The Importance of Hashtags for Facebook and Instagram
Adventures Media Solutions
Hashtags are short words or phrases with the number sign in front of them, and they are typically used on social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Hashtags have become incredibly popular with the rise of the digital age, but are they still relevant in 2022? The short answer is yes, but perhaps not in the way they used to be. Like anything in marketing, using something just to use it will not help your page or business grow, there needs to be a strategy to back it up.
Should I Use Hashtags?
Yes! In the modern era, using hashtags has become a bit of a novelty to some people and organizations. It certainly does not seem as important as it did in the early 2000s when many posts had the maximum number of hashtags with every imaginable (and usually unrelatable) topic. But do not worry, they have not lost their importance. Rather than using hashtags solely to attract people to your page, they should primarily be used as a way to categorize information. Tagging a specific product or service your business offers will make it easier for consumers to find information across social media platforms, and a lot of information at that. If consumers can find all their information neatly packaged in one place rather than digging through months or years of social posts, they should and will do it. Many target audience members are lost in transitioning to different platforms for information. Plugging your website or phone number certainly still has value, but keeping consumers on the same platform may keep you from losing them in the sales funnel.
How Should I Use Them?
You would never start a campaign or release a product just to have one, and you should never use a hashtag just to use one. Additionally, using hashtags will not instantly raise your engagement, but it can help. Hashtags make your posts and brand searchable, highlighting certain posts that might interest consumers. One of the best ways to utilize hashtags on Facebook and Instagram is to tag a series of posts. Creating a specific hashtag for a post series displaying a new line of products, services, or business information ensures that your audience can easily find the information they need. Hashtags also give followers more incentive to interact with your posts, clicking on the tags to find additional content. This especially helps with knowing what kind of content most interests your followers so you can replicate it in the future.
Even though you should use hashtags, you should not overdo it. Recommended hashtag use is between three and five per post to not bombard your followers with them. Use them on every post, but keep your hashtags narrow! Using a broad hashtag such as #food will drown out your post in the large volume of such with that tag and result in less engagement overall. Even if your account pushes out similar content, try to diversify your hashtags. Instagram especially may penalize accounts that use the same tags over and over and over. Using hashtags can be a great method for both organizing content and pushing new consumers into your sales funnel, but ensure you have a strategy to make the most out of their usage.