Finding the Best Hashtags
#1. Keep an eye on your rivals and social media influencers.
Before you list out the best hashtags, make a list of your niche’s rivals and related influencers, then look at their social media profiles to see how they interact with your common target audience.
- What are the most popular posts?
- What’s their #?
- How many different #s do they use in each post?
The goal here isn’t to imitate what they’re doing, but to figure out what works and what is not, but also how you can apply what you’ve learned to your own social media hashtag strategy.
#2. Use Hashtagify.me
Hashtagify.me is an online tool that allows you to scan hashtags to see how common they are, as well as similar tags, top countries, and other details. You can also type your Twitter or Instagram caption into the tool, and it will recommend hashtags for you.
Although it focuses on Twitter and Instagram its basic features are free to use, more advanced features such as performance tracking do require a subscription.
For eg, a search for “#smallbusiness” gives the following related ideas:
- #entrepreneur
- #business
- #marketing
- #smallbiz
- #startup
- #Setting4Success
#3. Use a tool to find hashtags that are currently trending.
Another useful online method for determining which hashtags are trending across various social media sites is RiteTag. It provides a free trial period, but after that, it needs a subscription to continue using it.
The service analyzes your social media caption and the picture you’ll use with it, then creates trending hashtag ideas based on your content.
Of course, there are also free ways to find out which #s are trending on your favorite social media sites, which we’ll discuss in the next chapters.
#4 Get a social media listening tool.
If you want to take your skills to the next stage, you can start using a social media listening tool like Hootsuite or Adview.
These tools analyze the discussions and patterns that are happening in your industry and around your market, allowing you to remain more informed about the social media content that your target audience wants to consume.
If technology isn’t your strong suit, or you just don’t have the time as a business owner, there are plenty of freelance social media marketing experts who can assist.
#5. Use social media sites to find new, similar hashtags.
When you search for a hashtag on Instagram or LinkedIn, you will see similar hashtags when searching for the one you want to use, which is especially useful for finding additional suggestions.
Instagram, for instance, has an autocomplete function that works similarly to the Google Search Bar. Simply type the hashtag symbol “#” followed by the word or phrase you want to use. The Search feature on Instagram will then recommend famous hashtags that are close to your keyword, along with their popularity.
In the following chapters, we’ll go into how to find trending hashtags across each social media site in greater detail.
#6. Analyze which hashtags were effective in previous posts.
It’s also a good idea to keep track of the hashtags you use in and post and review your own social media posts on a regular basis. Concentrate on which of your posts did well, as well as the hashtags you used.
Above all, look for any patterns in your most famous posts and the hashtags you used. If that’s the case, make sure you use a combination of them in your future material.
