Hashtags: why you need them and how to benefit from them

Hashtags are convenient for searching and structuring information. So, they can be successfully used to promote content and develop commercial pages. What benefits they can bring to you and how to use them properly, and not turn them into annoying sheets under the posts, we understand in this article. Learn more at https://www.veloceinternational.com/general-social-media/secrets-how-to-use-social-media-hashtags/.

What are hashtags

A hashtag is a label for marking posts on social networks.
For example:  # content,  # content_marketing,  # content agency.

Adding a  #  sign turns a word or phrase into a link. Clicking on it will display all posts tagged with the same hashtag. This principle works in the same way in different social networks, but above all, hashtags are an Instagram tool.

In other social networks, it is used only to structure information by topic in order to make it easier for readers to navigate the page. But the use of hashtags on Instagram opens up vast horizons for attracting an audience and increasing brand awareness.

What do hashtags give on Instagram:

Your target audience sees you
People are looking for the information they need by hashtags. If the hashtags in the posts are chosen correctly, they will lead to you more people interested in your topic. As a result, the coverage of publications is growing. And if your content is really good, then the number of subscribers.

Journalists find you more often
Journalists often search social networks for experts for articles. Hashtags are one way that allows them to find a specialist in a particular field. Properly choosing hashtags, you can get into the field of view of specialized media.

You understand the interests of the audience
People who use hashtags and subscribe to them on your topic are your live target audience. Study their pages, interests, behavior in social networks and use this knowledge to create content.

You structure the content
Use hashtags as a rubricator. This way you organize the information and make it easier for readers to find it. And it will be easier for you to keep the ratio of different types of content.

How to use hashtags correctly

Sheets of dozens of keywords that came to mind at the time of publication will not do you any good. Working with hashtags is a kind of strategy.

Necessary

• collect actual tags among existing ones;
• cluster depending on the frequency and your rubricator;
• create your own unique hashtags;
• competently mix tags from different categories.

How to collect relevant hashtags on a topic

Think like

the target audience Put yourself in the shoes of the target audience and think about what queries their representatives can use in Instagram search. Enter these words into the search and get a whole list of similar hashtags and frequency for each of them.

Explore

By clicking on a particular tag, you will get a selection of all the posts where it is used. Explore the set of hashtags under each of these posts, select all that relate to your topic, and through the search, see their frequency.

Study the pages of the authors of these posts. Pay attention to what other hashtags they use and what they follow.

Watch Your Competitors Research the

hashtags your direct and indirect competitors are using. See how they mix labels with different frequencies.

Study the experience of opinion leaders in your topic

See what hashtags they use themselves and their active followers.

Take advantage of automated tools

Services such as  Instatag ,  Stapico and others, help to find popular hashtags without a long search.

How to cluster collected hashtags

Having figured out how to search for hashtags, you will quickly assemble a selection that is several sheets long. For comfortable work, the labels need to be sorted.

Group by frequency

Divide the collected tags by

• high-frequency - more than 100 thousand times;
• mid-frequency - 10-100 thousand times;
• low-frequency - up to 10 thousand times.

Do not ignore tags that are used only a few thousand times. Learn who uses them and how. Perhaps you will discover a new audience segment.

Grouping by topic

If you have a category for the page or plan to use it, sort the tags according to the category or topic you are going to cover.

If there is no rubricator yet, relying on hashtags, it will be easier to form it.

Here is a fragment of a table in which hashtags are sorted by category and frequency. In the future, it will definitely come in handy - you can quickly select keywords for each post.

How to develop your own hashtags

Unique hashtags for a brand or event help you stand out and build your own audience.

The hashtag for the brand can be the same as the name of the company or product. You can make a hashtag a slogan if it is short, well perceived and easy to remember. These tags will help visitors navigate your profile better, and in the future they will work to promote and increase brand awareness.

An event hashtag helps draw attention to the event. Encourage guests to use your branded hashtag. For example, at the annual fitness convention Profit Convention, an instaprinter is used. It prints photos posted on Instagram with the hashtag #profitstory. Participants receive printed photos, and organizers receive new fans, mentions and a popular hashtag. Learn the secrets to using hashtags at https://www.veloceinternational.com/general-social-media/secrets-how-to-use-social-media-hashtags/.

Guests of the fitness convention shared photos with the #profitstory tag . As a result, this tag has gathered an impressive collection of images. It is interesting for the guests, it is useful for the organizers.

How to check hashtags for relevance

A few words without spaces can form unpredictable combinations that you can’t make out at first glance. Do you remember the sensational #fabulousbali?

Words without spaces can form into unpredictable combinations .

If your plans do not include attracting an audience with the help of hype, say all newly created phrases out loud and test them on other people.

• Make sure that the chosen combination of words is euphonious.

• Check if the meaning is distorted when using abbreviations of the slogan, if there are any negative stable associations with the hashtag.

• The hashtag should not be too long - the shorter, the easier it is to perceive. Try reading quickly: #supertastylargeandinchargetexastoasttwohandwichmadewithdelicious-onehundredpercentwhitemeathandbreadedchickentendersandyourchoice-ofclassicorspicypapasauceeitherwayyoucantgowrongwowthatsoundsgoodyouneed-totryoneitsonlyavailableforalimitedtimeImgoingtohavetogogetonemyselfareyoustill-readingthisseeyouatAandW

But such a hashtag  was actually used .

How to select and put hashtags for posts

It is tempting to use only popular tags. But then the publication runs the risk of being lost among a million similar ones. A competent approach is to combine high-frequency (most often universal words) and low-frequency (highly specialized). Let there be one or two popular tags per publication. Strive for the golden mean. It is important that the selected hashtags are relevant to the topic, otherwise the post may be complained about.

In the example, two high-frequency hashtags are  #lifehack and #smm, the rest are low-frequency.

Combine hashtags with different frequencies for greater impact.

Instagram allows you to include up to thirty hashtags in a post, and up to ten in Stories. This does not mean that you should post the maximum number of tags each time. Remember that the keywords must match the content of the post.

Where to write hashtags is a matter of your taste. They can be placed at the beginning, middle, end of the publication. Readers are more loyal to the last option, especially if there are a lot of tags. One or two hashtags can be placed at the beginning of the publication or used natively in the post. "Excess" tags can be published under the publication. Now you understand why hashtags are sometimes written in comments - to use a lot of keywords and get more traffic without annoying readers.

Why hashtags don't work

Want to understand why hashtags stopped working? Check if you are making any mistakes related to keywords:

• post too much;
• go too far with the popular;
• spam irrelevant;
• use the same ones in every post;
• don't promote.

If everything is OK with this, but the question “Why don’t hashtags work?” up to date, write to technical support.

Using hashtags, rely on the interests of the target audience, do not forget about logic and use intuition. Experiment and be sure to analyze the results - which hashtags or their combinations worked best. So you get the most out of this tool.