How to use Hashtags on Social Media for your Business
So I am sure everyone has heard of hashtags at this point but what exactly are they and how can they help your business on Social Media? I have had so many clients ask me about hashtags and if they are using the correct amount, how do they choose the rights ones, and why are their posts still not being seen? Well, let’s talk about it! For this blog post, I am going to use the Wellness industry as my example as that is the niche of most of my clients.
What are hashtags?
Hashtags are keywords or phrases related to a specific topic or piece of content. These words are used with the pound symbol “#” placed in front of them. Using hashtags tells the specific platform you are using, what your content relates to, making it easier for them to place it in front of an interested audience (well, so we hope). People may search certain hashtags if they are interested in a particular topic or industry and therefore it is a great opportunity to get your products or services in front of the right audience.
How Many Hashtags should I use?
The amount of hashtags you use varies greatly, depending on which site you are posting on. However, much like everything else in life, quality is much more important than quantity. When using hashtags it is important to focus on two factors.
One, the number of people searching or engaging with particular hashtags, and two, the number of other businesses, influencers, etc using that same hashtags for their posts. Getting this balance right is the key to hashtag success. Hashtags are split into different categories depending on their usage. Nano, Micro, Mid, Macro, and Mega.
Nano hashtags
Nano hashtags have between 1K to 20K posts featuring that same hashtag, this means that competition is low and your post has a higher chance of being seen. However, you don’t want to use a hashtag that has no activity so therefore click on the hashtag and see how recently people have been using it for their posts. I would suggest using about 10 of these hashtags on your posts. For example:
- #wellnessandbeauty 14.2K
- #wellnessmonth 12.5K
- #wellnessandhealth 19K
- #wellnessbrand 19.3K
Micro Hashtags
Micro hashtags have between 20K to 50K posts featuring that same hashtag. If you are brand new to Social Media and are in a very saturated industry such as fashion or beauty, I would suggest using a combination of Nano and Micro hashtags only, for the first few weeks to get your posts seen and engaged with. I would then start using more popular hashtags as your engagement increases. For example:
- #wellnesscoachlife 22K
- #wellnessquotes 40.2K
- #wellnessclub 48.5K
- #wellnessprogram 42.5K
Mid hashtags
Mid Hashtags have between 50K-500K posts featuring that same hashtag. I would use about 6 of these hashtags on my post but only after building up some following and engagement on my previous content. 500K images are a lot to compete with and therefore it is important that you already have an engaging audience that the algorithm will then push your post out to further audiences. For example:
- #wellnessblog 241K
- #wellnessfitness 350K
- #wellnesstravel 134K
- #wellnesscoaches 134K
Macro Hashtags
Macro hashtags have between 500K — 1M posts featuring that same hashtag. I would only recommend using about 5 of these hashtags per post. If you have been getting a lot of engagement on previous posts I would start incorporating these more popular hashtags into my content. When you search for a particular hashtag there will be two pages, “Top” and “Recent”. Your goal is to get onto the “Top” page which can be done by having a lot of engagement (comments, shares, and saves) on a particular post. This is why I always suggest building an engaging audience using smaller hashtags and then incorporating the higher hashtags into my posts later on. For example:
- #healthygut 673K
- #healthyfoodideas 534K
- #healthydessert 955K
- #healthyeatinghabits 536K
MEGA hashtags
Mega hashtags have 1M + posts featuring that same hashtag. These types of hashtags are highly competitive and unless you have a huge, engaging, following, I would stay away from these. If you want to try and use a hashtag that has over 1 million other posts using that exact same hashtag then I would only use 1–2 per post. For example:
- #healthydinner 2.1M
- #healthcoach 5.7M
- #healthymeals 3M
- #healthychoice 1.9M
How Do I Choose the best hashtags?
In combination with the hashtag categories above, I would also focus on using location-based, industry-based, image-based, and branded hashtags.
Location-based hashtags
These could be in reference to where your store is based, where you make your products, where your ideal audience is, or where your picture was taken. For example:
- #Irishbusiness
- #Irishhealth
- #smallirishbusiness
Industry-based hashtags
These are in reference to the industry your business is a part of, such as beauty, fashion, art, etc. Remember certain industries have a lot of competition so use hashtags that are related to your industry but feature in the nano or micro category above. For example:
- #health
- #mentor
- #coach
- #wellness
Image-based hashtags
Look at your picture, name different things you can see within that image, and then find hashtags to match. For example:
- #gymclothes
- #meditationpractice
- #yogapose
- #peaceful
Branded hashtags
I think it is really important to get into the habit of creating new hashtags based on your business. When we post on Social Media, you will always see us use the hashtag #fasxfis. Encourage your customers to use your branded hashtag when posting pictures of your products or services. Using branded hashtags is a great way to keep track of who is interacting with your business too. Always use branded hashtags when doing a competition or a giveaway such as #fasxfisfreewebsite, and encourage people to use that hashtag when entering. Speaking of giveaways, have you entered ours to win a free website designed by us? Enter Here!
How do I know if my hashtags are working?
So you have taken all of the advice above, put it into action, and still don’t know if your chosen hashtags are working. The first thing to do is ensure that all your Social Media profiles are Business Accounts and therefore able to provide you with the best possible insights and analytics. Within these insights, you will be able to see how many people viewed your post through your hashtags. I usually do an audit of our posts every two weeks to see what type of content people are responding best to, but also to see if my hashtags are working. If I find one of our posts got a lot of attention through the hashtags we used, I will take note of them and use some or all of the same hashtags on another post to see how it performs.
Hashtags are definitely trial and error and therefore it is important to have a place where you can keep track of the hashtags that are performing well for your business.
Remember hashtags are just one part of the “Social Media Cog” and need to be used in conjunction with high-quality images, engaging and entertaining posts, as well as valuable content, to get the perfect formula.
You can check out my other blogs on the type of content you should be posting as well as how to create a month worth of content in minutes.
