How Many Hashtags Should I Use On Social Media?
Hashtags are a mainstay of social media platforms. The metadata information, normally prefaced by the hash symbol (#), is a word or phrase that helps to cross-reference your content. In other words, it provides an opportunity to share your information across different themes.
The use of hashtags isn’t only for personal communications. Businesses use them to maximize the reach of their message. Furthermore, they make it searchable.
When a hashtag is clicked it allows you to see every post within the description. The reader then gets an opportunity to learn more about your brand or product.
Hence, the need to know the proper number of hashtags for each platform. To help, here is a list of social media sites and how many hashtags should be used on each.
Facebook is interesting because it didn’t originally believe in hashtags. In fact, when it started to implement them in 2013, it was a late bloomer. Nevertheless, they became a huge part of personal and business postings.
Today, hashtag use on Facebook has declined considerably. Still, its metadata is useful to reveal content via a search. Utilize one or two hashtags to start, then adjust as needed. Additionally, add them to the comment underneath the initial post to avoid distracting the reader.
Facebook Recommended Number of Hashtags: Two
The hashtag came into being in 2007 thanks to Twitter. It’s still used regularly to direct personal and business messages to a variety of themes. However, unlike other social media platforms, the room to add this metadata is limited.
The reason is the outlet’s 280-character limit. A post that consists of mostly hashtags with a minimum of original material doesn’t work. Instead, use a maximum of three topics at the end of the statement. A native Twitter search helps you find the trending hashtags related to your information.
Since LinkedIn caters to a professional audience it has different hashtag rules than other social media platforms. For instance, they shouldn’t be in a sarcastic or jokey tone. The company also frowns on text talk within this metadata. In simpler terms, it doesn’t like abbreviated language and slang used with short message service (SMS) texts normally used on mobile devices.
Overall, LinkedIn recommends three hashtags per post. This is one place where a hashtag with your business name (e.g. #Ayrshare) is useful. They also suggest the use of hashtags with location information. Consider reviewing profiles of similar businesses to discover the most responsive hashtags.
Twitter Recommended Number of Hashtags: Three
Instagram lives on hashtags. The reason is they rely more on images and videos instead of long captions. Therefore, hashtags help direct the material to popular themes.
On Instagram, the sweet spot is having just one hashtag. Adding a few hashtags actually could lead to reduced engagement versus just one. To get better engagement than a single hashtag, you should consider adding 15 or more. While you can use up to 30 descriptions, Instagram could consider someone posting with this many hashtags regularly as spam.
Instagram Recommended Number of Hashtags: 1 or up to 15
Though it seems new, Reddit has been around for nearly two decades. Thus, it knows a thing or two about hashtags. Especially the right way to add them.
When the hash sign is placed in front of a word or phrase, Reddit’s algorithms transform it into large text. This makes some readers feel like the feed’s owner is yelling at them. To prevent this, add a backslash (\) in front of the hash. An example of this is \#Ayrshare Hashtags.
Utilize a maximum of five hashtags on your Reddit posts and videos. Two of these must be specific while the others should fall into generic categories. In either case, ensure the tags are within your eCommerce niche.
Reddit Recommended Number of Hashtags: Five
TikTok
The amazingly popular TikTok uses hashtags in a similar way as Instagram. The reason is they rely on their subscriber’s videos instead of narration. Thus, they’re crucial to draw an audience.
According to AITHORITY, the recommended number of hashtags is five. You can use more but you’re limited to 100 characters in the caption. This is why you want to keep your description short. Instead, add trending, nice, and awareness hashtags to alert other subscribers.
TikTok Recommended Number of Hashtags: Five
YouTube
The original social media video repository, YouTube still accepts hashtags in their descriptions. Sometimes they’re placed directly in the caption. Others add them to comments.
Matthias Funk, the founder of the YouTube marketing site Tubics, recommends adding no more than 15 hashtags to a single video. If there are any more, then YouTube ignores all of them. As a result, you don’t receive as many views.
YouTube Recommended Number of Hashtags: No More Than 15
As you see, the number of hashtags to use on social media differs per platform. This is something to consider when crafting your social media strategy. Particularly when you utilize an automated system to deliver one article to multiple platforms.
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