The Importance of Hashtags on Social Media

All you need to know about hashtags and how they work!

Hashtags are pretty popular in usage today. But have you ever thought about who was the first person to use them? Let us answer that for you. Chris Messina was the first person ever to use a hashtag in his tweet. He can be called the messiah of today’s content creators as he proposed the use of hashtags in 2007 on Twitter. You could say his idea really blew up on social media.

A hashtag is represented by the hash (#) symbol and is a combination of two words, “hash” and “tag.” Hashtags allow us to label or categorize content into different categories. They have become an essential part of our social media content. 

Hashtags on social media platforms are used extensively to draw attention, promote, connect, and build a community of like-minded people who may be interested in the same activity like #photography #cooking #contentcreators, etc. Even though it was first used on Twitter, you can use it today across all social media platforms like Rizzle, Instagram, Pinterest, Instagram, and so on. 

How to Use Hashtags on Your Posts?

If you haven’t used them on social media or are curious about how to use them, let us help you. The trick to using hashtags on your social media posts is that there is no trick! 

No special software or tool is needed. The only thing you need to consider is the pound symbol # followed by the word you wish to highlight. 

Remember to put the pound symbol right before the word or phrase you want to turn into a hashtag without any spaces #, punctuation marks, or other special characters. #IfYouKnowWhatWeMean 

Effectiveness of Hashtags on Social Media Posts

There are several reasons you would want to use them when you post content on social media, be it a picture, video, or a tweet. 

They help you reach your target audience

When you add them to your posts, they become searchable by anyone on that platform by simply using the same hashtag—for example, #OOTD, #pictureoftheday, #mondaymotivation, and so on. Many people search for specific tags on social media, so using hashtags that are of interest to a larger audience increases the chances of your content being discovered.

They improve your clickthrough rates (CTR)

Tweets followed with hashtags receive twice as much engagement as tweets without them. 

They are an excellent tool for research

If you are doing some research work, you can easily find great and relevant content by searching for specific tags and keywords related to your research. Tweets with hashtags appear more focused on topics than tweets that do not have them. 

They help bring like-minded people together

People with similar interests can easily interact with one another on social media when they search for hashtags of their interests. They can even join a bigger conversation and connect with others on the same topic.

Ways to Find the Best and Most Relevant Hashtags

You will have to research to find hashtags specific to your content type and audience. The tags you use should be related to the kind of content you create. A good way to find relevant tags is to check out what other social media influencers use in terms of hashtags. Gather information about any relevant influencers within your niche.

You can make a note of what hashtags they use most often and how many of them they are using in each of their posts. This will help you figure out how other influencers engage with your shared target audience and which tags they often use.

Hashtagify.me is a great free tool as it helps you find the best relevant tags for your social media platforms. By using this tool, you can search for any hashtag and know how popular it is. It can also help you keep track of trending hashtags. 

You can also use related hashtags to further the reach of your content. This helps if you already know which tags work well for your content. They might be a little more specific than the popular ones you’re already using in your posts, which may help you connect with a more niche-targeted audience.

How #Contentcreators Use Hashtags Effectively

Though hashtags were first only used on Twitter, it’s very common to use them on all social media platforms today. The best way to use them can take a little figuring out, some trial and error. But if you don’t give it a try, you will never know!

Here’s how to make the most of #hashtags:

Always use hashtags on your posts

Add relatable hashtags on your social media platforms like Rizzle, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, Pinterest, and YouTube. Paid tools like Agorapulse or Hootsuite help you find the relevant tags based on the genre you’re looking for. 

Create your own hashtag

Creating a particular branded hashtag for your content will help your audience easily recognize your content in a sea of social media posts. For example, #getreadywith(your name here) or #cookwith(your name here). As hashtags have gained popularity across all social media platforms over the years, websites like AllHashtag help you find the top hashtags used in your industry on any social media platform.

Do your research 

Make sure to do thorough research into specific topics by following relevant hashtags. This way, you can find like-minded people, brands, vendors, and audiences through tags and engage with them.

Hopefully, we have answered all your queries about hashtags. These are just a few tips and tricks to get you off to a good start! The best advice is to just go out and use the tags you find relevant to your content and experiment with what works for you. 

Remember that hashtags are like the salt in your social media post. They aren’t the whole meal. A little goes a long way. 

As we have seen, hashtags are an effective way to draw followers and boost engagement. By adding them to your social media posts, you can give your content the boost it needs. Whether you create your own or simply use the popular ones, we’re sure you will not hit the post button again without including hashtags. 

If you made it here and find this blog interesting, please share it with your friends. Let us know your favorite hashtags in the comments below!