How to Use Hashtags to Maximize Organic Reach?

How to Use Hashtags to Maximize Organic Reach?  

What is a hashtag? 

In the past few years, hashtags became famous on Social Media platforms, including Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. But what is a hashtag? 

Hashtags are represented by the “#” symbol and are widely used to emphasize, categorize and even find keywords in social media. Hashtags are used to identify a tweet (or post) related to a specific topic. When a hashtag is published, it becomes a hyperlink that takes you to a page with other publications related to the same topic, filtering out content that is not relevant. 
 

Why Should You be Using Hashtags? 

As said earlier, hashtags can be useful if you are looking for posts about a specific topic and you don’t want to spend a lot of time searching for them. If you want to search for restaurants in Pittsburgh for example, you might want to try searching for #Restaurants, and filter it to your region, so restaurants around you will show up on your search. Hashtags can be a quick way for people to find your business!  

By taking your posts to the “hashtag page”, hashtags help your business with being introduced to a bigger audience. For example, if you are a business that makes cakes and constantly uses #pittsburghcakes, and a person interested in buying cakes in the region searches for this same hashtag, they will be able to find you. Hashtags are a free way to promote your business to new people and increase your organic reach! 
 

How to Find Hashtags? 

Hashtags are easy to find!  
If you are looking for something specific on social media or if you want to find hashtags related to your business, you should be searching for appropriate hashtags. 

In order to do that, you can look for the search bar (in your preferred social media platform), and there you should type “#” along with the term you are looking for. Don’t forget that if you are looking for a hashtag, the term typed shouldn’t have any special characters (such as commas, periods, and exclamation marks) and it also shouldn’t have any spaces between the words typed.  

You can also find hashtags by looking at the ones your audience is already using and checking out what your competitors/similar businesses use. By doing that you will be able to promote your business to a wider audience and improve your social media performance. 
 

How to Use Hashtags?

You should learn how to use hashtags for them to be beneficial for your business!

 You should start by looking for keywords related to your post; those are potential hashtags for you to use. Choose just some of the keywords to be used as hashtags, so your post is easier to read, and your text is not too crowded.
For example, if you want to search for daycare for your toddler, you might want to try #toddlerdaycare instead of using the whole sentence in the hashtag. 
Try to look for hashtags that are frequently used in your preferred social media; those are going to have a higher volume of views and will make your post have more impressions.  

Hashtags can be used in posts, stories, or even in videos; and you can usually post as many hashtags as you want (Instagram has a restriction of 30 hashtags per post). However, try not to abuse this function, otherwise, your posts will look spammy and will be hard to read. Different social media channels have a different optimal number of hashtags. You should be using between 2-5 hashtags for YouTube and Pinterest. On Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter, you should be using between 1-2 hashtags. For Instagram, you should be using between 5-10 hashtags. 

You should also remember to choose your hashtags carefully. Make sure they mean what you really think they do and avoid irrelevant hashtags (such as using hashtags for every word in a sentence). If you are still unsure about how to use hashtags, or if you need help with your business social media, feel free to contact us at duqsbdc@duq.edu! 

 

Next Steps

Our consultants here at the Duquesne University Small Business Development Center can assist you with many businesses inquiries. We offer no-cost business consulting in Southwestern PA. You can request consulting here.