the process of finding, curating and testing hashtags to use in social media posts.  The hashtags you choose for your posts can make or break your campaigns. It’s not enough to slap a hashtag on your posts and move on. Find the right hashtag, and you can boost your visibility online. The wrong ones can bury your post in all of the conversations taking place on the platform.

Three essential questions drive the hashtag research process:

• Which hashtags do you currently use consistently?
• Are there hashtags that are popular with your target audience?
• Do your competitors use hashtags in their posts?

If you’re familiar with keyword research, you have an idea of how it works. The goal is to identify the terms your audience is most likely to search when they want to find the type of content you produce. Your key performance indicators and marketing goals drive the process.

How to Find the Best Hashtags

The best hashtags are the ones that succinctly describe your brand and content, but where do you find them? Start here.

• Find out which hashtags your audience and competitors are using. Browse their feeds looking for the hashtags that appear frequently. They may be trending within the group or give you an idea of the terms they’re searching for.
• Search for related hashtags on your favorite platform. On Instagram and TikTok, type a topic in the search bar to find relevant hashtags . Click the Explore tab on Twitter to see the trending hashtags on the platform. 
• Use a hashtag generator. These hashtag tools give you suggestions for hashtags to use with your posts. They search social media sites to find the most popular and trending hashtags as well as related terms.

Alternatively, you may create your own hashtag. You can choose from one of the following types of hashtags:

• Acronyms (#ootd)
• Daily hashtags (#tbt)
• Emojis (#smiley face)
• Location or event (#orlando, #magicgame)
• Name of a community  on the platform (#dogmomsofinstagram)
• Name of your product or service (#bayareatoprealtor)
• Relevant phrases (#liveyourbestlife)
• Your niche within your industry (#birthdaypartyplanner) 

Selecting the Right Hashtags for Your Post

You may be tempted to look up the most popular and trending hashtags on your social media platforms, but that may not get the results you want. The top hashtags on a given platform can have billions of posts connected to them. Your post will be just one of many.

A better approach is to target your research for your content and audience. Brainstorm a list of potential hashtags. Refine the list by sorting the hashtags into categories like broad, narrow and specific.

As you choose your hashtags, consider the following:

• The hashtag should be easy to spell and remember.
• Choose hashtags that fit organically with the content you’re sharing.
• Look for hashtags related to the trending hashtags on the platform.
• Be mindful of the number of characters you use.
• Make the hashtag actionable.
• Incorporate searchable keywords in your hashtag.
• Use hashtags that are relevant to your brand.

The right combination of hashtags can take your social media marketing strategy to a new level. Whether you’ve never used hashtags on your posts or have yet to see the value of including them, it’s worth your time to research and find the right hashtags. Your hard work deserves to be seen–use hashtags to help your audience find content and gain visibility for your brand.

Want to master the art of hashtags? Check out our How-to Hashtags Guide to learn the proper way to use hashtags on each social media platform. 

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Instagram Hashtags Research: What do you need to know?

Why hashtag research? Did you know that Instagram is the perfect platform for conducting hashtags research In 2023? More than 1 billion people will be using Instagram, so it’s important to understand how hashtags work on this platform. So, in this blog post, we will discuss some of the most essential aspects of Instagram hashtags research. We will also provide some tips for conducting your research!

Discover better hashtags to reach the more people, grow your follower count and get more engagement on your posts.

What is a hashtag?

Even if you are new to social media networking, you have probably seen the  hashtag symbol #   on social media sites . Hashes are   also called the pound or number sign. 

The word, hashtag, combines “Hash” and “ tag .”  

However, you write a hashtag without spaces starting with the hash (#) sign and then the keyword or phrase. Then, they can be added at the end of a post, embedded in your story, or the bio too. 

In your posts, you can click on hashtags. Hashtags link to content on social media. Moreover, these can be text, images, or videos. Using hashtags, you can search for related topics.

Instagram users can search for related content using hashtags like #love or #NewYear. They are also often used as acronyms, such as  #lol  or  #tbt .

Nowadays, you can regularly hear about challenges, discussions, or mass movements under a particular hashtag, such as #BlackLivesMatter.

With Instagram hashtags, users can express themselves, show their emotional state, or promote their content.

It’s beneficial not only for finding relevant content to share but also for giving your audience easy access to your content. Further, organizing it into categories and themes for easy searching. Further, it gives you greater visibility and opportunities to grow your audience. Thus, by using hashtags, you are reaching and engaging more people. 

In a breeze:

• A hashtag is a compound word: “ hash ” and “ tag .”
• They work like hyperlinks that group related posts under a keyword/topic.
• You can write them in your posts, stories, or bio.
• They organize your content into categories and themes for easy searching.

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How long have hashtags been around?

Social media networks like Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest, and LinkedIn have popularized hashtags over the years.

You may not know this, but hashtags were first used in 2007 by a Twitter user named Chris Messina.

The primary purpose was to group related posts under a keyword. But their value for marketing and building social media presence has grown dramatically since then.

Why do I need to use hashtags on my Instagram?

Most people will add a hashtag if they see it in a post. Adding one or more relevant hashtags to your content reaches 71% of your audience on average. 

People constantly search for hashtags to learn something new, feel a connection with the topic, and be part of a community. 

So whether you create custom hashtags or research trending ones, hashtags will make it easier for you to sort out data and engage more people with your content.

If you are considering marketing your business, you can:

• Research trending topics and reach more of your target audience
• Use relevant hashtags to give context and add value to your content
• Reuse hashtags across different platforms to reach more audiences
• Avoid making mistakes by learning from others and using social media analytics tools

If you want to know more, stick around to the end for  a quick overview of what you need to know for hashtag research on Instagram.

• Hashtag use can boost your content engagement to 71% on average
• Twitter was a pioneer in hashtag usage
• The primary purpose of hashtags was to group related posts
• Hashtag research and analytics tools are a must to reach a larger audience.

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What does hashtag research mean?

What does hashtag research mean? Researching hashtags essentially means analyzing the data gathered from a specific hashtag. This data can assist you in estimating niche hashtags and popular hashtags to increase engagement and reach more people. 

According to studies , there are many ways to apply hashtag analysis to practical purposes, such as strategic marketing and management. Thus, social media marketing can benefit from this finding. 

An article  that studied 1,382 Instagram posts tagged with the same hashtag found that women used emotional hashtags more than men. In addition, there was a strong relationship between hashtags and likes. The authors concluded that hashtags could measure user satisfaction and feedback.

Several tools are available for predicting trends and increasing your audience using hashtag research for your business. Read on to know more.  

See Instagram’s 2023 Trend Report for predictions on beauty and style, social justice, food, and more.

• Researching hashtags is analyzing the data gathered from a specific hashtag.
• Social media marketing can benefit from Hashtag Research
• Hashtags can measure user satisfaction and feedback

How to use Hashtags for your business?

You can use various  types of hashtags  to promote your business on Instagram. You can reach different communities by using a variety of hashtags. Listed below are 9. 

• Hashtags to identify your product, e.g., #Shoes or #Bakery
• Hashtags that indicate your niche in your industry, e.g., #WeddingPlanner or #InteriorDesigner
• Hashtags you can use to find Instagram communities in your field, e.g., #bakersofinstagram or #foodiesofinstagram
• Hashtags for special occasions, e.g. #foolsday or #nationaldonutday as
• Location-specific hashtags, such as #pizzanyc, #madeinDR, and #sydneysweets.
• Daily hashtags like #mondayworkout, #fridaytip, and #wellnesswednesday.
• Hashtags related to what you do, such as #thinkcreatively or #animallove.
• Hashtags with acronyms, like #qotd (quote of the day) or #ootd (outfit of the day).
• Hashtags with emojis, like #shoes👟 or #🌞.

How to track your relevant hashtags?

You can use different types of hashtags on social media. The kind of hashtag you use will depend on your purpose. You can use content, branded, trending, campaign, or ad hashtags.

• Content hashtags. These are the keywords you tag at the end of your posts.
• Branded hashtags. You create this hashtag, so people can tag the company directly. Furthermore, tracking this one will give you an idea of how many people are talking about your specific business.
• Trending hashtags . On Instagram, you can quickly search the top section where top posts appear on trending hashtags to show you some popular posts tagged with that hashtag.
• Event hashtags. Big and small events are a great way to increase your company’s reach. So, make sure to incorporate your event’s hashtag in all the content you share related to the event, and encourage employees and the audience to do the same.
• Campaign/ad hashtags. This hashtag promotes a product, campaign, launch, or advertising. Equally important, It generates interest around what your company is doing and its latest posts.

Tools can speed up the process and make it easier, but you must carefully discern how to utilize them. 

In a breeze: 

• What hashtags to track will depend on your goal
• A brand or campaign hashtag attracts customers and promotes products
• Trending and event hashtags can boost your popularity

What Hashtag metrics should I track?

Hashtags are helpful, but how would you determine whether they are successful?

 Here are some top metrics to get you started: 

• Look at trends. Choose hashtags that are frequently used or searched. Hence, you’ll have a better chance of reaching more people. Otherwise, your posts will be buried quickly by all the new content.
• Consider the range. You can decide whether to include a hashtag based on the number of people using it.
• Engagement is key. It is not just about people seeing your content, but getting them to share and post.
• Your Audience. Who is your audience? Is your audience getting your message? For this purpose, make your content strategy based on the people interested in your services. That way, you won’t just copy random popular hashtags, instead, those that your clients may use but make sense to your business.
• Focus your hashtag research on metrics.
• Select popular hashtags.
• Create engaging content
• Tailor hashtags to your target audience.

Find the best time to post, track your follower growth, and understand what content works best with post and account analytics.

Best Instagram analytics tools for Hashtags

Which hashtag research tool is best for Instagram? Great question! Keep in mind that the most reliable hashtag research tool is the platform you are using, Hence, in this context, Instagram.

As you type a keyword into Instagram’s search engine, it ranks the most relevant hashtags. Then, It is up to you to pick the ones that make sense to use in your case.

A hashtag is one of the most powerful organic social media strategies. Still, the best way to maximize its performance is to track it. In any case, hashtags are easier to find on Instagram if the appropriate tools are available.

Instagram has a search bar that allows you to browse hashtags for your content, but they may not always give you the information you want.

Here are some Instagram analytics tools you can use. 

You can track hashtags and find influencers with  Brand24 . You can measure hashtag campaign effects, such as Reach and Engagement.

Further, Its user-friendly interface provides you with hashtag metrics to measure the number of mentions.

There are also ways to sort through the noise for the posts that matter. They offer a free 14-day trial with no hidden fees and no credit card needed.

 Key features

• Track and analyze contests. Additionally to campaigns based on hashtags.
• Hashtag popularity and performance
• Quick Reports in Excel / Data Export and customized PDFs
• Hashtag analytics
• Find influential social media profiles.
• Estimate Social Media Reach
• App version available
• Excellent customer service
• Simple dashboard
• Costly for small businesses or personal use.
• App needs improvement
• It may not have all functions in all languages.

Digimind  provides social listening and marketing intelligence services. It includes intelligent social media monitoring apps to listen, engage, analyze, and report.  

Key features

• Unlimited social media & web coverage
• Personalized tags and Re-tagging
• Automatic translation
• Real-time analysis
• Top influencers and Trending topics
• Personalized dashboard
• Daily/weekly/monthly reports in Multiple formats: pdf, ppt, Xls, jpg
• Presentation-ready reports and Custom templates
• Reach measurement and Social statistics
• Online reputation management
• Top search concepts, results, and domains
• Powerful monitoring tool
• An excellent sentiment analysis
• The interface that is easy to use
• Several report types to choose from
• Time-consuming to set up searches
• Complicated features
• Poor customer support

The visual analysis included in  YouScan ‘s social intelligence platform makes it stand out. Additionally, you can collect all your brand mentions by keywords, logos, and text on images from thousands of media sources in real-time.

• Visual analysis
• Real-time consumer insights
• Monitored topic with spam filtering
• AI-powered automated data segmentation
• Find influencers and brand ambassadors
• Collaborate with a team
• Logo recognition
• Learning tools & features
• Image recognition
• Friendly interface
• Unlimited multiple access levels for users
• API limitations
• Multi-brand/multi-category businesses not supported
• Some glitches

Best Instagram hashtag generator tools

However, beneficial hashtags are, gimmicky ones can be harmful. In general, If you use spammy hashtags, your brand image will be less appealing.

You can find relevant hashtags to popular hashtags with these hashtag analytics tools. Generally, they offer hashtag finder functions, making it easier for you to choose the correct hashtags. 

Let’s review these today:

All-Hashtag

Hashtagsforlikes.

The All-Hashtag  generates relevant hashtags that you can copy and paste into your social media posts. The tool is simple, cost-free, and easy to use.

• Generate 30 hashtags for one post
• Create your Hashtags
• Analyze Hashtags with charts
• Find top Hashtags
• Hashtags counter
• All services and hashtag tools are 100% for free
• Easy to use for hashtag beginners
• No app or software needed
• Hashtags generated aren’t always relevant.

If you don’t have an idea for a hashtag to use, this tool can help. For this purpose, Ritetag  helps you curate hashtags for desktop and mobile images and texts. 

• Real-time hashtag engagement
• Hashtag Suggestions for Texts and Images
• Group hashtags to easily compare them
• Integrations
• Google Chrome extension
• Boosts social media engagement
• Automate tweets and posts.
• May not identify less popular hashtags
• Looks outdated
• Limited insight into potential viral hashtags

What can  HashtagsForLikes  offer you? You can search hashtags while viewing difficulty scores. You can also curate hashtag campaigns to grow your reach organically. Lastly, it keeps your account safe!

So, to make better business decisions, you can track, measure, and even get insights into your competitors using their profile analyzer. Also, less time is wasted. 

Key Features:

• Live Instagram stats
• Audience Demographics
• Fraud Detection
• Brand Affinity
• TikTok Hashtags
• Research & create hashtag campaigns
• Ensures relevant hashtags for business
• Find most responsive hashtags
• Easy to use
• Good customer support
• No free version

Tips for your Instagram Research hashtag strategy

Do your research.

Make sure you do not rely solely on hashtag generator tools to create hashtags for you. Equally important, check out what the competition uses to get an idea of what works.

You will then have a better idea of what hashtag strategy works for others in your industry. You may discover hashtags to add to your plan or come up with original ones.

Use hashtags your audience is using

What if your target audience is already using a hashtag? so, why not give it a try? Just type a keyword into the Instagram search tool. Then, you will get a list of popular hashtags associated with it.

Just make sure that the content tagged with the hashtag is relevant to your brand or business. It would also be good to see what hashtags your followers are using.

Use Instagram’s features

There will be a list of related hashtags on any hashtag page that can be swiped through by swiping left from the top and recent tabs. Using this method, you can quickly identify niche hashtags more relevant to your search than the generic keywords you were trying to find.

It means a more relevant audience with less competition for the exact key phrase. Furthermore, brands looking to connect with passionate communities can use these hashtags to their advantage.

Brand your hashtag

Creating your own hashtag may be the most effective way to promote your brand. Besides, a branded hashtag is simply tagging your brand or campaign. However, keep in mind the hashtags shouldn’t be too long or too complicated to remember. 

Your audience can then learn about your hashtag by including it in your Instagram bio and highlighting it in your Instagram Stories. In addition, you can run a contest with a branded hashtag to generate content while also popularizing it.

Final Thoughts about Instagram Hashtags work

In conclusion, when it comes to hashtags, there is no one-size-fits-all strategy. On Instagram, for example, you can share up to 30 hashtags within a single post, but the trend is to use just 1-3 hashtags per post.

Using as many hashtags as you can, is a good idea, but the use of repeated hashtags is penalized. Most people utilize 11 hashtags when posting.

Hashtags can contain numbers, but spaces and special characters won’t work.

Why Instagram, then? First, it’s free, but also, Instagram allows you to share photos and videos with users on iOS and Android devices and from the PC as well.

According to employees, globally, Instagram has more than 2 billion monthly active users ( CNBC ).

Thus, Instagram is ideal for gaining followers who can view, comment, share, like, and comment on your posts.

Finally, you can also connect Instagram to Facebook and get an automatic monthly report of your account activity, reach, and engagement. 

• One post may contain up to 30 hashtags
• Repeated hashtags are penalized and may appear spammy
• Special characters are not allowed
• Instagram is free and accessible
• More than 2 billion users as of December 2021

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How to do Hashtag Research and Create a Hashtag Strategy

• Post author: Rose Carges
• Post published: July 13, 2020
• Post category: SEO

For any company, having a digital presence is key. To get the most out of your digital platforms, you need to implement SEO practices. One form of SEO, which is often forgotten, is hashtags. They are the keywords of social media . They are a great way to optimize your social media to reach the right audience and grow your brand. But how do you do hashtag research? Read on to find out!

Hashtag Research

This blog will give you all the information you need to create a hashtag strategy. It will cover: 

• What hashtags are and why they matter
• What types of hashtags to use 
• How to do hashtag research
• How to implement hashtags

Let’s get into it!

What Are Hashtags and why Should I Care About Them?

Simply put, hashtags are keyword phrases spelled without spaces and marked by a pound sign (#) in front of it.  Hashtags are essentially keywords used to categorize posts. They are an excellent way to:

•      Build up your company’s brand
•     Boost a marketing campaign
•     Keep in touch with your audience

 Hashtags help you reach your target audience.  More importantly, they help your target audience find you. For example, if you add the hashtag  #digitalmarketing to a post, people can search for that hashtag, and your post will come up. These users are more likely to engage with your post because it’s precisely what they were searching for, leading to better brand recognition and user interactions.

Hashtags that spread quickly have a wide variety of people using them and turning them into trends. This means that the keyword is popular and that many users make it a part of their conversation on social media. This does not mean every hashtag you use must become a trend. It all depends on the reason why you are using your hashtag.

Hashtags are an effective way to get more visibility and engagement on social media. A post with at least one hashtag can bring more viewers and engagement while also attracting people looking for you and the kind of content you share. Creating a hashtag strategy for your brand is worth it if you want your account to grow, gain recognition, and bring in people interested in what you have to say.

What Types of Hashtags Should I Use?  

There are a few different types of hashtags. 

Niche Hashtags: These hashtags refer to specific keywords that interest a small population, such as #digitalmarketing and #marketingtips. 

Community Hashtags: Refer to those that tap into a community. Those who follow community hashtags want to get information or content related to that community. It could be the #colibridigitalmarketing community, the #LGBT community, etc.

Audience Descriptive Hashtags : These hashtags focus on characteristics that define your audience and their interests—for example, #marketer, #fitgirls, #influencer.   

Product Descriptive Hashtags: Talk about specific products or services companies offer,  such as #website, #seo, #branding, and #contentmarketing.

Location Hashtags: Focus on a location you want to reach, your own location, or places of interest in a specific place—for example, #sanfrancisco, #sf, #bayarea.

Event Hashtags : Refer to hashtags created for events that give more information about an event. It could be branded hashtags for your own events or a type of event. Examples include: #networkingevent, #marketingevent, #artexhibit.

Using multiple types of hashtags will help you reach more people. If you only use hashtags with many posts, such as #digitalmarketing,  it will be harder to reach people. Mixing in smaller hashtags, such as event hashtags or audience hashtags, will help you reach people easily. For each post, finding a unique hashtag that matches the post’s theme is best. Here’s an example of what that looks like:

How Do I Do Hashtag Research?

There are a few different steps to tackle hashtag research. The most important thing to remember is that you need to track your work as you go. Colibri recommends making a spreadsheet with space to record each hashtag and its popularity. At Colibri, we like to post different categories of posts on different days. For example, we post a #FunFriday post on Friday. If you have different categories of posts, make sure to research hashtags to use for each category. 

Step 1. Follow trending niche hashtags (like #digitalmarketing).

This will help you see posts that are trending. You must look up the hashtag and click “Follow” to get ideas for trending topics. This can help you create new posts on relevant subjects for your business. 

• Look at other accounts similar to yours and see what hashtags they use to get inspired.
• Search your keywords on every social media platform. Check how many posts have been shared to define relevance.

Step 2. Google it .

You can find great hashtags by Googling “top used hashtags” for your specific topic or even holidays. Posting something that your regular hashtags do not apply to is a great way to develop ideas. Here’s what to do:

• Google your keywords and find the top-used hashtags in your topic.
• Filter and choose the most appropriate hashtags for your topic (consider the number of posts each has).

Step 3. Use the Google Keyword Planner Tool .

Or any other keyword research software. Hashtags are social media keywords. They help you rank the same way that keywords do with SEO. You can also cross-reference with other hashtag tools (below) to see if they could be appropriate hashtags for your social media.

• Go to Keyword Planner: https://ads.google.com/home/tools/keyword-planner/
• Start looking for your keywords and search how they perform on each social media platform.

Step 4. Use Hashtag & Monitoring Platforms.

This will help you identify the hashtags used for each platform. Some tools suggest hashtags based on keywords that tell you how popular the hashtags are and how they perform. Other platforms track the performance of hashtags on your accounts. 

• Use any of the different platforms available to find hashtags: Hashtagify, IQ Hashtags, Keyhole, All-Hashtag, SeekMetrics.
• Select hashtags that are important for your business and posts.

Below are some of the best hashtag monitoring tools.  

• Hashtagify . Check trending hashtags + Twitter (most features are paid)
• IQ Hashtags . Instagram tracks volume, avg. likes, and comments. 
• Keyhole . Monitor hashtags and brands on Twitter, Instagram, and blogs.
• All-Hashtag . Check top, trending, and random hashtags based on keywords. 
• SeekMetrics . Generates Twitter and Instagram hashtags based on keywords. 

Top Hashtag Tips

• Don’t copy/paste the same hashtags in every post.
• Avoid hashtags unrelated to your topic, like #like4like and #goodday. Those hashtags do not reach your target audience.
• For LinkedIn, use four to seven hashtags. For Facebook, two are enough. For Twitter, around three is best. Finally, for Instagram, you can use up to 30 hashtags. Ensure all hashtags are relevant and related to your topic or brand.
• Add hashtags in the first comment on Instagram. This will keep the caption looking clean.
• For Instagram, include your hashtags in the comments instead of the caption.
• If there’s a particular post (special events, holidays, news), do more keyword research to find hashtags related to the holiday or special event. 
• Review how hashtags work on your social media. Check engagement and see which hashtags are most beneficial for your strategy.

Creating a hashtag strategy takes three steps. First, create your spreadsheet to document your research. Second, conduct research using the different platforms outlined above. Third, implement hashtags, review results, and update your research based on your results. Hashtags are keywords for social media, so it is essential to find good keywords and use them to grow your brand.  

Looking to do more for your social media? Contact Colibri Digital Marketing for a 30-minute complimentary strategy session to learn more about social media management and all things #digitalmarketing. Click the button below to get started!

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How To Do Hashtag Research

Hashtags are a great way to reach out to new audiences and gain new relevant followers for your social media account. When properly researched and used well, they can be an extremely effective method of increasing your visibility on social media. However when used incorrectly, the results can have a negative effect on your social media presence and deter potential followers.

Hashtags (as they have now come to be known) actually pre-date Twitter and modern social media. Though the term “hashtag” was popularised on Twitter, the # symbol has been used for over two decades for similar purposes of socialising and sharing information online. And you can read more about the history and evolution of the hashtag here , if you’re really interested…

How To Do Hashtag Research for Social Media

There are, as with everything online, some unspoken “Twitter-etiquette” rules to abide by if you are looking to make a positive impression on Twitter.

Hashtag Research Tip:

Like the awkward new person at a party, don’t just jump in on a conversation and start talking about yourself.

Join in with the conversation!

The “How To Do Hashtag Research” process is usually this:

• Start with a root or core keyword as a hashtag.
• Generate more keyword / hashtag ideas.
• Understand each hashtag’s usage and popularity.
• Organise them into a spreadsheet.
• Structure a social media content strategy from your research.

How To Find Hashtags

Though hashtags are essentially keywords for social media, there is a world of difference between social media keyword research and research for keywords intended for search engines such as Google or Bing. Just the same as Apple’s App Store keyword research  and Google Play keyword research are two entirely different games also!

So how do you find hashtags for Twitter? Well, there are literally hashtags for everything. And their usage can differ depending on the social media platform. So although essentially this guide is loosely aimed at Twitter, there are keyword research tips that cross over to Instagram, Google+, etc, but each platform will require its own insights.

First of all, no matter what the social media channel, you need to take a good hard look at the sort of content that you will be putting out and who its intended audience is. Find popular accounts similar to yours, in regards to audience and content, and start making a note of the hashtags that they commonly use. Add to this list all of the obvious root or core keywords that can be used as hashtags.

For the sake of using a rather boring example, let’s start with something really broad that we’re interested in: #seo . It doesn’t get broader than that.

By searching for #seo on Tagboard , we can gather a little bit of immediate data such as: the trend of the hashtag’s use, the general sentiment expressed using the hashtag, related hashtags usually used in conjunction with #seo and an average posts per minute using that hashtag. As well as a stream of various social media platforms using the hashtag so you can observe how the hashtag is being used in real time.

Hashtag research can be a great way to, not only jump in on existing hashtags and trends but, see whether your hashtag is already in popular use before you unleash it as part of your upcoming social campaign!

Hmm…. 11 posts a minute. Is your tweet worth competing with that, or will you be invisible amongst the crowd? 11 posts a minute, but how many people are actually going to be searching for that hashtag during that time? It’s kind of like 11 people screaming at the top of their lungs in the vacuum of space where they can’t be heard. Trends on the other hand…. but we’ll get to that later.

Nevertheless, you want to jot down any relevant hashtag and we can worry about prioritising them later.

Similarly, Hashtagify allows you to search for a keyword and see a spider diagram of related keywords. (You’re going to want to get these down in your list.) Hovering over each keyword “bubble” gives you a popularity score and correlation percentage from your initial hashtag in the centre position. The bigger the bubble, the more popular the hashtag is. If this branch visualisation isn’t particularly helpful to you, Hashtagify also features a Table Mode displaying the same data, which you can then sort by Popularity, Correlation, Weekly Trend and Monthly Trend:

And even view the all-time top 6 influencers for that hashtag for further investigation:

And you will also be able to see the “Hashtag Wall” for the hashtag, displaying a grid of the hashtag in recent use across various social media platforms.

Make sure you know how the hashtags are being used by users! Think how annoying it is in real life when you’re having a conversation with someone, and someone else jumps in talking about something completely irrelevant!

Another amazing tool for finding hashtags to use on Twitter is Hashtag Scout . It’s undoubtedly a treasure trove of hashtags waiting to be found….

All you have to do is type in a hashtag, and it will display a  super long list of other hashtags related to your original search. (And I mean super long.) It truly is a remarkable source of hashtag inspiration. If you click through to any hashtag you see displayed, let’s just click on #seo for example, you can see the Estimated Usage Volume per day and per month. Along with the usual related hashtags from the last 164 hours and Recent Popular Tweets Using #seo below.

These are real, measurable figures that you should be making note of for the next step in your keyword research…

Your Wonderful Hashtag Spreadsheet

By now you should have a long list of all sorts of weird and wonderful keywords. In fact, it might even be an overwhelming amount that has your head spinning in your hands wondering what to do with them all.

But before you break down into tears, let’s sort that bad boy out and see what we can actually use. You might find that about 75% of them are absolutely useless, but we need to sift through the junk to find the goodies worth keeping. Remember that once all of your hashtags and data are input into your spreadsheet, you can keep coming back later on to add to it and sort all of them by daily volume, monthly volume, or just alphabetically as you please.

Spreadsheet columns can be sorted into:

• Daily Volume
• Monthly Volume
• Description
• Sentiment (optional)

Some hashtags aren’t immediately obvious as to the expected content, so having a description column can be real useful so that you don’t forget. What a faux pas it would be to accidentally tweet a picture of a loaf of bread to #kittyloafmonday !

If you take a moment to research into each individual hashtag, you can quickly find Twitter communities that you didn’t even know existed. Like did you know that there is a different topic of “cat discussion” every day of the week?

• Monday: #kittyloafmonday
• Tuesday: #tunatuesday
• Wednesday: #whiskerswednesday
• Thursday: #fluffyfursday
• Friday: #jellybellyfriday
• Saturday: #caturday
• Sunday: #catboxsunday

Each one of those is a new and exciting opportunity every day to target cat lovers actively participating in cat discussion!

Constructing Your Hashtag Strategy

So what do you do once you have your extensive collection of hashtags? How do you know which ones to use and when? What ever happened to the spontaneity of social media?

Now it’s time to structure a social media content strategy from your hashtag research.

Avoid using more than 3 hashtags in a Tweet.

1-2 has proven to be best and case studies have shown that it could improve the Tweet’s engagement by 200%!

When To Use Hashtags

Using Hashtags.org , you can see a 24 hour trend graph of estimated Tweets per hour, based on a sample of 1%. This allows you to see when the best times are to use a hashtag. This is great news for your social media content scheduling, but you need to make sure that you don’t just neglect your social media accounts and let your scheduler do all the hard work. Yes, schedule Tweets in advance based on your hashtag research and social strategy, but keep one eye on your account to ensure that you don’t miss out on any opportunities that may spontaneously present themselves to you. This is a huge part of Twitter, and if you blink for a second you could miss out on a chance to get thousands of impressions and all of the followers that come with that.

What About Twitter Trends?

You can set Twitter to display location-based Trends (by selecting a a country or city) or Tailored Trends. How do Tailored Trends on Twitter work? Twitter displays Trends algorithmically by your current location and who you follow for a more personalised display of Trends that you are likely to be interested in.

It takes just a couple of clicks to switch back and forth between Tailored and Location-based Trends, so you could alternate throughout the day to see whether there are any Trends that you could make us of.

The argument against participating in Twitter Trends is that the more popular the hashtag or keywords, the quicker your Tweet will get pushed out of the live Twitter stream. But there’s also a higher chance of higher impressions. So it’s a worthy gamble for an immediate boost in exposure and if it’s a particularly good Tweet, you might experience a sudden influx in Favourites and ReTweets and maybe even new Followers. But it should be said that Twitter users browsing Trends tend to just be on a bit of scroll mission, so your Tweet could just get completely ignored.

Experiment!

Luck and timing can play a HUGE part in your success. You win some; you lose some. See what works.

If you target less popular hashtags, yes, you might be visible for that query for a longer duration, but there will also be less people searching that hashtag. Kind of like long tail vs short tail keyword targeting in SEO. You might rank really well for a really specific long tail search term, but have less people searching for those terms, or rank on 3rd page of Google for a short tail term that delivers tonnes of traffic due to the sheer number of searches it receives. With Twitter Trends, even though you may only get a tiny fraction of the Trend traffic, your Tweet may generate a huge amount of engagement.

Local Hashtags for your Local Audience

If you have a local business, obviously your audience is ideally going to be those within your local area. So how do you target these accounts on Twitter? First of all, you’ll want to be following and networking with other local Twitter accounts, be they local businesses or just Twitter users with local influence. Secondly, you need to know what people in the local area are talking about on Twitter so that you can join in the conversation and just be present. And how do you do that?

Introducing Trends Map ….

Trends Map enables you to restrict your hashtag targeting to a local geographic area and zoom in and out to find popular and trending hashtags within local areas.

By referring to your hashtag spreadsheet whenever you are writing or scheduling Tweets, you can methodically select the most appropriate hashtag/s to use based on time of posting and audience. Or even plan your social content around trending topics or popular hashtags! It just takes a little creativity and imagination, which unfortunately cannot be taught in any tutorial. Every social account is different. I’ve hopefully given you the tools and the insight; it’s now up to you what you do with it. Good luck!

Very informative. Overuse or improper use of hash tags is one thing that really gets on my nerves. Working in Content Marketing it is something that we come across a lot, and something people should take more time to learn the ins and outs of

Thanks for submitting this to the Blogging + Business Collective. All submissions get pinned to Pinterest. Have a great Sunday!

How to Conduct Instagram Hashtag Research

Last Updated: Apr 24, 2020

Want More Real Instagram Followers?

Have you done any Instagram hashtag research lately? Whether or not you have, for the past few years, they’ve been taking the world by storm. No, but in all seriousness—in 2012 “hashtag” was named the word of the year . Later on, a baby would be named Hashtag and the term itself would be legally banned in France.

See what we mean? Pretty crazy stuff.

But you know where hashtags got their start, right? It had nothing to do with dictionaries or pregnant women or Europe- it all started with social media. Since 2010, Instagram hashtags have been uniting brands with the audiences who most desperately crave their content. There’s only one potential problem, here—as a business, how should you use them on Instagram?

It’s a fair question, and one that we answer on a daily basis here at Kicksta . So, if you’re in need of some solid direction in the ways of Instagram hashtag research, rest assured, you’ve come to the right place. Keep reading—below, you’ll find a number of instructions to help you milk Instagram hashtags for all they’re worth:

Quick Links

Using Instagram’s Built-In Search Functionality

Okay, this one’s a bit simple, but it’s without a doubt the best place to start your Instagram hashtag research. As always, when you have a pressing question and are looking for an answer, Google is where you’re headed. Similarly, with your business’ specialty in mind , use Instagram’s built-in search bar to search out popular, industry-specific terms.

When you do, Instagram will automatically suggest a few hashtags for you, and show you how many posts contain said hashtags. Once again, this is the most fundamental way to conduct hashtag research, but it’s an excellent place to start, and a step that shouldn’t be looked over.

The Right Tools to Get the Job Done

Google and Instagram searches are great, but getting hashtags right doesn’t have to stop there. In fact, to help businesses out even more, a number of digital tools have quickly made a name for themselves as hashtags have grown in popularity. The following four are a few of the best:

1) HashAtIt

HashAtIt is one of the Internet’s favorite hashtag databases. Whether it be Facebook and Twitter or Pinterest and Instagram, if you want to know what hashtags are being used, HashAtIt can help out. Oh! And here’s the best part—it’s 100% free.

2) HashTracking

HashTracking is devoted entirely to Twitter and Instagram hashtag analysis. That said, there’s quite a bit of correlation between trending Twitter hashtags and their Instagram counterparts, so feel free to explore both platforms.

The biggest difference between Keyhole and the rest of its competitors comes from the site’s emphasis on real-time hashtag tracking. In other words, Keyhole wants you to know what hashtags Instagrammers are using right this very instant.

Of the options presented on this post, NUVI is by far the cream of the crop. Yes, NUVI offers much in the ways of hashtag help, but more than anything, with NUVI, you’re able to monitor your Instagram account at all times and chime in whenever an enticing conversation appears to be materializing.

Case in point? No matter the size of your business or budget, there’s a hashtag tool out there that can help you take your Instagram marketing magic to the next level. We highly recommend that you experiment with two or three of them or request a buyer demo before making a long-term purchase.

Different Hashtag Types to Focus On

Instagram is all about creativity. Images, video snippets, marketing methods—with all of it, the more out-of-the-box your thinking, the more upside it could potentially have. Hashtags are no different. The tendency has always been for Instagram brands to play it safe and stick with what’s most relevant to the products or services they specialize in.

This is great and all, but #Handbag isn’t necessarily going to help you discover new audiences or find your voice on an already crowded platform. Remember that “creativity” of which was previously made mention? Now is the time to bust it out. Instead of using only industry-relevant hashtags , try a few of the following on for size:

Local Hashtags – Depending on the size of your business, this can be huge.

Event Hashtags – What’s trending, but not necessarily brand-specific? Join the chat.

Holiday Hashtags – There’s a holiday just about every month—use them wisely.

Brand Hashtags – Looking for a unique hashtag? Come up with one of your own.

There’s an easy way to do hashtags, and the right way to do hashtags. Use some critical thinking to make hashtags less of a checklist item, and more of something you use to access new, exciting audiences on Instagram.

During your team’s brainstorming meetings, think about how each of the above hashtag tools and types might nicely mesh with what your brand’s Instagram content calendar has on the docket. The more seamlessly you can align the two, the better. From there, it’s your job to couple Instagram hashtag research with great content. No worries—hashtags will do the rest.

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11 amazing hashtag research tools you need for Instagram

Hashtags are the not-so-secret, magical ingredient for success on Instagram, helping brands and marketers boost their reach and engagement, grow their followers, and generate more leads and conversions. Make hashtag research easy with tools to give you the best, most relevant hashtags for your posts.

Instagram and hashtags go together like cheese and crackers.

Sure, Instagram can (kind of) work without hashtags, but it’s much more powerful with the right  hashtag strategy . And creating a hashtag strategy is so much easier with intuitive hashtag research tools that can help bring that strategy to life.

That said, not just any hashtags will get you the results you’re looking for. Only through strategic Instagram hashtag research and optimization can you find the best, most relevant hashtags for your brand.

But how can you conduct your hashtag research efficiently, without it taking a lifetime? The answer: hashtag research tools! Read on to discover how to research hashtags and get our favorite hashtag research tools to will help you find (and track) the top Instagram hashtags for your brand.

How Can Hashtag Research Tools Help You?

It’s pointless using hashtags that are irrelevant or overused – so much so that in some cases, you’re better off not using them at all! Using well-researched, relevant hashtags instead of spammy ones can make all the difference to your Instagram post performance.

If you’re already producing great content, the right hashtag research can mean that more relevant Instagram users will see your content. That means that, as a result, you’ll see:

• Increased post reach,
• Increased engagement,
• Growth of your Instagram following,
• Increased leads, and
• Increased conversions, if you have a seamless path to purchase.

Hashtag research tools can help you find the right hashtags, to begin with. Then, once you’ve created a hashtag strategy, hashtag tools can also help you track your posts to see which hashtags are working best – and which aren’t!

Over time, you’ll be able to refine your Instagram hashtag strategy and even your content strategy, allowing you to deliver better, more relevant content to the right audiences. Keep reading to discover how to do hashtag research and which tools can help you conduct that research as efficiently as possible.

11 Useful Tools to Boost Your Hashtag Research

Now you know why you should be using hashtags on Instagram. But how do you find the best Instagram hashtags for your brand? Which tool you decide to use will depend on a few factors:

• Your expertise. If you’re just starting out with hashtag research, or even with social media marketing for that matter, you might want to start with a tool that’s easy to use, at least in the beginning.
• Your needs . Have you identified that social media marketing could present a really strong, cost-effective opportunity for your brand to reach new customers? If so, you might want to find a powerful tool that allows you to research and track hashtags, as well as perform a range of other functions.
• Your role . Are you a social media manager keen to optimize your brand’s social strategy? Or are you a time-poor business owner who wants a tool that’s super easy to use? Think about your role and how you need to use social media tools. Do you need data and reporting insights? Or do you just need a tool to help with processes, like a scheduler?
• The size of your business . If you’re just starting out with your business, you may be able to get away with using a free or low-cost tool, at least to begin with. Then, as your team grows, or as the role of social media grows for you, you can start to invest more in various social media tools.

These are all important considerations when considering the best tool for you and your team. It goes without saying that any new tool needs to also fit in with (or replace) the tools you already have. Some people find a combination of tools works best, while others prefer to have just one.

Read on to discover the best tools out there that can streamline the hashtag research and social media management process. Start experimenting today and you’ll be that much closer to discovering your favorite!

Sked Social

Now there’s a small chance I might be biased, but IMO Sked Social  is one of the best tools out there when it comes to hashtag research. It’s an all-in-one Instagram platform, offering direct publishing and scheduling tools (even for Instagram videos and Stories!), in-app image creation with Canva, multiple account management, a built-in photo editor, and hashtag tools – and that’s just to start off with!

But, I’m here to talk about hashtags – so how does Sked Social help improve your hashtag research game?

For one, Sked Social has a powerful hashtag recommendation feature that appears whenever you add at least one hashtag to your caption or first comment box (which I’ll tell you all about in a second). This makes the scheduling process super seamless. Instead of “setting and forgetting” your hashtag research, you can conduct your initial hashtag research and then continue optimizing your posts from there.

• As you can see above, the tool will suggest several recommended hashtags based on the hashtag/s you’ve already used.What’s really cool here is that it also tells you how popular they are and gives an indication of whether they are ‘OK,’ ‘good’ or ‘great’ to use. The more hashtags you add, the more targeted the suggestions become.Another very cool feature is that you can schedule your hashtags within the first comment of your posts, to keep your caption section nice and clean.So, if you’re looking for a tool that can:
• Handle Instagram posting and scheduling seamlessly (even IG Stories)
• Manage, organize and discover hashtags
• Automatically post the first comment with hashtags included
• Help you create and edit your content in-app
• Report on post performance
• The best part about Sked Social is that it’s not just an Instagram tool; it can also work with and report on other social channels, like Facebook, Twitter, Linked In, and even Google My Business.
• Cost: Starts from $21 per month, but this includes editing, scheduling, and other features for all social media platforms.
• Functions: Sked Social’s comprehensive range of functions and packages means it can be used for a range of functions to suit your needs, from reporting to hashtag research to tracking to scheduling.
• Best for: The functions available on Sked mean that this platform is suitable for everyone; social media managers, business owners, agencies, or freelancers.
• Try Sked Social’s free 7-day trial now!

Display Purposes

Display Purposes  is essentially a hashtag generator. It’s all about helping you find the right Instagram hashtags for your brand.

While it’s pretty basic with limited features, it’s still quite a useful tool, especially if you don’t have a significant budget to invest in social media marketing just yet.

To use Display Purposes, all you have to do is type a hashtag or two into the search box. This way, the app knows what kind of suggestions to display.

It will then use your suggestions to come up with related hashtags, like in the example below.

First, Display Purpose will spit out all of the suggestions associated with the hashtag/s you’ve added, so that you can simply copy and paste them to add them to your next post.

Next, it lists out each of the hashtags found. If you hover over them, you’ll be able to see deeper insights, such as what their relevance is to your query. The tool also gives each hashtag a popularity score as a percentage.

Just be aware that the tool can spit out hashtags that aren’t super relevant. Keep in mind that the more hashtags you add, however, the more targeted hashtags it will spit out, so aim to add as many relevant tags as you can.

Cost: Free.

Functions: Hashtag research and discoverability only.

Best for: Freelancers or business owners who are just starting out.

If you’re looking for a hashtag research tool that’s a bit more in-depth in the research department,  Hashtagify  could help. It’s a hashtag tool that helps you find, monitor, and analyze hashtags in detail.

The platform contains data on everything from the hashtag’s popularity to its top influencers, who uses them, and which countries use them the most. Hashtagify analyzes it all.

Plus, Hashtagify also provides examples of related hashtags in a word cloud – then you can simply click on any of the hashtags that catch your eye to see further analysis on those hashtags.

Cost: Free if you want to analyze hashtags on Twitter, but for Instagram hashtag research and deeper analytics functions it starts from $29/month.

Functions: Hashtag research and in-depth hashtag analytics and tracking .

Best for: Social media managers or agencies who primarily use Twitter can use the free version of Hashtagify.

Then, anyone who wants an in-depth hashtag tracker and who already has other tools for scheduling and reporting can use the paid version. For instance, perhaps you’re trying to monitor the growth of specific hashtags, like brand terms, across specific channels. In that case, Hashtagify could suit your needs.

Tagsfinder is similar to Display Purposes, but the functionality using this hashtag research tool is a little better. Why is that? Well, this tool allows you to select a language and a country location, enabling you to find localized hashtags.

To use Tagsfinder, in the search function, you can add up to ten hashtags. Simply add your language and location and then hit “Search”.

The tool will then provide a list of related hashtags that you can easily copy and paste. If you see a hashtag in the list that isn’t relevant, simply click the “X”, and remove it. The tool will replace it with another.

Tagsfinder also has location-specific data, so it can be a handy tool if you’re doing some general research and want to see what is trending in your country or popular cities at a glance.

Functions: Hashtag research.

Best for: Social media managers or business owners who are looking for a hashtag research tool but don’t have a large budget. This tool works best for those who still have some knowledge of social media, and who also have other complimentary tools for scheduling and reporting. It’s great for brick-and-mortar businesses or service-based brands that need local hashtags.

All Hashtag

All Hashtag  is a hashtag research tool that works for Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook. It helps you generate and analyze the top Instagram hashtags for your brand.

To get started, simply pop your keyword in the search box, then select what types of hashtags you want to see. For example, select “Top” for the most popular related hashtags, and “Random” to generate hashtags related to your keyword.

The tool generates a list of 30 related hashtags that it considers the best Instagram hashtags for your brand. But if you scroll down your results page, you’ll see even more recommendations of similar hashtags, if the original hashtags don’t work for you.

If you’re looking for volume, this is the perfect hashtag research tool, as it can generate a large number of hashtags. The only downside is that it only lets you enter one hashtag to start off with, so they may not always be super relevant to you and you may have to sift through multiple hashtags to find the ones that are most relevant to you.

Another feature this tool boasts is Hashtag Analytics, which lets you study a particular hashtag in more depth. The analytics the tool provides, however, are very top-line, and compares your hashtags based on overall popularity rather than relevance, so be sure to take the results with a grain of salt!

Best for: Social media managers or business owners with a low budget yet still have some knowledge of social media. Again, this hashtag research tool works best as a complementary tool.

Seekmetrics

Seekmetrics is, first of all, a social media analytics tool; and, separate from that, they also offer a hashtag generator which you can try out for free:

As you can see above, it’s not the most complex hashtag research tool available, but it’s not striving to be either.

Seekmetrics is a free hashtag generator where you can easily find and copy and paste hashtags to use in your Instagram posts. The brand also has other free tools to check out, too!

Best for: Social media managers or business owners who want a free hashtag generator that is simple to use, or those who are already using Seekmetrics for other purposes.

AutoHash is a hashtag smartphone app, which is perfect if you’re posting on the go. It’s available on the Android Play Store – and it has some really interesting features.

The app uses a unique approach. Here’s how it works: upload a photo into the app, and it will provide the most relevant hashtags that you should use, based on photo recognition technology.

Essentially, Autohash recognizes the different elements in your photos and then generates related hashtags; for example, if it were featuring food, the tool might pull up hashtags like #foodie and #yum.

The app also provides some great location-specific hashtags, which can help if you’re trying to target locals in a specific suburb, region, or city.

Other features include “favorite hashtags”, for saving your most used hashtags – and a “hashtags counter”, which tells you how many hashtags you’ve used on a post and how much more space you have left.

Best for: Only available for Android users. Anyone with a low budget or limited time. Perfect for freelancers or those who are posting at events or on the fly.

Preview App

  Preview App started out purely as a feed planning tool for Instagram but has since expanded its functionality.

The free version allows you to perform basic functions like uploading, editing, and scheduling posts. If you already have lists of hashtags, it can even save these groups of your relevant hashtags or recent hashtags to be used in your posts.

For more advanced functions, you’ll need the paid version, which costs a small monthly fee. This gives you access to advanced hashtag research and hashtag analytics features.

This is a powerful app for Instagram and makes the scheduling process very seamless, but it works best from your mobile, not your desktop.

Cost: Free to access for primary functions, but is $6.67/month to access all functions including hashtag research tools.

Functions: Hashtag research, feed planning, and scheduling.

Best for: Social media managers, freelancers, and small business owners, especially those who are only using Instagram, and are posting via a mobile device.

Ritetag is a fairly simple hashtag research platform, but it’s also intuitive, easy to use, and is quite affordable, even for those who are just starting out with social media marketing.

The app offers statistics on each hashtag, related hashtags, basic analytics, and even a scheduling tool.

The great part about Ritetag is its ability to integrate with other platforms. If you already have a social media scheduling tool that you’re using, it can integrate with those platforms. You can also download a Ritetag Chrome Extension, which enables you to add hashtags whenever you need.

Cost: Free to access for primary functions, but is $49/year for hashtag research. Additional costs apply to access scheduling, analytics, and editing tools.

Functions: Hashtag research, hashtag analytics, post editing, and scheduling.

Best for: Social media managers, agencies, freelancers, and small business owners, particularly those who want a flexible tool that can fit around those they already use.

Photerloo is an AI-powered hashtag research tool that lets you search hashtags simply by uploading an image.

The platform is very intuitive and gives the user lots of control. For instance, it lets you remove irrelevant hashtags and replace them with new hashtags. It also has a popularity filter, so if you want to remove the uber-popular hashtags with millions of uses, you can.

It also has powerful uploading capabilities, allowing you to upload large amounts of content to different platforms and social media channels simultaneously.

Cost: Free to access hashtag research tools and upload 5 images per week, but for unlimited photo uploads on different platforms it costs $60/year.

Functions : Hashtag research, hashtag analytics, and bulk post scheduling.

Best for: Freelancers, photographers, and small business owners, particularly those who need to upload large amounts of images to different channels at the same time.

Inflact , previously known as Ingramer, is a simple hashtag research tool that uses AI to automatically generate hashtags. The beauty of this app is that you can search by keyword, photo, or even URL. You can add up to five keywords to get a more targeted result, as seen below.

This tool is handy, as it gives you grouped hashtags based on “frequent” hashtags, “average” hashtags, and “rare” hashtags. Then, you can easily click the hashtags you want, which will get transferred to a new section. From there, you can copy your list of finalized hashtags.

If you want to browse popular hashtag trends, the tool also has a section called “Hashtag Trends” which allows you to peruse hashtags by category.

Cost: Free to access hashtag research tools but analytics and other more advanced features start from $57/month. It also has some interesting paid features like an automated bulk direct messenger.

Functions: Hashtag research, hashtag analytics, and post scheduling.

Best for: Social media managers, freelancers, photographers, and small business owners who predominantly use Instagram.

Key Takeaways

Did you find the hashtag tool you were after? When making your final decision. It’s important to ask yourself a few questions.

• What do you want from your hashtag tool? Are you simply after random hashtag generation or would you prefer more targeted hashtag options?
• Is it just hashtags you’re after? Or would you prefer that this tool is teamed with scheduling, post editing and publishing?
• How will you measure your hashtag success? Will you be manually monitoring your hashtag’s success, using a tool or cutting to the chase with an analytics feature?

Over to You

Using the right hashtags can make a huge impact on your Instagram efforts. Take your time going through these tools to find the ideal solution for your needs, but remember that it’s not just about saving time and finding hashtags quickly – it's about understanding which are the best Instagram hashtags for your brand. Then using tools to experiment, research and continue optimizing your strategy.

Which hashtag tool will you use?

Curious about what Sked Social’s Hashtag Recommendation tool has to offer for you? Try Sked Social’s 7-day free trial and experience the ease that comes with auto-posting Instagram, Facebook and Twitter content. Plus, you’ll discover our in-app photo editor, smart caption duplicating and planner view for a perfect feed. Join our Sked crew, see what all the fuss is about and save 5+ hours per week in the process.

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This article has been reviewed and updated to ensure the information provided is accurate and up to date.

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How To Do Hashtag Research For Instagram

 • 4 min read

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It’s no secret – organic engagement and hashtags go together like avocados and toast. And, similar to “cooking” our beloved avocado toast, it’s easy to find hashtags. Too easy . The reality is, anyone can smash fruit onto a piece of whole-wheat bread, just like how anyone can find a set of hashtags and slap it on an Insta caption. But will that result in organic engagement or a worthwhile breakfast?

Probably not.

With that being said, organic engagement deserves a little TLC. If you want your posts to organically reach more of the right people, hashtags are your cup of tea. The right hashtags. But, what are the right hashtags and how do we find them?

Luckily, when it comes to how to do hashtag research for Instagram, it doesn’t have to be rocket science. Using a correct hashtag-research strategy means you will spend less time getting better hashtags, which will in turn get you better results, and you may even find that you (dare I say it) enjoyed the process.

Okay, first things first. Before I get too into the specifics of hashtag research, we should lay down some ground rules.

• If you are unsure of what a hashtag is and why you should be using them, you may need a bit of refreshing on the purpose of a hashtag .
• Switch up your hashtags! I recommended creating 3-5 sets of hashtags that you can alternate between. Make sure that you do not used the same hashtag too often.
• Use hashtags that have between 25,000 and 500,000 posts. Variety is preferred! The only exception to this rule is for a branded hashtag.

Now that we’ve gotten that out of the way, let’s dive in!

Recommended Hashtags to “Follow”

As you may have noticed, on Instagram, you now have the capability of following a hashtag! Not only can you incessantly indulge with your favorite bloggers hashtagged content, it’s also the way perfect way to do a little hashtag research.

To find recommended hashtags, head over to your profile page. Once you are here, click on “following” and then “hashtags”.

Although Instagram originally created this section to help you find interesting hashtags to follow, I find that it’s a great resource to find trending hashtags that you may wish to use on your own profile. Score!

Use Instagram Autocomplete

Let Instagram do the work for ya. If you know a category of hashtag that is valuable to your brand, for example, “travel”, type that into the search feature of Instagram. After doing so, you will see that other related hashtags will appear as well.

Referencing back to our third rule, hashtag size, look for hashtags that are within the 25,000 to 500,000 range. As you can see below, hashtags like #travelling has 41.7 million posts. Spam alert! On the other hand, #travelbloggervibes has 21.4k posts and #travelbloggerlife has 312k. Much better.

Use Related Hashtags

Once again, let Instagram do the heavy lifting. Search for a hashtag relevant to your social media page and click on the result. In the example above, I chose the hashtag #travelbloggerlife. After clicking on the hashtag, you will see a list of other related hashtags toward the top of the page. Personally, this is my favorite way to find hashtags.

After clicking on a new hashtag, such as #travelmemories, you will find a whole new set of related hashtags. Essentially, it’s a never ending rabbit hole. If you geek out on hashtags like I do, you will get lost for hours.

Pro Tip: Keep in mind, if the hashtag you search is too small, related results will not come up. I would suggest searching an initial hashtag with at least 10,000 posts!

Monitor the Results

If you’ve switched to a business profile on Instagram , good news! You can track how your hashtags are performing! To view this data, click on any post on your profile, look right under the picture, and click on “View Insights”.

From here, you will have access to detailed analytics on your post, from impressions and follow to how each of those impressions found you! Here, you will be able to see how many views were from hashtags. If your numbers are little to nothing, this is a good sign that you may need to switch up your hashtags.

Pro Tip: If you consistently receive 0 impressions from hashtags, you may be shadowbanned. Although rare, shadowbanning happens when you get flagged for spam – perhaps from using the same hashtag too often or if you’ve used a hashtag typically flagged for spam.

Yes, They Work.

Regardless of what you’ve heard, yes, hashtags work. If used correctly, you will find that you connect better with your target audience, get exponentially higher engagement and impressions on posts, and that you will start to build relationships with valuable partners.

So, next time you’re eating the same, monotonous avocado toast for the fifteenth day in a row and just hashtagged your latest Insta pic with #love and #monday, remind yourself – you can do better.

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How to Conduct Hashtag Research on Twitter

• 4 September 2020
• Jimmy Rodriguez

Effective use of social media is an essential part of your marketing efforts, and you can grow engagement on your channels by using hashtags effectively. 

Hashtags are words or phrases (written without spaces) preceded by the hash sign. A hashtag creates a clickable link that allows users to easily browse all content utilizing the same tag . Hashtagging is used on all the major social media platforms, including Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn.

On Twitter, popular hashtags are known as “ trending topics ”:

To see currently trending topics, choose “Explore” from the left hand sidebar menu, then select “Trending”: 

By using hashtags, you can ensure the right people see your posts. So if you plan to start an online business , hashtag research is an essential part of planning your marketing strategy. If you’re not convinced, just check out these hashtag fails . You don’t want to end up on a similar list in the future! 

Read on to learn all about hashtag research and how to do it. 

Hashtag vs keyword

Keyword and hashtag research are related but distinct. In many ways, a hashtag is similar to a keyword. When people look for content using a search engine, they type in a keyword. When they look for content on social media, they might type in a hashtag. 

One significant difference between a hashtag and a keyword is the time element. 

When you create a blog post and optimize it for a specific keyword, it will take time for the post to start showing up in search results. It can take weeks or months for a post to start ranking highly if it ever does. With hashtags, your social media posts can be showing in search results in seconds. However, a post optimized for a keyword has a longevity that most social media posts and hashtags do not. 

Types of hashtags 

There are many different types of hashtags. Here are five that are most likely to be relevant to marketing your business on social media: 

• Related hashtags: These are hashtags that are related to your business or industry. Examples might be #humanresources, #recruitment, and #digitalmarketing. 
• Local hashtags: These are hashtags related to a specific geographical location or landmark, such as #SanFrancisco or #StatueofLiberty.  
• Event hashtags: These are hashtags tied to specific events, such as #Comicon. 
• Holiday hashtags: These are connected with a particular holiday or date, such as #Christmas2020.
• Brand hashtags: These are hashtags started and popularised by companies. There are two main types of branded hashtags. The first and most basic is the company name, such as #Nike. The second type is a slogan related to or created by the brand. Well-known examples include #Riskeverything from Nike and #ShareACoke from Coca Cola. 

You’ll want to use a mixture of hashtag types in your Tweets. Which ones you choose will depend on what is appropriate for your company and industry. 

How to do your Twitter hashtag research 

Hashtag research is basically composed of six steps. Let’s look at each of these steps, and the ways to go about them. 

Start with a root hashtag 

Begin with a root hashtag that is broad but directly related to the content you’ll be posting. For example, you might start with something like #ecommerce or #socialmediamarketing. 

What’s the first word or phrase that you think of when you categorize your business or product? That’s probably a good root hashtag. 

Generate more relevant hashtags

There are several tools you can use to generate ideas based on your root hashtag. Hashtagify offers hashtag suggestions based on either correlation or popularity. Here’s what I got when I started with the root hashtag #dogs: 

If you upgrade to a paid account, you’ll be able to generate a spider diagram of related hashtags . The wider the web, the more popular the root hashtag. 

Here’s an example for the root hashtag #SEO: 

Hovering over every circle will give you a popularity score for that hashtag . You can also get your results in a table format and sort by popularity, correlation to the root hashtag, weekly trend, and monthly trend. 

The most popular hashtags are not necessarily the best to use. Some have so many uses that your tweet will likely be lost in the noise. It’s best to combine popular and trending hashtags that have a huge reach (#throwbackthursday and #fridayfeeling are two examples) with these with more modest usage figures. Two to three hashtags per tweet, with a mix of popularity scores, is about right. 

Popularity is not, by itself, a sufficient indicator that you should be using that hashtag. Remember that a hashtag can be popular for the wrong reasons. If that’s the case, associating your company with it can harm your brand and reputation. 

It’s time for the next step in the hashtag research process.

Look at each hashtag’s usage

Next, you need to explore how your prospective hashtags are being used. 

Sentimentviz is a useful free tool that provides a visual analysis of sentiment associated with popular hashtags and keywords. Enter your hashtag, and you’ll see a chart like this: 

You can click on any of the circles to see some of the Tweets and words that have factored into the analysis. Go through your list of potential hashtags and analyze each one. If any of your contenders has a high percentage of negative sentiment , remove it from your list. 

Check Usage Volume

Now that you have your sanitized list of hashtags, it’s time to check their usage volumes. This will help you decide which ones to use. Trackmyhashtag’s tweet counter is a useful tool that allows you to monitor the usage of a chosen hashtag during a specified period of time:

This will help you decide which hashtags to prioritize and when to share them. Aim to use at least one high-volume hashtag (500+ Tweets per day) in most of your posts. 

If you get a report that spans weeks or months, you can also see usage patterns over time. This is useful as it indicates when you should add hashtags of your choice to get the most engagement. If a hashtag has significantly declined in popularity over time, that implies that it was a trend that has dwindled. In this case, unless you have a specific reason for trying to resurrect an older hashtag, try to find a different one to use instead. 

Get creative

There’s no reason you can’t come up with your own hashtags that have never been used before. For example, you might make a hashtag out of your brand slogan or the name of a campaign. Some examples of successful campaigns built around new hashtags include Coca Cola’s #ShareACoke, and Purina’s #PetsAtWork:

The advantage of a new branded hashtag is that your fans can use it to instantly find content related to your brand and engage with it. They can also tag their own posts with your branded hashtag, which spreads the word about your brand further and potentially provides valuable user-generated content. The downside is that unless you have an enormous following, you’re unlikely to get a branded hashtag to trend. 

If you come up with a branded hashtag, remember to search it on your social media channels and hashtag tools first. It’s always possible someone else came up with it before you.

Determine the perfect time for your posts

Now that you know your targeted hashtags, it’s time to determine when you should use them. Hashtags.org is an excellent tool for this. Before you post using a hashtag, enter it into the tool to see a 24-hour trend graph of estimated usage. Here’s what I got when I entered the hashtag #digitalmarketing:

Based on this graph, I know that my chosen hashtag is at its peak first thing in the morning. Whether you’ll post at the busiest time depends on your social media strategy and goals. 

An advantage of posting at the busiest time for your chosen hashtag is that you may get more overall impressions, based on the likelihood of people looking at that hashtag at that time. On the other hand, if there are too many posts with the same hashtag, you risk getting lost in the noise and your post going unnoticed. You must decide on the right trade-off between the two. 

What next? 

Congratulations – you’ve finished your first round of hashtag research! You should now have a good idea of which hashtags you are going to use, and when. 

Just remember to keep adapting and tweaking your hashtag strategy. Trends come and go, and social media is notoriously fast-paced. Therefore, make hashtag research a regular part of your digital marketing and social media efforts. Remember to track the engagement that your Tweets generate and look for possible correlations with the hashtags that you used. You can analyze engagement with NapoleonCat’s Analytics .

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Hashtag Research Done Right

If you’re an online business, having a social media presence is essential. But if you want to reach social media goals and use it to grow your business, you’ll need a strategy. You must know your target audience, understand your competition, and keep your messaging clear and consistent. 

To get your posts in front of the right people, you also need to make sure you’re using hashtags appropriately. That means taking the time to brainstorm, research, and strategize. 

Fortunately, once you get used to it, hashtag research is less complicated than it seems. There are many useful tools available to help you too. Follow the tips I’ve outlined for you here, be a little creative, and be prepared to adapt as trends come and go. Who knows – your brand might just be the next one trending! 

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Jimmy Rodriguez is the COO and co-founder of Shift4Shop, an ecommerce software to build SEO-friendly online stores. He's dedicated to helping internet retailers succeed online by developing digital marketing strategies and optimized shopping experiences that drive conversions and improve business performance.

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How to Find Hashtags for Social Media + 13 Tools for Hashtag Research

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Finding the right – and most helpful – hashtags requires some knowledge about how to use them and which ones are good and which hashtags are useless. And the question of how to find the best hashtags for your purpose needs to be answered.

This post is about hashtag research and gives a variety of answers to the question of how to find the best hashtags for your social media!

Let’s start by clarifying some questions around hashtags.

Before you read on - we have various resources that show you exactly how to use social networks to gain massive traffic and leads. For instance, check out the following:

What is a hashtag?

A hashtag is a combination of a # symbol and a keyword or keyphrase. They are used to identify the topic of a post in social networks.

While you can use numbers in your keyphrase, special characters including ‘$’, ‘%’ and ‘ ‘ are not allowed.

A hashtag can be a popular keyword or phrase that many people use or it can be a specific hashtag invented by a brand, event, person for a purpose. For instance, sports stars often brand their own hashtag, make it popular, and then use it for merchandise. Or a brand can use a hashtag to brand all their own pins on Pinterest. On Twitter, hashtags are used to group together all posts from a Twitter chat.

Why should you even care about hashtags?

For most social networks updates with hashtags get more visibility AND engagement. For example, on Instagram, posts with hashtags get 12,6% more engagement.

Hashtags work as categorization and organization for the posts. People can discover posts via the hashtags – you have the chance to reach a new and larger audience through your hashtags. The right hashtags can help you discover the right audience: an interested and engaged audience.

Hashtags in social media posts also give a quick hint as to what the post is about. This makes it easier for people to grab the meaning of a post and react to it. Engagement for posts with hashtags increases.

Twitter : Hashtags are used to specify the topic of a tweet and group the tweets around one hashtag in one hashtag stream. Hashtags are also used for branding reasons and to specify tweets in a chat of conversation.

Hey, before you read on - we have in various FREE in-depth guides on similar topics that you can download. For this post, check out:

The limit of how many hashtags you can use in a tweet is the number of characters that you are allowed in a tweet. Best practice shows that 2 hashtags per tweet get the best results – more hashtags can hurt your success.

Pinterest : Hashtags on Pinterest are relatively new. Since fall 2017 Pinterest accepts hashtags in the pin descriptions. You can use many hashtags – as the character count allows. Hashtags are used to identify the topic of a pin and related topics. Hashtags are relevant if you want to rank in the smart feed for people that do not follow you but are interested in the topics of your tweets.

Instagram : Is the queen of social networks when it comes to hashtags. Up to 30 hashtags are accepted in the post description. Hashtags play an important role when you want to grow your Instagram account and find like-minded people.

On Instagram you can not only follow accounts you can also follow hashtags. Posts using this hashtag will then show up in your Instagram feed and you can decide if you want to follow the Instagrammer who posts with this hashtag.

If you search for a hashtag on Instagram you will also see a page of the most popular posts using this hashtag. If you manage to get your post into this lot for one of the more popular hashtags, you may have scored some huge exposure. But it is hard to get there and the question remains if this crowd is very targeted for your post.

Facebook : Hashtags turn keywords in clickable links to provide further information and posts around the hashtags topic. You can also use personal hashtags for brand campaigns or group all posts around an event or campaign together.

However, hashtags on Facebook never reached the popularity they have on other social networks.

LinkedIn : Are you even aware that you can and should use hashtags on LinkedIn ? I admit that I have only used hashtags for my LinkedIn articles which are already a couple of years old.

You can add hashtags to your daily updates and categorize your articles. You can also follow hashtags.

Here is more about how to use hashtags in the various social networks.

What makes a good hashtag – and which hashtags are not worth a dime?

There are very popular hashtags and then there are more niche hashtags. The popular hashtags promise a lot of reach, but is that reach something that you as an average social media user can leverage? More likely the answer is no.

The problem with the most popular hashtags is that they are usually not very specific – plus there are millions of people competing for the attention that these hashtags promise. In the end, these hashtags may or may not give you the exposure you are looking for and if people see your update, you cannot be sure if they really are interested in your post because they may have been looking for something totally different using the same hashtag. And just loosely interested people that find your post through this hashtag are highly unlikely to follow you.

There are top lists of hashtags out there but they rarely are very specific and you will have a hard time finding a hashtag that is related to your post. These lists are more of clickbait content than very useful.

Screenshot from Later

Which hashtags should you be using instead?

The answer is well-researched niche hashtags. These hashtags are not so competitive as the popular ones but the people following these hashtags or searching for them are highly likely to be interested in your post.

What is even better?

In social networks that only ask for 1 or 2 hashtags like Twitter, you should probably stick to the niche hashtags. But since most social networks allow you to add multiple hashtags, a combination of popular hashtags with niche hashtags are often your best bet.

If you want to leverage niche hashtags, you have to be careful. Niche hashtags will only show their unique power, if you do your homework and research well. If you are looking for success through niche hashtags, a quick guess will often not do the trick. It is well worth the effort to spend a few minutes on the question, how can you find hashtags that are the best possible selection for your social media updates.

In addition to just using an already existing hashtag, you can also use hashtags for branding or start a hashtag campaign for a popular topic. That means you research a hashtag that no one else is using and start using it for a conversation or posts around a topic. To make this successful, you need a topic that can become (very) popular and some way to give your hashtag an initial push.

Huge accounts can start hashtag campaigns by simply using these hashtags. Smaller accounts need a strategy to do it.

A popular German-based outdoor activity account on Instagram called @YouareanAdventureStory started a hashtag campaign for #übergangszeit which translated means time in between and relates to the time between spring and summer when temperatures are already warm but there is still a ton of snow you have to walk through in the mountains.

The girls from @youareanadventurestory asked people to tag them in their photos of the snowy trails and reshared the posts in their Instagram stories.

This campaign got both sides added exposure. Win-win!

Here are 13 Tools and Tactics to research (and find) the best hashtags for your social media posts:

1. Twitter Trends

Yes, I know, that I told you not to use (only) the most popular hashtags. Still, the Twitter trends are tailored to each Twitter user and they may be a good start to find hashtags for your current interests.

2. Use Search

In most social networks you can simply use the search and the autocomplete function to get some ideas for hashtags. Unfortunately on Twitter and Facebook you will not get any additional information for the hashtags as for instance, how often they are used.

On Instagram however, this hashtag search will already provide you with some information on how many posts use this hashtag plus which of the people you follow also follow this hashtag.

Instagram search also gives you some ideas for related hashtags.

3. Research your competition or niche

When you are actively engaging in social media in a specific niche, you will probably come across posts that contain a ton of hashtags. Some of these hashtags will not be a good match. But some hashtags that people from your niche are using are probably a good fit for may of your social media updates.

By learning about your niche and engaging with other social media users, you will expand your knowledge base of hashtags. This is an awesome and simple way to get inspiration on which hashtags people from your niche and target group are using or looking for.

While the search may be a good start to finding the best hashtags. tools can provide you with so much more information. So here is a selection of tools that can take your hashtag research one step further.

4. Hashtagify

Hashtagify provides you with hashtag suggestions for Twitter and Instagram.

For Twitter, you can simply type your tweet and get ideas for matching hashtags. Or you type a hashtag and get more related hashtag suggestions. You will get information on the language of the tweets that use this hashtag and the country the tweets originate from.

For Instagram you will also get some data around the hashtag like the popularity and the main influencers using this hashtag.

5. Trendsmap

If you are marketing local or looking for trends in a specific country, Trendsmap could be your best tool for Hashtag research.

Trendsmap puts hashtags on a map – as they trend around the world.

This is like Twitter’s trending topics on speed. With the free account you can play around with the map: zoom into specific countries or locations and see the local trends. Premium accounts allow you to find trending topics for a specific location , give you a trend history and you get a list of the top tweets. Premium features start at 25$/month.

6. Sked Social’s hashtag recommendation tool

Sked Social is basically a scheduling and publishing tool for Instagram that also includes scheduling features for Instagram stories and videos.

But SkedSocial also has a hashtag recommendation feature. When you schedule an update, SkedSocial will provide you with hashtag recommendations based on the hashtags you have already chosen. The more hashtags that you already added to your post, the more specific will the given suggestions become. The suggestions come with additional information like how popular the hashtag is and how beneficial its use for this post is expected to be.

Image Source SkedSocial

Sked Social starts at 25$/month.

7. Sprout Social’s Trends Report

Sprout Social is a social media management tool with heaps of features for all your social media accounts. Sprout social offers solutions for engagement, scheduling and analytics.

Sprout Social’s Analytics feature TrendsReport can also provide you with awesome hashtag suggestions based on your accounts and the interactions that your accounts have.

For Twitter, TrendsReport analyzes all incoming messages or your connected Twitter accounts and give you a list of topics, hashtags, and influencers in relation to your Twitter account’s activity. This way you know what is relevant and can engage and participate.

8. Display Purposes

Display Purpose is a rather simple and straight-forward tool to expand your hashtags and find more hashtag ideas. You simply type in a hashtag that comes to your mind and Display Purpose gives you a list of hashtag suggestions you can choose from.

Hovering your mouse over one of the list items will give you some minimal data on the relevancy of the suggested hashtag for your query.

9. Hashtag Expert

Many people are using social media from mobile. Let’s take a look at a mobile app for hashtag research. Hashtag Expert is a quick app to help you find related hashtags to copy and paste into your Instagram post on the go.

10. Later’s Hashtag Suggestion feature

Later is another scheduling tool for Instagram. The hashtag suggestion feature work similar to the one we already saw from Sked Social.

You put a post caption into Later add some hashtags – and Later will give you a list of ideas for more hashtags that may fit your post. This a very easy to use right at the time when you create your post.

Image Source: Later

11. All Hashtag

AllHashtag is another quick and easy hashtag suggestion tool. You type a keyword and AllHashtag provides you with a list of hashtag suggestions.

AllHashtag has another feature for hashtags that you may want to try: Hashtags analytics.

Analytics provide you with a ranking for your hashtag, a number of times it was used plus a number of hashtags that are similar to this one.

I recommend you play around with this feature a little to get a feeling of what the numbers mean and how keywords compare to others.

12. AutoHash

AutoHash is a fun Smartphone App that analyzes images and gives you hashtag suggestions based on what it finds on your images. You will have to play around with your images and see if the suggestions for your type of photos will provide you ideas for relevant hashtags.

Image Source: SkedSocial

It also allows you to save your favorite hashtags for easier reuse and offers a counter for hashtags to make it easier to decide if you should add some more hashtags to your posts.

13. RiteTag

RiteTag is another tool that focuses on providing you with the best hashtags for your social media updates. It can analyze short texts and give you ideas for hashtags – it can also analyze your images and give you hashtag ideas based on your images.

RiteTag comes with a 7-day free trial – and 49$/year after that.

Final words on how to find hashtags

I know how easy it is to fall for the quick solution and just type the couple of hashtags that first come to my mind when creating a new social media update.

But there is so much more power in hashtags that you are missing if you do not invest a tiny amount of work in your hashtag research.

Hashtags have tremendous power – if you know how to find the powerful hashtags that can change your social media fate.

You can be banned from using the wrong hashtags – and your social media success can multiply through your hashtags. It is up to you which of the two it is going to be.

Join our  free Email Course to learn how to start your social media marketing journey:

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How to Create Engaging Social Media Marketing Content Using Instagram Hashtag Research

Engaging your audience on social media can be a daunting task for small businesses. Besides creating clever marketing, businesses need to research their audience to discover topics that are both interesting and engaging. When creating social media posts on Instagram, those containing a hashtag average 12.6% higher engagement than those without a hashtag. In addition, using certain hashtags can put your post in front of an audience that you are trying to target. So, how can you use hashtag research to find interesting topics to create highly-engaging content for your target market?

Instagram Hashtag Research

Businesses strive to engage potential customers on social media, with Instagram being a key component of social media marketing campaigns . Besides engaging your audience, Instagram is useful for conducting hashtag research that informs your marketing strategy on a broader level. For instance, researching trending topics can inform your overall marketing strategy, and influence of your marketing campaigns. These trending topics can help you generate content for websites, blog posts, and emails. In addition, you can find engaging content for social media platforms besides Instagram, such as Facebook, LinkedIn, or Twitter. Conducting hashtag research can help you reach, engage, and target potential customers at a higher level.

In this article, we’ll show some of the best ways to conduct hashtag research to encourage interaction. Additionally, we will present guidelines for generating engaging Instagram posts that yield results. The following section will look at ways to identify potential influencers that matter for your business and industry. Finally, we will discuss ways to research hashtag competitiveness to generate content of higher relevancy for your audience.

Influencers and Trending Hashtags

Influencer marketing is experiencing a boom, and is a driving force in social media. In fact, estimates suggest influencer marketing is a $13.8 billion industry this year . Over 63% of marketers intending to increase their marketing budget this year. Most importantly, the return-on-investment (ROI) of influencer marketing is approximately $5.20 for every $1 spent , according to Influencer Marketing Hub.

How can you use influencer marketing as part of your hashtag research strategy? Influencers and industry leaders, especially those most relevant to your business, can help you discover up and coming topics that are trending in your industry. Discovering these topics can help your business participate in discussions and generate content on social media channels: providing authority, credibility and relevance to your brand. Whether it being a funny meme, or a temporary interest, it is important to stay up to date on what is changing in your industry, and create engaging content before it is passé. In other words, don’t be late to the party, and get in on the topic while interest is growing.

Competitor Analysis in Hashtag Research

A great way to discover hashtags that are important in your industry is by doing a competitor analysis. While the direct competitors of your business may have a great social media strategy, it is important to realize that many of your local competitors may not have a good strategy at all, which should be evident by their posts and related engagement. Regularly checking in on social media to see what your competitors are doing can help you see trends over time, and which competitors are more successfully growing and engaging their audience. Besides local competitors to your business, a larger search may reveal other brands with successful social media marketing strategies.

As you discover successful brands and marketing campaigns, you can modify your own strategies. Spending some time browsing competitor’s posts can show you what works well, and what does not. While doing competitor research and searching for hashtags, you can follow hashtags that are relevant for your business and industry. This allows you to keep tabs on competitors and see new content that uses that hashtag.

How to Research Related Hashtags

Looking up related hashtags on Instagram is easy. When using the Instagram search bar, a search will show ‘Tags’ as a tab underneath. Clicking this tab (‘Tags’) will show related hashtags to the search, as shown below.

In the above example, a search for ‘#coffee’ reveals related hashtags, such as ‘#coffeebar’ or ‘#coffeeshop’, as well as others like ‘#coffeeart’ or ‘#coffeelovers’. This is a great way to find related hashtags, along with their frequency of use. Depending on the nature of the business and industry, some of the suggestions may be more relevant than others. For instance, a business in the furniture industry might be more interested in the ‘#coffeetable’ hashtag above.

Besides looking up related hashtags to a search, you can find related hashtags by browsing posts on Instagram. When looking through posts of interest, you can follow or save some of the hashtags found in the post description (and post comments) as related keywords of interest for future use.

Using Branded Hashtags, Product Hashtags, and Brand Mentions

Custom-branded hashtags (or product hashtags) can create good branding for a business or product. While an audience for these hashtags does not exist until their creation, they can serve as a way for a business to claim and brand a particular hashtag for others to follow. Businesses and their followers can then use these custom hashtags in every relevant post, and encourage their use as shown in the post below.

In the above example, an Instagram influencer mentioned a fellow brand (@gopuff) and also used their custom-branded hashtag (#GopuffChicago). This provides a means for others to both follow the brand (@gopuff), as well as follow posts tagged with #GopuffChicago. This branded hashtag helps those in the Chicago area follow posts that are more relevant to their local area.

Competitiveness, Popularity, and Relevancy

Similar to keyword research , hashtag research involves searching and sorting phrases that achieve a balance of popularity and relevancy for the post, and brand. Using a small handful of relevant hashtags is effective, as is posting additional hashtags in the post’s first comment. The following example shows how to limit hashtags in the post (to not look like spam). Additionally, the comments section is used to target more hashtags not used in the original post.

Using Popular Hashtags

Using hashtags with millions of posts is more likely to reach a large audience. However, a post can become buried in the large amount of other posts using that same hashtag. Those following the hashtag (with millions of posts) are therefore less likely to see your post. Alternatively, the use of hashtags with smaller numbers of posts (or followers) is more likely to reach that smaller audience. So, how does one go about choosing hashtags for their posts? In one word, relevancy.

Content (Relevancy) Is King

When posting content meant to engage an audience, marketers should always focus on the relevancy of their content. As stated, this involves choosing hashtags that balance popularity and relevancy, so that posts reach an audience that matters. Often, using highly-used hashtags will result in lots of spam in the comments, as the audience is too broad. Using smaller-audience, more relevant keywords that corelate to the content are more likely to engage and attract customers to a business.

When conducting hashtag research, marketers must use discretion. When choosing the most relevant keywords (and hashtags) for their brand, marketers determine the content (and reach) of their posts. Popular hashtags lend more exposure, but are often seen by a less-relevant audience than smaller-volume hashtags of a niche audience. While the latter is more relevant to the content and industry, a balance must be struck between reach and relevancy .

By following your competitors, discovering interesting hashtags that are relevant to your business, and testing ideas in the Instagram search bar, you can find trends in your industry that generate interest and engagement for your business. If you can share any of your successes or failures on Instagram, or any experiences from your own hashtag research, we would love to hear from you in the comments below. If you have questions on hashtag research or social media marketing, please reach out to the experts at CueCamp today.

Written by: Matthew Sharritt, Ph.D. (Founder, CueCamp)

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• Hashtag Research
• Influencer Marketing

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Instagram Hashtag Analytics: The 2024 Guide + Tools to Try

Team Locowise posted on 24 July 2024

Everyone knows you need to use hashtags for Instagram. But how many? Which ones? Is there a difference between hashtag strategies for posts vs. stories? Instagram hashtag analytics provides you with a data-drive, testable approach to these questions and more.

Curious what hashtag activities your competitors are up to? Check this out . 

What is Instagram hashtag analytics?

Instagram hashtag analytics involves tracking and analysing the performance of hashtags used in your posts. This process helps you understand which hashtags are driving engagement, expanding reach, and attracting new followers. By leveraging these insights, you can optimise your hashtag strategy to maximise your social media content’s visibility and effectiveness.

Types of Hashtags You Can Track

• Event Hashtags: Used for specific events or campaigns (e.g., #SuperBowl2024).
• Location Hashtags: Tagging geographical locations to reach local audiences (e.g., #NYC).
• Branded Hashtags: Custom hashtags created for your brand or business (e.g., #NikeRun).
• Trending Hashtags: Popular hashtags that are currently trending on Instagram (e.g., #ThrowbackThursday).
• Niche Hashtags: Specific to a particular industry or community (e.g., #FoodPhotography).
• Community Hashtags: Used to connect with a community or group (e.g., #InstaTravel).

By tracking these different types of hashtags, you can gain valuable insights into what works best for your audience, helping you refine your strategy and boost your Instagram presence.

How effective are hashtags on Instagram?

Yes, hashtags are an essential part of your Instagram strategy and play a huge role in dictating your reach, engagement and overall results.

Instagram posts with at least one hashtag receive 12.6% more engagement than those without hashtags​. In terms of engagement rate, including at least one hashtag results in an average engagement rate of 1.03%, whereas posts without any hashtags get around 0.79%.

They’re also highly effective for increasing your overall reach on the platform, especially for smaller accounts. Accounts with less than 5,000 followers can see a 36% increase in reach per post by including relevant hashtags. Meanwhile, individual posts can see an increase of 70% in reach by including hashtags.

Aside from increasing reach and engagement, here are some other benefits of using and tracking hashtags on Instagram:

Campaign Optimisation

Hashtags are not just about increasing reach; they also play a vital role in campaign optimisation. By tracking the performance of specific hashtags, you can gain insights into which ones are driving the most engagement and which are falling flat. This data is invaluable for refining your hashtag strategy and making informed decisions about future social media campaigns. For instance, knowing that branded hashtags can improve brand recognition and engagement helps you craft better-targeted campaigns​​.

Connecting with Target Audiences

Hashtags allow you to connect with specific target audiences by tapping into niche communities. Whether it’s location-based hashtags to attract local followers or industry-specific hashtags to engage professionals, using relevant hashtags helps you reach the people most likely to be interested in your content​​. This targeted approach ensures that your posts resonate with the right audience, leading to more meaningful interactions.

Staying Current with Trends

Keeping up with trending hashtags can give your content a temporary visibility boost. Participating in popular conversations and challenges using trending hashtags can increase your content’s chances of being seen by a larger audience. However, it’s crucial to ensure that these hashtags are relevant to your content to avoid seeming out of place or spammy​.

Improved Discoverability on Explore Page

Hashtags significantly enhance your chances of appearing on Instagram’s Explore page. The Explore page is where users discover new content tailored to their interests, and hashtags play a key role in content categorisation and discoverability. Posts that effectively use hashtags relevant to trending topics or popular interests are more likely to appear on the Explore page, attracting more views and potential followers​​.

What are the most effective Instagram hashtag metrics to track?

You already know that it’s not about just using hashtags—it’s about using the right hashtags. So, which metrics can you use to assess which hashtags are the right ones, and which you can leave out?

Plus, which hashtags are your competitors using and what are they generating for them in terms of reach and engagement? Find out with a free trial of Locowise .

Tracking the right Instagram hashtag metrics is crucial for understanding and improving your hashtag strategy. Here are the most effective metrics to keep an eye on:

Reach measures the number of unique users who have seen your post. By tracking the reach of your hashtags, you can determine how effectively your content is spreading across Instagram. Higher reach indicates that your hashtags are helping your content get discovered by new audiences.

2. Impressions

Impressions count the total number of times your post has been seen, including multiple views by the same user. This metric gives you a sense of the overall visibility of your content. While reach tells you how many unique users have seen your post, impressions show how often your content is being viewed.

3. Engagement

Engagement includes likes, comments, shares, and saves. Tracking engagement for posts with specific hashtags helps you understand which hashtags are driving interactions. High engagement rates on posts with certain hashtags indicate that those hashtags are resonating well with your audience.

4. Hashtag Performance

This metric involves tracking the performance of individual hashtags to see which ones are generating the most reach, impressions, and engagement. By analysing hashtag performance, you can refine your hashtag strategy to focus on the most effective ones.

5. Follower Growth

Tracking follower growth related to your hashtag usage can provide insights into how well your hashtags are attracting new followers. If you see a spike in followers after using specific hashtags, it’s a good sign that those hashtags are helping you reach and attract new users.

6. Top Hashtags by Engagement

Identifying which hashtags are generating the highest engagement can help you optimise your future posts. By focusing on the top-performing hashtags, you can increase the chances of your content being seen and interacted with.

7. Hashtag Reach Percentage

This metric shows the percentage of your total reach that came from hashtags. A high hashtag reach percentage indicates that your hashtags are effectively expanding your content’s visibility beyond your followers.

8. Saved Posts

The number of times your posts are saved can be a strong indicator of valuable content. If posts with certain hashtags are saved frequently, it suggests that those hashtags are helping your content reach people who find it useful or inspiring.

9. Click-Through Rate (CTR)

CTR measures how often users click on links in your bio or story after finding your post through a hashtag. This metric is particularly useful for tracking the effectiveness of hashtags in driving traffic to your website or landing pages.

10. Hashtag Usage Trends

Monitoring trends in hashtag usage can help you stay relevant and timely. Keeping up with trending hashtags and incorporating them into your posts can boost visibility and engagement.

How to Track Instagram Hashtag Performance with Locowise

Locowise offers comprehensive tools to track and analyse Instagram hashtag performance, providing you with valuable insights to optimise your strategy. Here’s what you can do with Locowise:

• Real-Time Tracking: Monitor hashtag performance in real-time to see which ones are driving the most engagement.
• Detailed Hashtag Analytics: Access in-depth reports on hashtag popularity, reach, and interactions.
• Competitor Benchmarking: Compare your hashtag performance with competitors to identify areas for improvement.
• Historical Data: Review past performance to understand trends and make informed decisions.

Research, refine and optimise your hashtag strategy to boost your Instagram presence. Start your Locowise free trial here !

18 Tips to Better Leverage and Track Hashtags on Instagram

• Use a Mix of Popular and Niche Hashtags: Combine widely used hashtags with more specific ones to maximise reach and engagement.
• Create Branded Hashtags: Develop unique hashtags for your brand to encourage user-generated content and track brand-related posts easily.
• Research Trending Hashtags: Stay updated on trending hashtags relevant to your industry and incorporate them into your posts.
• Analyse Competitor Hashtags: Monitor the hashtags your competitors use and analyse their performance to refine your own strategy.
• Leverage Hashtag Analytics Tools: Use tools like Locowise to track and analyse the performance of your hashtags.
• Use Hashtags in Stories: Adding hashtags to Instagram Stories can increase visibility and engagement.
• Experiment with Hashtag Placement: Test placing hashtags in the post caption versus the first comment to see which approach works best for your audience.
• Monitor Hashtag Performance Regularly: Regularly check the performance of your hashtags to identify which ones are most effective.
• Engage with Hashtag Communities: Participate in conversations and engage with users within hashtag communities to build relationships and increase visibility.
• Optimise Hashtag Use in Bio: Include relevant hashtags in your Instagram bio to make your profile more discoverable.
• Track Hashtag Reach and Impressions: Measure how many people your hashtags are reaching and how often they are being seen.
• Update Your Hashtag Strategy: Regularly update and refine your hashtag strategy based on performance data and changing trends.
• Use Hashtag Generators: Use tools like Hashtagify or RiteTag to discover relevant hashtags.
• Seasonal Hashtags: Incorporate seasonal or holiday-specific hashtags to align with current trends.
• Track Competitor Hashtags: Keep an eye on what your competitors are using and their performance with a hashtag tracking tool .
• Hashtag Challenges: Create or participate in hashtag challenges to boost engagement.
• Test Hashtag Quantity: Experiment with different numbers of hashtags to find the sweet spot for your audience.
• Use Hashtags for Campaigns: Develop specific hashtags for marketing campaigns to easily track their performance.

Top 5 Instagram Hashtag Analytics Tools to Try in 2024

Locowise offers powerful hashtag tracking so you can monitor real-time performance, analyse engagement, and track competitor hashtag use. With comprehensive analytics and detailed reports, you can easily identify which hashtags drive the most reach and engagement. It even includes competitor benchmarking to refine your strategies effectively.

Best for: Social media agencies

Start your free trial here!

Later is a user-friendly social media management tool that includes basic hashtag tracking features. It allows you to see which hashtags are generating the most engagement and helps you optimise your posting strategy. While Later is excellent for visual content planning and scheduling, its hashtag analytics are more basic.

Best for: Small businesses and solo entrepreneurs looking for an easy-to-use tool for hashtag insights​.

Buffer provides simple solutions for tracking the performance of your Instagram hashtags. It shows you which hashtags are driving engagement and helps you schedule posts for optimal times. Buffer’s analytics are straightforward and great for those who need high-level insights.

Best for: Solo social media managers and small businesses needing social media analytics.

RiteTag helps you find and evaluate hashtags in real time, showing you which ones are trending and effective. It’s a straightforward tool that suggests hashtags based on your content.

Best for: Casual users and small businesses looking for quick hashtag suggestions and analytics.​

• All Hashtag

All Hashtag is a simple hashtag generator that provides basic metrics. You can quickly generate and analyse hashtags by entering a keyword, and the tool will display the popularity and ranking of each hashtag. It’s perfect for those new to hashtag marketing or looking to experiment with different hashtags without delving into detailed analytics.

Best for: Individuals and small businesses looking for a straightforward hashtag generator and basic metrics.

FAQs About Hashtag Tracking on Instagram

What is the most effective number of hashtags.

The most effective number of hashtags can vary from one social media platform to another. On Instagram, the optimal number of hashtags to use has evolved over time. Recent guidance suggests that using 3 to 5 hashtags per post is now recommended for best results. This is a shift from earlier recommendations that advised using 9 to 11 or even up to 30 hashtags​. Studies and experiments indicate that posts with fewer, more targeted hashtags can achieve better reach and engagement. 

How to get hashtag analytics for Instagram

To get hashtag analytics on Instagram, you can use Instagram Insights if you have a business or creator account. Instagram Insights provides data on the reach, impressions, and engagement of your posts, including those using specific hashtags. For more detailed analytics, consider using a third-party tool like Locowise. A third-party tool offers comprehensive analytics and reports, helping you track and analyse the performance of your hashtags over time.

How to check hashtag views on Instagram

Instagram doesn’t provide a direct way to see the number of views for individual hashtags. However, you can estimate hashtag performance through Instagram Insights by looking at the reach and impressions of posts using specific hashtags. For more granular data, third-party tools provide additional insights into how your hashtags are performing in terms of visibility and engagement.

Can you export hashtag data from Instagram insights?

No, unfortunately, exporting hashtag data is only possible through third-party tools and is not something Instagram offers natively. You can view the metrics regularly and record them, but it’s a manual process that’s difficult to keep up with.

How do you measure the effectiveness of Instagram hashtags?

To measure the effectiveness of your Instagram hashtags, track the following metrics:

• Reach: The number of unique users who have seen your post.
• Impressions: The total number of times your post has been viewed.
• Engagement: Likes, comments, shares, and saves on your post.
• Follower Growth: Increase in followers from posts using specific hashtags.
• Hashtag Reach Percentage: The percentage of reach attributed to hashtags.

Using tools like Instagram Insights and third-party analytics platforms, you can gather and analyse this data to determine which hashtags are most effective.

How do you choose the right hashtags for Instagram posts?

Choosing the right hashtags involves a combination of research and strategy:

• Research Popular and Relevant Hashtags: Use tools like All Hashtag and RiteTag to find popular and trending hashtags related to your content.
• Mix Popular and Niche Hashtags: Combine widely used hashtags with more specific, niche ones to reach a broader yet targeted audience.
• Analyse Competitor Hashtags: Look at the hashtags your competitors are using and analyse their performance.
• Test and Refine: Experiment with different hashtags and track their performance to see which ones yield the best results.
• Stay Updated with Trends: Keep up with current trends and incorporate relevant hashtags into your posts.

Get Competitive About Hashtags – Research, Analyse and Optimise Your Instagram Game

Mastering Instagram hashtag analytics is essential for boosting your social media strategy. By tracking the right metrics and optimising your hashtag use, you can significantly enhance your engagement and reach on Instagram. Locowise is the ultimate tool for comprehensive hashtag tracking and analysis, with real-time insights, detailed reports, and competitive benchmarking to help you stay ahead.

Ready to take your Instagram game to the next level? Discover the full potential of your hashtags and make data-driven decisions with ease. Start your journey with a free trial of Locowise today and see the difference it can make!

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How To Research Keywords And Hashtags For Social Media Content

Today more than ever, social media is being used as a way of finding information and answering questions. Many people turn to social networks because they want a more human response and the opinion of others, particularly their trusted networks.

But it’s not only questions that can be answered and opinions shared; social media has evolved into a space where people go to consume news, find content and conduct research on topics or products that interest them. In fact, according to this infographic from LeadSpace a 72% of B2B buyers use social media to research solutions and 84% of B2B executives use social media as a source for making purchase decisions.

At Tribal we often advise both individuals and brands that it’s important to not spam your audience with purely product focused or promotional posts. Instead, share content that your audience will find useful and either help to solve their issues or aid their learning on a certain topic.

Using Social Media to Increase the Customer Experience

Of course, social media can and should be used for promotion - according to polling by Regalix , LinkedIn is now the #1 platform used for product launches among B2B businesses. 81% of B2B businesses say they use LinkedIn for launches, 71% use Twitter and 54% use Facebook. However, promotion should be done in a way that speaks to the customers’ needs and how your solution can assist them. If you know your customers and know what they need, you’ve got that part covered.

All very well, but here’s the scenario; you’re asked to create a social media campaign/ posts around a product or service, could be a new product, could be a directive to promote an existing solution. You have a social media strategy, goals are set, you know who your target audience are, but where do you start? How do you go about crafting engaging social posts?

Identify Key Hashtags and Keywords to Optimise Your SEO

Hashtags and keywords are important here. Why? Well, firstly hashtags are no longer confined to Twitter - according to research by Agorapulse , a LinkedIn post containing just one hashtag has on average 29.59% higher impressions, which means they should undoubtedly feature in both brand and personal LinkedIn posts. However, the two platforms are still vastly different so hashtag stuffing a LinkedIn post isn’t a good idea. This blog from Hootsuite covers how to use hashtags on LinkedIn in more detail.

As for keywords, it makes sense to research the topics and phrases your buyers are using to find content and answers, then use these keywords in copy for social posts. Even more so because social network search functionality is getting more sophisticated. For example, type a keyword into Twitter and it will return results for that keyword even if the hashtag version wasn’t used.

So, there is the ‘Why’ but what about the ‘How’. Back to our scenario; you need to create engaging social content around a product/ service/ solution – these steps will help you:

1. Read Existing Content Around What You’re Promoting

Yes, it’s an obvious one but getting a better understanding of what the product/ service/ solution does will put you in good stead to be able to write about it. Sure, you may know what the snazzy new widget you’re promoting does, but do you understand the features, benefits, why it’s so special and most importantly why people should care, how it solves the buyer’s needs etc. Basically, do your research.

2. Note Down Key Messages/ Benefits/ Most Frequently Used Keywords

Whilst doing your research as per the above point, pull out key information and frequently used keywords. You can use this list of phrases, words, messages to inform your social content and commentary.

However, remember to pull out information that your target audience will find useful, for example how your widget provides a solution to a specific problem you know your target audience frequently encounters. Don’t pull out brand crafted promotional statements that’s won’t mean anything to those without vested interest!

3. Turn Your Keywords Into Hashtags

You’ve now got a list of keywords and those keywords can translate into hashtags to help your posts/ content get found by the right people on social, however there is no point using hashtags if no one is following them. You might think your product/service/solution hashtag (#SnazzyWidget) is great, but it can’t be the only one you use if no one is following it and you want to get your content in front of people who don’t know your brand.

We recommend using Hashtagify . This is a fabulous tool which shows you a % of how commonly used hashtags are (ideally opt for hashtags with a score of at least 40%), it then gives you a breakdown of associated words so you can see which other keywords you could also use in your posts/ blogs etc. A sure-fire hway to turn people off is by stuffing hashtags into a social post that shouldn’t be there – make sure the hashtags you’re using reflect the content you’re posting.

4. Check Out Other People’s Blogs/ Content 

It’s important to keep up to date with what others are doing, even if they are competitors. As much as you may want to, don’t pretend their content doesn’t exist – use it to keep informed about your industry. Of course, it doesn’t just have to be competitors’ content – set up a content stream (for example, Feedly or Flipboard) so you can continue to read and learn about similar products or industry news. And if you don’t already, start social listening!

Follow the hashtags you’ve identified using Hashtagify , follow competitors and thought leaders. Look at what social posts are getting the most traction on which channels and use this information to inspire and create your own content.

5. Use Other Online Tools To Help Track Down Content/ Influencers

Below is a list of additional tools (and description of what they can be used for) to aid your research:

6. Put It All Together

You’ve done your research, you’ve got your keywords and hashtags, now put it all together by crafting posts around solutions to the key issues which lead people to look for you/ your product. Create content around how you can help them, provide evidence of how you have done this in the past ( customer testimonials? ) and most importantly, add value.

It’s okay to promote something on social but to rise above the noise of other promotional posts, provide genuinely useful tips or information alongside.

7. Optimise For Different Channels 

And finally, make sure the content you’re posting is optimised for each social channel. What works on one won’t necessarily work on all. Here’s some tips on optimising content for different social networks from Social Media Examiner . Overall, make sure your social content is engaging, eye-catching, well thought out and using relevant hashtags.

About Tribal Impact

Tribal Impact is a B2B Social Selling and Employee Branding Agency.

We're a team of social media strategists, trainers, coaches, content creators and data analysts who are passionate about helping our B2B customers develop and scale their social selling and employee advocacy programs.

Learn more about us here .

Instagram Hashtags Guide 2024 [Learn Digital Marketing]

• Last updated on July 25, 2023
• Author: Georgi Todorov

Choosing random hashtags and hoping for the best is not a great social media strategy.

Learn how to choose the most relevant hashtags and analyze their effectiveness to grow your Instagram presence.

Table of Contents

Why use instagram hashtags.

• To increase your audience reach
• To research your competition
• To grow your followers
• To Increase awareness and visibility of your page
• To increase engagement with your posts
• To target your social media marketing
• To promote events, competitions, or special deals
• To stay on-trend with current events
• To show support for social and political movements
• To create user-generated content

Tips on How to Conduct Instagram Hashtag Research 2024

Hashtag research is essential for developing a successful social media strategy.

Try some of the following ideas.

Use Later’s Hashtag Suggestions Feature

Later is a web-based social marketing platform.

Their hashtag suggestions help you find the perfect hashtags for your media content.

To use this feature, create an account and select the starter, growth, or advanced plan.

Enter a search term in the suggestion text box to find appropriate hashtags for your post.

A list of the most relevant hashtags is instantly generated.

Choose a mix of generic and niche hashtags and add them to your post.

Research Your Audience

Target audience research is essential for planning your Instagram strategy.

Knowing your audience’s likes, interests, and behavior, helps you understand how to attract them.

Instagram Insights shows the age range, gender, and location of your audience.

For more in-depth information, look at the accounts of your current followers.

Get an overview of the hashtags they use and the content they engage with.

Ask your followers what sort of content they are looking for.

Use any feedback to adapt your posting strategy.

Check Out Your Competition

Identify your competitors and find out what hashtags they are using.

See which posts have the most engagement and record the hashtags they are using.

Look at who is following your competition.

Interact with these accounts by liking and commenting on their posts.

This helps increase your visibility.

Monitor and use the hashtags these followers are interacting with.

Monitor Influencers

Find influential people in your niche.

Check out the hashtags they regularly use on their popular posts and add them to yours.

This helps you reach their audiences with your content.

Click on the hashtags that are relevant to your profile and follow them.

You will also be able to see similar hashtags.

This helps you monitor which ones will be useful for growing your brand.

Use Hashtag Research Tools

Online tools help you discover the most relevant hashtags for your brand.

Some of these are free, whilst others require you to sign up for a fee.

Try some different research tools.

Find one that best suits your experience level, your needs, and your budget.

Some allow cross-channel hashtag use which integrates platforms such as Twitter and Facebook.

This can support your hashtag strategy and promote growth.

See What Hashtags Your Audience is Already Using

To specifically target your audience, you need to know what hashtags they are using.

Ask your current audience which hashtags they follow.

Add these to your list of ones to include in the future.

Look at the accounts of your top followers.

Find out if there are any commonly used hashtags you can also add to your posts.

Use Instagram’s Related Hashtags Feature

Instagram has a handy feature that helps you connect more with your audience.

On a hashtag page, Instagram will show you similar hashtags.

Swipe through these and you will find more hashtag ideas to include in your posts.

This is a good way to discover more niche communities that you can develop a connection with and expand your reach.

Tips on How to Use Hashtags on Instagram

Instagram allows you to use hashtags in a number of different ways.

Try out some of these ideas to mix up your hashtag strategy.

Check Your Instagram Hashtag Analytics

This is a super important tip that is key to developing and improving your hashtag strategy.

Analyzing your hashtags shows you how well a hashtag is performing, then you know which ones are generating the most engagement and interaction on your posts.

The Instagram app has in-built analytics, called Insights, for you to monitor the success of each of your posts.

Check these regularly to inform your future strategy.

Try to Get Into the “Top” Results for a Hashtag

Getting into the top results for popular hashtags is extremely competitive.

It requires huge amounts of engagement to rank highly.

If you don’t have lots of followers yet, choose less competitive hashtags.

Select hashtags that are relevant to you and your target audience.

Remember to use active hashtags that users are engaged with and post about regularly.

Getting your post in a top-ranking category allows more people to see it.

Include Your Branded Hashtag in Your Instagram Profile

Using your branded hashtag in your profile will encourage people to follow it and will expand your audience reach.

Due to the limited space available in your bio , only include your branded hashtag.

Users can click on this to see all your content instantly and your community will grow.

Understand How Hashtag Pages Work

Hashtag pages display all the content that has been posted with that hashtag.

The most recently posted content appears in the ‘recent’ section.

When you use a niche hashtag, rather than a generic one, your post remains at the top of this section for longer.

So Instagram users clicking on that hashtag are more likely to see your content first.

Post Your Hashtags in the First Comment

To improve the aesthetic of your page, don’t post your hashtags directly under your post.

This can make it look cluttered, busy, or unprofessional.

Post your hashtags as the first comment instead.

This makes your page look cleaner.

It can also encourage people to comment and increase your engagement rate.

Include Hashtags on Instagram Stories

You can add up to 10 hashtags to your Instagram Stories .

You can add these directly to your story as a sticker.

If you don’t want them shown on the content itself, cover them with an emoji or sticker.

The Instagram Stories feature has seen a huge rise in popularity.

Take advantage of this by creating great video content and adding relevant hashtags to increase your exposure.

Entice Your Followers to Follow Your Branded Hashtag

Your branded hashtag should be short, catchy, and instantly relate to your brand.

This helps your audience remember it and use it.

Branded hashtags are amongst the most used hashtags on Instagram.

They can feature your business name or express the values of your company.

Use it on all your promotional marketing to encourage users to follow it.

Run Hashtag-Based Campaigns & Promotions

Create unique and catchy hashtags to promote events and campaigns.

Encourage your audience to share them.

This increases awareness and promotes interaction with your posts.

Another option is to collect user-generated content.

Offer your followers the chance to have their original content reposted on your page when they use your branded hashtag.

Avoid Banned Hashtags and Spammy Hashtags

A hashtag can be banned if it is linked with inappropriate or spammy content.

Content using these hashtags will not be seen by your followers in top posts or stories.

Check regularly if any of your hashtags are on the banned list.

If you use too many banned hashtags on your account, it can result in your account being shadowbanned.

This means your content is hidden without your knowledge.

Don’t Use Irrelevant or Repetitive Hashtags

All hashtags need to be relevant and specific to your brand or message .

Simply copying and pasting the same hashtags goes against Instagram’s community guidelines.

Save a collection of hashtags relevant to your content.

However, don’t use every single one on every post.

Instead, select specific hashtags for each piece of content.

Make Sure that Hashtag Means What You Think it Means

Hashtags confuse your audience if you use one that doesn’t match your intentions.

To avoid embarrassing accidents, fully research your hashtag before including it.

Read your hashtags carefully to make sure they cannot be read in an alternative way.

Also, check that any acronym hashtags are interpreted as you intend.

Save Hashtags for Future Use

Keep a copy of your most used and most relevant hashtags.

This list should include industry-based hashtags, hashtags specifically related to your business, and the ones that create the most engagement.

Create a database or spreadsheet you can refer to and update.

This saves time when adding hashtags to different types of posts.

Best Instagram Hashtags

Most Popular Instagram Hashtags of All Time

Hashtags have been included on Instagram for over a decade.

These are the hashtags that have been most used:

• #photooftheday
• #picoftheday

Best Instagram Hashtags for Likes and Follows

Instagram has banned the use of the hashtags #likeforlike and #followforfollow.

Here are some alternatives:

• #photooftheda

Best Instagram Hashtags for Pet Lovers

Promoting your posts with these hashtags enables pet lovers to see your content:

• #petsofinstagram
• #dogstagram
• #catstagram
• #petstagram

Best Instagram Hashtags for Travel Lovers

Travel pictures inspire your audience.

Here are some hashtags that travel lovers use:

• #instatravel
• #travelphoto
• #travelphotography
• #wanderlust
•  #adventure
•  #explore
•  #travelblogger

Best Instagram Hashtags for the Fashion Industry

To reach your fashion audience, try some of these top hashtags:

• #instafashion
• #fashionblogger
• #fashionista
•  #fashionstyle
• #styleblogger
•  #photoshoot
• #fashionable
• #outfitoftheday

Best Instagram Hashtags for Fitness Influencers

Add some of these hashtags to your fitness reels to inspire your followers:

•  #influencerfitness
• #fitnessmotivation
• #fitnessinfluencer
• #instafitness
• #fitnessjourney
• #fitnessmodel

Best Instagram Hashtags for Running a Contest or Giveaway

Generate excitement for your upcoming competition with these hashtags:

• #competition
•  #giveaway
•  #prize
• #giveawaycontest
• #giveawaytime
• #competitiontime
• #congratulations

Best Instagram Hashtags for Your Reels

Reel in some interaction with some reel-specific hashtags:

• #reelsinstagram
• #reelsvideo
• #instareels
• #reelsinsta
• #videooftheday
• #viralreels
• #reelitfeelit

Best Instagram Hashtags for Foodies

Try out some popular food-related hashtags to inspire foodies:

• #foodlovers
•  #foodies
•  #foodgram
• #foodbloggers
•  #foodphoto
•  #foodphotography
•  #foodoftheday
•  #foodiesofinstagram
•  #instafoodporn

Best Tech and Gadgets Hashtags

Add a selection of these hashtags to encourage techie interaction:

• #techgadgets
• #techaddict
• #gadgetlover
• #technology
•  #instatech
• #awesomegadgets

Best Wedding Hashtags

Celebrate and remember your special day with wedding-related hashtags:

•  #bride
•  #weddingday
• #weddingphotography
• #weddinginspiration
•  #instawedding
• #weddingstyle
•  #brideandgroom
•  #marriage
•  #weddingdress

Best Holiday Hashtags

Spread some vacation vibes with these holiday hashtags:

•  #travel
• #instaholiday
• #holidayfun
• #holidaystyle
• #holidayseason
• #holidayshopping

Instagram Hashtags for Photography

Professional and amateur photographers can develop an audience with these hashtags:

• #photographylover
• #photographyeveryday
• #photographyislife
•  #photooftheday
• #photoshoot
• #portraitphotography
• #mobilephotography
• #streetphotography

Instagram Hashtags for Small Business

Grow some love for small businesses by using these hashtags:

• #smallbusinessowner
•  #smallbusinesssaturday
• #smallbusinesslove
• #supportsmallbusiness
• #smallbusiness
•  #newbusiness
• #entrepreneur
•  #supportlocal
•  #smallbusinesslife

Instagram Hashtags for Music

Use these popular music-related hashtags to increase your reach:

•  #newmusic
•  #musicvideo
•  #igmusic
•  #musicismylife
•  #musicindustry
•  #instamusic
•  #livemusic

Instagram Art Hashtags

Frame your arty posts with these art-related hashtags:

• #artistoninstagram
• #artistlife
•  #myart
•  #drawing
•  #painting
•  #artismylife
•  #artistic
•  #artlovers

Instagram Nature Hashtags

Inspire a love of nature and the great outdoors with these hashtags:

• #naturelovers
•  #naturephotography
• #naturegram
•  #natureaddict
•  #amazingnature
•  #outdoors
•  #sunset
•  #mountains

Popular Instagram Hashtags Types

Brand Hashtags

Branded hashtags are specific to a brand and used for Instagram marketing.

They are designed to be used over a long period of time to increase brand awareness and boost engagement.

Some popular ones include #ShareaCoke, #JustDoIt, and #lushlife.

These successfully branded hashtags create a community around the brand.

Category Hashtags

Category hashtags relate to the subject group you are posting about.

When you post content, consider what general category it links to.

Some examples include #running, #pets , or #marketing.

If you want to attract a niche following, define your general category further.

For example, #trailrunning.

Event Hashtags

This type of hashtag generates interest in your upcoming event.

They are useful for promoting your event and creating an online discussion.

They can define the type of event, for example, #virtualevent or #birthday.

However, creating a more specific one like #partyinthepark22 will build up viral engagement.

Campaign Hashtags

Campaign hashtags promote new services or product launches.

They generate excitement and boost interaction.

Some successful ones include #WantAnR8 from Audi and #LetsDoLunch from Dominos.

These unique hashtags are for short-term use to generate user content, drive traffic, and increase reach.

Location-Based Hashtags

Adding location-based hashtags helps you reach people in your local area.

They are useful for businesses that are location-dependent such as the hospitality industry.

Some examples include #texaslife or #newyorkcityrestaurants.

Entertainment Hashtags

For the entertainment industry, some generic hashtags to add to your posts include #entertainment, #entertainmentnews, and #instaentertainment.

You will need to add more specific hashtags to describe the type of entertainment.

Some examples include #comedy, #music, or #exhibition.

Mass Appeal Hashtags

Mass appeal hashtags are popular and used by lots of people.

Add some to your posts to reach a wider audience.

These are general hashtags that can be added to different types of posts.

Some examples to try are #nofilter and #instagood.

Occasion-Based Hashtags

These are useful for promoting an occasion-related product or event.

Make use of different occasions throughout the year and link these to your content.

Try using #halloween or #valentines day.

Trending Hashtags

Trending hashtags are constantly changing.

Research current trends and include some in your posts.

Some examples include #photooftheday and #beautiful.

These help you tap into a wider audience.

Niche Hashtags

Niche hashtags are targeted at a specific industry or skilled area of interest.

They show your audience where you fit within a particular industry.

For example #foodwriter or #socialmediamarketing.

Industry Instagram Community Hashtags

There are many different communities on Instagram.

Some examples include #craftersofinstagram and #artistsofinstagram.

These hashtags will help you connect with these focused audiences who are involved in the same business or hobby as you.

Daily Hashtag

There are hashtags for each day of the week such as #motivationmonday or #feelgoodfriday.

Try using some of the daily hashtags when you plan your Instagram posting strategy.

Relevant Phrase Hashtags

This type of hashtag is used to help people connect with different communities or related activities on Instagram.

The link to what you do.

For example #becreative or #letsbake.

Acronym Hashtags

Acronym hashtags are created from the initial letters of words.

They can be for a company, such as #nasa or a phrase like #ootd instead of #outfitoftheday.

Emoji Hashtags

Emoji hashtags use emojis in place of words after the hashtag symbol.

They can be used on their own, in a group, or added to words to create unique hashtags.

Check if they are actively used before adding them to your posts.

Banned Hashtags

These hashtags have been banned by Instagram and should not be included in your posts:

• #beautyblogger
•  #besties
•  #boho
•  #books
•  #costumes
•  #dogsofinstagram
•  #eggplant
•  #models
• #mustfollow
•  #parties
•  #skype
•  #snapchat
•  #streetphoto
•  #tagsforlikes
•  #workflow

Instagram Hashtag Tools

Preview is the best app for tracking hashtags.

It enables you to track your Instagram hashtags and your hashtag groups.

It is easy to see which hashtags are creating the most engagement and which are the most successful.

This user-friendly app is officially approved by Instagram.

This Instagram tool is free for beginners unless you purchase more experienced plans.

The software is easy to use as part of your marketing strategy.

It helps you to create and schedule your posts to reach the most people and grow your business.

HashtagsForLikes

This is the best tool for generating hashtags.

It searches for the most relevant hashtags in your niche.

Using these improves your visibility and attracts more followers in your target area.

Payment starts at $15 per week, but there is also a free version.

How to Find Best Hashtags according to Reddit:

You can simply use the Instagram app to start. Look at accounts that had the same audience you want to tap into and look at the hashtag they are using, look a multiple accounts to get a good idea of the most popular one.

You might be interested to check those related posts as well:

• 75+ Best Friendship Hashtags for Instagram 2024
• Instagram Stories Business: Best Ways [for More Views] 2024
• The Best 1,081 Instagram Categories 2024 [for Pro Accounts ]

How many hashtags should I use on Instagram?

Instagram allows users to include up to 30 hashtags per post.

Using around 11 hashtags per post is considered to be the optimum number.

30 hashtags are too many for your audience to read through and you might include ones that aren’t relevant to your post.

Do hashtags work on Instagram ads?

Instagram ads aren’t the same as regular Instagram posts.

This means that any hashtags used on the ads won’t appear in searches.

They are not as effective and ads will look more professional without hashtags.

Should I register a hashtag?

Hashtags can be registered as a trademark if you prove they are used to promote your business.

For example, if a certain phrase is used in your business branding.

Trademark registration fees for the United States Patent and Trademark Office start at $225.

Are Instagram hashtags case-sensitive?

Hashtags are not case-sensitive.

Some hashtags make use of capital letters to make them easier to read.

If your hashtag is made of more than one word, capitalize the start of each word to help your audience understand your intention.

Single-word hashtags don’t require a capital letter.

Creating and using the most relevant hashtags is important for Instagram social marketing.

Using the advice and suggestions in this article, you can implement the perfect hashtag strategy to expand your reach and grow your following.

Georgi Todorov is the founder of ThriveMyWay, a website dedicated to teaching successful digital marketing strategies. Georgi is regularly called upon by companies seeking to develop and enhance their SEO and link-building strategies in order to achieve hockey stick growth. When Georgi isn’t working, you can find him getting close to nature, learning online or traveling.

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Marketer | Filmmaker | Writer

How to Conduct Really Easy #Hashtag Research

Behind the chaotic front-end user experience of social media is a simple and practical approach toward driving better reach. 

This article is a walkthrough of a very important practice within the research step of your social media marketing strategy. In order to create and publish content that will resonate with your target audience, you need to learn about hashtag research.

What is a hashtag?

According to Twitter, its originating company, a hashtag is created when you add a “#” to the beginning of an unbroken word or phrase . Also from Twitter,

When you use a hashtag in a Tweet, it becomes linked to all of the other Tweets that include it. Including a hashtag gives a Tweet context and can give a conversation longevity. Source: Twitter for Business

After the explosion of the hashtag, other social media platforms adopted the new tagging feature, and tech companies soon learned how to harness the power of its search capabilities. Now marketers leverage hashtag research in tandem with SEO keyword research to find popular conversations and new topics driving their content marketing strategies.

Similar to SEO research, hashtag research involves searching and monitoring particular keywords or phrases using hashtag research tools or social media platforms themselves.

How do I research relevant hashtags?

If you’ve got a firm grasp over your customer profile, and which social media platforms are popular among your customers, then you’re ready to start the process.

If you have a social media management (SMM) tool like Hootsuite or SproutSocial , you can follow hashtags by creating a stream within your dashboard. See the below example from Hootsuite.

If you don’t have a SMM tool, no sweat. You can search for hashtags right in most social platforms.

Let’s start with Twitter. Simply type a hashtag into the Twitter search bar and you’ll see a list of related content publishers such as the image below.

A best practice is to start with a few competitors’ profiles to see which hashtags they’re using. Anything relevant? Jot them down to review for your own copy.

Instagram does one better and lists a series of related hashtags and the number of posts for each when you type a phrase into the search bar.

LinkedIn’s search feature may not populate the number of followers, but click-through, and you’ll see not only the number of followers, but also an option to follow the particular hashtag to receive new posts using that phrase on the left navigation bar in your view.

Check out ‘ 3 LinkedIn Lead Gen Tools Ideal for B2B Companies to Market Themselves ‘ for more ideas on how to leverage LinkedIn as a lead generator.

Facebook’s search feature is similar to LinkedIn where it populates related hashtags, but will only show you the follower count once you click-through.

The right hashtag research strategy

Similar to SEO keyword research, the key to hashtag research is to search for the keywords and phrases that your ideal customers follow. Keep in mind that these may not match the hashtags you would follow personally or the hashtags you follow for your brand. Since the purpose of social media marketing is to extend your brand’s reach to online communities, be sure to keep your focus on your customers.

You can start by curating a list of phrases either pulled from a list of SEO keywords you’ve researched, or words you believe are of relevance to your customers. Then use those phrases to look up related hashtags using the social media management tools or social sites above.

I recommend maintaining two separate hashtag lists :

• One list of hashtags you can use across a variety of social sites
• Second list of hashtags unique to Twitter, Instagram, Facebook or LinkedIn based on the number of followers or posts you find above

After your research, you’ll want to assess whether certain hashtags are worth keeping or simply take up character count based on the number of impressions your see in your monthly review.

Again, start with your competitors and your way toward a broadened scope of hashtags using the search process above.

You can also check out paid options (if you have the budget) for a more robust hashtag research and monitoring process, as outlined in SproutSocial’s Hashtag Analytics blog post .

Featured photo by Jon Tyson on Unsplash

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How to use X (Twitter) hashtags for better reach & engagement

• August 30, 2024

Content Writer at SocialBee

Trying to figure out how to get your tweets noticed? Using the right Twitter hashtags might just be the answer. But if you’re not sure how to use them effectively, you’re not alone—many people struggle with this.

In this article, we’ll share some simple tips to help you make the most of hashtags so your tweets reach more people and get better engagement.

Stick around to learn how you can start seeing better results with a Twitter hashtag strategy!

Streamline your marketing with an efficient social media strategy template.

Short summary

• Hashtags act as keywords that make your tweets discoverable to a wider audience, helping you join larger conversations and increase your reach and engagement on X.
• Incorporate trending hashtags that are relevant to your content to tap into broader conversations. This can significantly boost your tweet’s visibility by connecting you with people interested in those trending topics.
• Choosing hashtags that are specific to your industry or brand helps ensure your content reaches the right audience. This targeted approach leads to more meaningful engagement.
• SocialBee ’s Hashtag Generator simplifies the process of finding relevant hashtags and allows you to categorize them, saving time and ensuring you use the most effective tags for your content.
• Don’t overload your tweets with too many hashtags or use irrelevant ones. Stick to a few well-chosen hashtags that directly relate to your content to maintain clarity and effectiveness.

Table of contents

What is a hashtag, how to use an x (twitter) hashtag, what are the most popular twitter hashtags, 1. check the latest trending topics, 2. pick relevant keywords for your industry, 3. add a branded hashtag, 4. use a hashtag generator, how to follow hashtags on twitter, do’s and don’ts when using hashtags, frequently asked questions, ready to start your hashtag search.

A hashtag is a word or phrase preceded by the # symbol (e.g., #MondayMotivation). It is used on social media platforms like Twitter (now X), Instagram, and others to categorize content and make it easier for users to find posts related to a specific topic or theme. 

When you include a hashtag in your post, it becomes searchable, meaning that anyone interested in that particular topic can find your content by searching for or clicking on the hashtag.

For example, if you post a tweet about a football game and include the hashtag #SuperBowl, your tweet will be grouped with other tweets using the same trending hashtag, making it more likely that football fans will see it. Hashtags are a simple yet powerful way to increase the visibility of your posts and connect with a broader audience interested in similar topics.

Hashtags act as keywords, making your posts discoverable to a broader audience beyond your immediate followers. Whether you’re a brand, an individual, or a social media manager, knowing how to use hashtags effectively can significantly boost your visibility and interaction on the platform.

Below are some strategies to help you make the most out of hashtags on X, whether you’re posting directly or using a social media management tool.

1. Add hashtags natively when you post tweets

When composing a tweet , you can add hashtags directly within your text to ensure it reaches a broader audience. To do this, simply type the “#” symbol followed by the keyword or phrase that relates to your content, such as #SmallBusiness or #FitnessTips. 

Including hashtags natively in your posts helps categorize your tweet, making it discoverable by anyone searching for or following that specific hashtag. It’s important to choose hashtags that are not only popular but also relevant to your audience, as this will increase the likelihood of engagement and visibility. 

For example, if you share a tweet about optimizing meta descriptions for better SEO, using hashtags like #MetaDescriptions, #SEOtips, and #OnPageSEO can direct your content to audiences actively seeking advice on search engine optimization techniques.

2. Use hashtag tools

It’s easy to fall into the trap of guessing which hashtags will resonate with your audience, leading to missed opportunities for visibility and connection. This is where utilizing dedicated hashtag tools can transform your approach, ensuring you’re not just throwing hashtags out there but strategically placing them for maximum impact.

Tools like TweetBinder and TrackMyHashtag take the guesswork out of the equation by providing insights into hashtag trends and performance. They help you identify tags that are not only popular but also highly relevant to your audience, increasing the likelihood of engagement. 

Having access to real-time analytics, allows you to see which hashtags are performing well. This kind of data helps you tweak your strategy on the go, ensuring your posts gain the traction they deserve.

For those who manage multiple social media accounts, using a social media management tool like SocialBee that has built-in hashtag features can be incredibly beneficial. 

SocialBee not only lets you plan and schedule tweets with hashtags, ensuring that your posts go out consistently and at the best times, but it also comes with a built-in hashtag generator. This feature helps you discover relevant hashtags for your tweets, making it easier to connect with the right audience.

Start your 14-day free SocialBee trial!

Additionally, SocialBee allows you to categorize your hashtags into different groups, like industry-specific tags, branded hashtags, or trending topics. This means you can quickly select the most appropriate hashtags for each post without having to search for them every time.

SocialBee: Your AI-powered social media management tool

Whether you’re a freelancer, small business owner, coach, or marketer, each industry has its own set of popular and niche hashtags that can help amplify your message, connect with peers, and attract potential clients or followers. 

Below, you’ll find curated lists of hashtags tailored to various professions and sectors, designed to boost your visibility and participation in relevant conversations on Twitter.

1. Freelancers, small businesses, agencies hashtags

• #FreelancerLife
• #SmallBusiness
• #Entrepreneur
• #Solopreneur
• #BusinessGrowth
• #AgencyLife
• #CreativeEntrepreneur
• #FreelanceFriday
• #GigEconomy
• #SideHustle
• #StartupLife

2. Coaches, therapists, fitness trainers hashtags

• #ExecutiveCoach
• #BusinessCoach
• #MentalHealth
• #Mindfulness
• #PersonalTrainer
• #HolisticHealth
• #HealthCoach
• #MotivationMonday
• #Empowerment

3. Doctors, hospitals, wellness centers hashtags

• #Healthcare
• #MedTwitter
• #NurseTwitter
• #HealthTalk
• #HealthcareHeroes
• #PatientCare
• #PublicHealth
• #HealthPromotion
• #Telemedicine
• #MedicalInnovation

4. Accountants, bookkeepers, lawyers hashtags

• #Accounting
• #Accountant
• #Bookkeeping
• #FinancialPlanning
• #LegalAdvice
• #Compliance
• #BusinessLaw
• #FinanceTwitter

5. Churches, nonprofits, foundations hashtags

• #NonprofitOrganization
• #Philanthropy
• #GivingTuesday
• #Fundraising
• #SocialGood
• #NonprofitLeadership
• #NonprofitLife

6. Governmental institutions, politicians hashtags

• #Government
• #PublicPolicy
• #CivicEngagement
• #Legislation
• #LocalGovernment
• #PublicService
• #PoliticalTwitter
• #VoterEngagement
• #GovernmentAffairs

7. Authors, bloggers, podcasters hashtags

• #WritingCommunity
• #IndieAuthor
• #WritersLife
• #ContentCreation
• #Podcasting
• #AuthorLife
• #SelfPublishing
• #BookMarketing
• #Storytelling
• #WriterWednesday

8. Social media managers, marketing specialists hashtags

• #SocialMedia
• #SocialMediaMarketing
• #ContentMarketing
• #DigitalMarketing
• #InfluencerMarketing
• #ContentStrategy
• #EmailMarketing
• #MarketingStrategy
• #VideoMarketing

9. Schools, universities, research centers hashtags

• #AcademicTwitter
• #OnlineLearning
• #EducationInnovation
• #ResearchCommunity
• #GradSchool
• #EducationMatters

10. Hotels, restaurants, wellness resorts hashtags

• #Hospitality
• #Restaurant
• #WellnessRetreat
• #LuxuryTravel
• #FoodBloggers
• #TravelTuesday
• #WellnessTravel
• #FineDining
• #HospitalityManagement
• #FoodPhotography

11. Artists, graphic designers, photographers hashtags

• #GraphicDesign
• #Photography
• #Illustration
• #ArtistOnTwitter
• #DigitalArt
• #PhotoOfTheDay
• #Creativity
• #ArtCommunity
• #Illustrator
• #PhotoEditing
• #ArtCollective

12. Realtors, construction firms, architects hashtags

• #RealEstate
• #Construction
• #Architecture
• #HomeDesign
• #RealEstateAgent
• #HouseHunting
• #InteriorDesign
• #PropertyManagement
• #UrbanPlanning
• #Renovation
• #SustainableArchitecture
• #HomeRenovation

13. Event planners, travel agents, car rentals hashtags

• #EventPlanning
• #EventProfs
• #DestinationWedding
• #EventManagement
• #MeetingProfs
• #WeddingPlanner
• #TravelAgent
• #EventStyling
• #EventDesign
• #CorporateEvents
• #TravelTips
• #EventMarketing

How to choose relevant hashtags for X (Twitter)

Choosing the right hashtags on X (formerly Twitter) can help your tweets reach a broader audience and engage with people interested in the same topics. 

Here are four things you need to do to find the best hashtags for your tweets:

• Check the latest trending topics
• Pick relevant keywords for your industry
• Add a branded hashtag
• Use a hashtag generator

One of the easiest ways to find relevant hashtags is by checking the trending topics on X. Trending hashtags are the ones currently being used by a large number of users on the platform, reflecting the most talked-about subjects at the moment. 

When you include a trending hashtag in your tweet, you’re tapping into a broader conversation that could expose your content to a much larger audience. 

Since trending topics gather all the public posts related to that specific hashtag, your tweet has a better chance of being discovered by people interested in that trending topic. This is a simple yet effective way to increase your tweet’s reach and engagement.

When choosing hashtags for your tweets, it’s essential to focus on specific keywords that are relevant to your industry. 

For example, if you’re tweeting about space exploration, as NASA often does, you’d want to use specific hashtags that reflect the topic of your post. In the tweet shown below, NASA used #Starliner, a specific hashtag related to their spacecraft, which helps connect the tweet with others interested in that particular subject.

By choosing and using industry-specific hashtags, you make sure that your content reaches an audience that is genuinely interested in the topics you’re discussing. This strategy boosts the likelihood of meaningful engagement and interaction, as your posts are more likely to be seen by people who care about the same subjects.

A branded hashtag is like your own signature on X. It could be your company’s name, a product, or a catchy phrase that represents your brand. When you consistently use this hashtag in your tweets, it helps people easily find everything related to your brand. 

Look how Sabrina Carpenter created a hashtag out of her most recent album:

This type of hashtag also encourages your followers to use the hashtag when they mention your brand, which can help spread your message and build a sense of community around your business.

If you’re finding it hard to come up with the right hashtags, a hashtag generator can be a lifesaver. These tools let you enter a keyword related to your tweet and then suggest a list of popular and relevant hashtags to use. This takes the guesswork out of the process and helps ensure your content gets seen by the right people, saving you time and effort.

Struggling to juggle multiple social media tasks and come up with the perfect hashtags? SocialBee ‘s Hashtag Generator is a great solution. It not only helps you find the most relevant hashtags for your tweets but also allows you to save and organize them for future use.

This way, you can focus more on creating great content and less on the tedious task of hashtag research.

Start optimizing your tweets today with SocialBee’s Hashtag Generator—take the guesswork out of hashtagging!

X (Twitter) hashtag do’s

• Jump into conversations by using trending hashtags that are relevant to your content. This can help your posts gain more visibility, especially during events or breaking news.
• Make sure the hashtags you use are current and popular in your industry. Social media trends shift quickly, so it’s important to keep your hashtag game fresh.
• Always choose hashtags that directly relate to your post. This ensures your content reaches the right audience who are interested in what you’re sharing.
• Take a moment to research hashtags before using them. Some hashtags might seem relevant but could have a different meaning or be used in a context you didn’t expect.
• Combine widely used hashtags with more specific ones. Popular hashtags can give your post a broader reach, while niche hashtags can help you connect with a more targeted audience.

X (Twitter) hashtag don’ts

• Less is often more when it comes to hashtags. Using too many hashtags can make your post look cluttered and might even turn off your audience. Stick to a few key hashtags that add real value.
• Be careful not to use hashtags that could be misinterpreted or have different meanings. The wrong hashtag can attract the wrong audience or create confusion, hurting your post’s effectiveness.
• Using hashtags that don’t align with your content just because they’re popular can confuse your audience and make your post seem disingenuous. This can lead to disengagement from your target audience. 
• While hashtags are powerful, they shouldn’t be the only strategy you use for engagement. Make sure your content is strong and engaging on its own.
• What works on X (Twitter) might not work on Facebook or YouTube. Tailor your hashtag use to fit the specific platform to maximize effectiveness.

Twitter generally does not block hashtags, but it does monitor and sometimes restrict certain hashtags that violate its community guidelines or are associated with harmful, misleading, or abusive content. 

If a hashtag is linked to spam, misinformation, or coordinated inauthentic behavior, Twitter may take action by reducing its visibility, issuing warnings, or even removing it entirely from the platform’s trends. 

In some cases, hashtags that become vehicles for hate speech or harassment might also be restricted or blocked to maintain a safer environment for users.

When it comes to using hashtags on Twitter, less is more. The platform recommends using no more than 1 to 2 hashtags per tweet for optimal engagement. 

While hashtags can help increase the visibility of your posts, overloading your tweet with too many can make it look cluttered and reduce its effectiveness. Keeping your hashtag use limited and relevant ensures that your message stays clear and that your tweet reaches the right audience without appearing spammy.

To find the right Twitter hashtags, start by using SocialBee’s Hashtag Generator, Hashtagify.me, Keyhole, or RiteTag to research and identify popular hashtags relevant to your content. Incorporate trending topics by checking Twitter’s “Trending” section for hashtags that align with your posts. 

Don’t forget to use your own branded hashtags to reinforce your brand identity. Combining these strategies will help your tweets reach a broader and more targeted audience.

Using Twitter hashtags effectively can make a big difference in how your tweets are seen and engaged with. 

By learning to choose the right hashtags, whether by checking trending topics, selecting industry-specific keywords, or using tools like SocialBee’s Hashtag Generator, you can increase your reach and connect with the right audience. These strategies are simple but powerful, helping you make sure your tweets get the attention they deserve.

Ready to improve your hashtag game? Start your 14-day SocialBee trial today!

Article written by

Content writer at SocialBee

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Home Insights Blog The Importance of Hashtag Research for Law Firms

The Importance of Hashtag Research for Law Firms

What Is Hashtag Research?

Hashtag research is the act of analyzing data to determine which hashtags will help your firm’s social media performance the most. This analysis can assist law firms in being able to estimate which niche hashtags and popular hashtags will be best at increasing engagement and helping them reach more people.

Related: Advanced Social Media Strategies for Law Firms [A Complimentary eBook]

How to Conduct Hashtag Research

Here are some ideas of how to find relevant hashtags for your firm:

• Review the performance of your existing hashtags- take a look at which of your posts performed best and worst. Identify any hashtags you used that were out of the ordinary. This will help you make note of which hashtags may be worth your time and which should be forgotten.
• Look at your followers- Review of your followers. What hashtags are they using? How do their posts perform when they use some hashtags versus others?
• Look at competitors- Take a look at your competitors ’ pages and determine which hashtags they use and how they perform. Make note of any hashtags that are relevant to your firm and its practice areas.
• Search industry keywords- Search some industry keywords like your practice areas or location + law firm and see what posts come up. Take note of the hashtags being used by the top performing posts.
• Look at what’s trending- Use your social media’s explore page or simply scroll through your feed to see what’s trending. Of course, you don’t want to only use hashtags that have millions of posts, but every once in a while it’s good to hop on trending hashtags.
• Look at broad hashtags- You’ve probably been using some hashtags already but are now realizing they’re pretty broad, or too broad for your posts to get found. Search posts under these hashtags and look at what other hashtags they are using in their posts.

Using Hashtags

When leveraging hashtags across your law firm’s social media platforms, understanding the nuanced best practices for each can significantly augment your content’s visibility and engagement. Here is further insight into hashtag usage across various channels:

• Instagram: While Instagram allows for up to 30 hashtags per post, using between 11 and 30 hashtags can attract the highest engagement. However, it’s crucial to balance quantity with relevance; ensure that each hashtag you use is directly related to the post content to reach your target audience effectively.
• Twitter: Given Twitter’s character limit, concise and impactful messaging is key. Using too many hashtags can restrict your message space. Instead, focus on 1 or 2 highly relevant hashtags. Tweets with hashtags receive twice the engagement than those without, but engagement drops when using more than 2 hashtags.
• LinkedIn: Although LinkedIn suggests using 3 hashtags, the quality of the hashtags is more important than quantity. Targeted, industry-specific hashtags tend to perform better, helping your posts to be discovered by professionals interested in your content.
• TikTok: Hashtags play a significant role on TikTok in discovering and categorizing content. Unlike other platforms, using trending hashtags along with niche-specific ones can significantly boost your content’s visibility. Aim for a mix of 3 to 5 hashtags that include both trending and specific tags relevant to the legal industry or your particular focus area.

Remember, the effectiveness of hashtags can vary widely across different platforms and industries. Continuously monitoring the performance of your chosen hashtags and adjusting your strategy accordingly is vital to maximizing your social media engagement and reach.

Hashtags are an important part of any social media marketing strategy, but just posting any hashtags isn’t enough to use them effectively. The savviest of law firms will research hashtags in advance and develop a well-thought-out strategy for how they will use hashtags on each platform.

If you’d like help creating and executing a robust social media strategy, don’t hesitate to reach out . We’ve helped many law firms and legal companies leverage social media to generate brand awareness and leads.

Are you ready to get started generating new, qualified leads?

Contact us to get started and let us help you energize your digital marketing and business development efforts.

How do you use hashtags in research?

When you are conducting research, you will want to use hashtags to help you categorize and organize your information. You can use hashtags to identify the topic of your research, the geographical area you are researching, or the type of research you are doing. For example, if you are researching the history of a certain city, you might use the hashtag #history to help you organize your information. If you are looking for information on a specific topic, you can use a hashtag that is specific to that topic. For example, if you are researching the history of the civil rights movement, you might use the hashtag #civilrights. You can also use hashtags to identify the source of your information. For example, if you are using a specific database to conduct your research, you can use the hashtag #database to help you keep track of your information. By using hashtags, you can easily organize and keep track of your research.

Interested in starting

Hashtag research.

Our digital marketing experts at Red Shark Digital are ready to assist with your campaign or project. Contact us today to get started.

Instagram Insights: Exploring Strategy, Timing, and Creative Success for Researchers

Thursday, october 17 | 1-2:30 pm, virtual event.

Curious about how Instagram can help you expand the reach of your research? Join Suzanne Whitby , founder of SciComm Success for a 90-minute workshop on how to effectively use Instagram’s visual platform to connect with new audiences and showcase your work. Unlike X (formerly Twitter), Instagram thrives on visual communication, offering a unique way to engage people through images, videos, and reels.

This webinar will give you the tools you need to make Instagram work for you. Suzanne will cover how to create and optimize your profile, explore the three ‘C’s of planning a standout Instagram channel, and discuss tips for writing captions that capture attention. You’ll also learn about hashtag strategy, posting techniques to beat the algorithm, and how to find or create the perfect visuals for your content. Plus, she’ll share time-saving tips for managing your content so you can stay consistent without feeling overwhelmed.

About Strategic Communications Workshops

The Strategic Communications series is co-sponsored by BU Public Relations | Social Media and the Office of Research. From podcasting to working with the media to building an online persona, these events allow BU’s research community to hone their communication skills and promote their work. Virtual workshops are offered twice a semester and can be found in the Research How-to Workshop listings .

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‘IC-814’ row: Sentiments cannot be hurt over creativity, say govt sources; Netflix to conduct content review

‘ic-814’ row: netflix has assured the government that it would conduct a content review and see to it that all future content on their platform are sensitive and in accordance with the nation's sentiments. .

• Updated Sep 03, 2024, 12:35 PM IST

The government summoned Netflix’s content head over the ‘IC-814’ series row and has said that sentiments cannot be hurt under the name of creativity. Proper fact-checking is required, the government said, and that facts cannot be distorted.

Government sources told India Today, “We have been supporting and pushing content and content creators but facts cannot be distorted…Under creativity sentiments cannot be hurt…Research has to be proper and fact checking done before putting out content.”

Related Articles

• 'IC 814' controversy: I&B ministry summons Netflix content head, seeks clarification on names of 4 hijackers

Netflix has assured the government that it would conduct a content review and see to it that all future content on their platform are sensitive, in accordance with the nation's sentiments, and sensitive to children. 

As per sources, Netflix was asked why no caption were flashed to make the real names of the hijackers clear. They were asked why the portrayal of hijackers bordered around being firm and sensitive, while the negotiators appeared weak and confused. 

This comes after the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting summoned Netflix’s content head on Tuesday, seeking explanation on the portrayal of the terrorists from Pakistan-based terror outfit Harkat-ul-Mujahideen in their role in the 1999 hijack of an Indian Airlines flight, in the series,  'IC-814: The Kandahar Hijack'. 

Most of the critiques pertain to the ‘humane’ projection of the perpetrators. There were also concerns about the filmmakers changing the names of the hijackers to ‘Shankar’ and ‘Bhola’. Spearheading that critic is BJP IT Cell chief Amit Malviya who said that they acquired aliases to hide their Muslim identities. 

"Filmmaker Anubhav Sinha, legitimised their criminal intent, by furthering their non-Muslim names. Decades later, people will think Hindus hijacked IC-814. Left's agenda to whitewash the crimes of Pakistani terrorists, all Muslims, served. This is the power of cinema, which the Communists have been using aggressively, since the 70s. Perhaps even earlier," said Amit Malviya on X.

Following the furore, hashtags such as BoycottNetflix, BoycottBollywood and IC814, started trending. 

Meanwhile, a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) was filed in the Delhi High Court seeking a ban on the series over allegations that it distorted facts about the real identities of the hijackers. The petition, filed by Surjit Singh Yadav, a farmer and president of Hindu Sena, requested the Centre and Maharashtra government to cancel the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) certificate and ban the public viewing of the series. 

The petition stated that the distortion of crucial facts about the real identities of the hijackers misrepresents historical events and perpetuates harmful stereotypes and misinformation, necessitating the court's intervention to prevent further public misunderstanding and potential harm. 

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