Social Media is always changing, evolving and it can be difficult to keep up. We are often asked how and when to use hashtags. We have put together some information on do’s and don’t’s, banned hashtags to avoid and when and how to use hashtags based on each social platform.
DO’S AND DON’T’S FOR HASHTAG USE
DO
- Be specific, for instance with Instagram be sure your hashtags describe the image
- Brand hashtags should be about what you do or offer not just your company name (Examples: Ontario Travel #DiscoverON, Charmin – #tweetfromtheseat)
- Use A/B testing on your hashtags and watch your analytics for the best ones to use
- Do your research and ensure you are not using any banned hashtags you don’t want to end up Shadow Banned (an Instagram Shadowban is when your hashtags become ‘un-discoverable’.
You can use your hashtags; however, you’ll only show up in hashtag feeds of your current followers). - Choose a branded hashtag that customers will remember
- Carry your branded hashtag(s) throughout your marketing – print, online, social, promotions, etc.
DO NOT
- Make your hashtags too long, people will not want to type them and won’t find you
- Use banned hashtags (see below for more information on this)
- Have more hashtags than content
- Follow for Follow (just because someone follows you does not mean you should)
- Use hashtags on Facebook (See below for more information on this, or download our cheat sheet)
- Use irrelevant hashtags on Instagram your account could be flagged as a spammer.
BANNED HASHTAGS
For instance, when posting at Thanksgiving a banned hashtag we were unaware of caused it to be blocked. Who knew #happythanksgiving was the culprit, chances are it is one of the new temporarily banned hashtags much like #dogsofinstagram. Time will tell. Here is a list of just a few of many partially banned hashtags:
#attractive
#brain
#cheeky
#date
#easter
#elevator
#goddess
#saltwater
#tgif
#women
#woman
#workflow
NEW PARTIALLY BANNED HASHTAGS
#dogsofinstagram
#books
#skype
I am sure you can understand that many banned hashtags are because they can or have been associated with the inappropriate content.
WHEN AND HOW TO USE HASHTAGS
- Tweets with one or more hashtags are 55% more likely to be retweeted
- Tweets with 1 or 2 hashtags have a 21% higher engagement than those with 3 or more
- Tweets that use more than 2 show a 17% drop in engagement
- Interactions are highest on posts with 11+ hashtags
- Facebook posts without a hashtag fare better than those with a hashtag.
- Posts with more than 2 hashtags dropped by 70% from those with 1-2 hashtags
- Hashtags are now allowed on Pinterest just like any other social platform
- Pinterest recommends no more than 20 hashtags
- Note that only 4-5 are visible in the preview.
GOOGLE+
- Google+ has no official hashtag limit, but it is suggested to use no more than 5
- Use the explore tab to search hashtags
- Use 3 or 4 of the hashtags you find through the explore tab and copy to your post
YOUTUBE
- The more tags you add, the less relevant they become.
- Don’t use more any more than you need.
- YouTube will remove your video if you use over 15.
- No Limit but recommend a max of 3-5
