What are Hashtags (#) and How to Use Them on Social Media

Posted by Jennifer Pineda on

New to the #hashtag craze? What exactly is a hashtag you ask? In case you always wondered but were too afraid to ask,we're gonna try to provide a breif explanation for our customers and PTB Brand Ambassadors! 

If you’re relatively new to the game, hashtags can seem confusing and overwhelming. But once you understand them better, you will see that they are a powerful tool that we are using to grow our social impact and engage with our customers!

What is a hashtag?

With thousands of images published every minute on all social platforms, it can be hard to stand out amongst the crowd. The possibility that your post is going to to be seen isn’t promising, unless it's one of your followers. That’s where hashtags come into play. A hashtag is a keyword or phrase preceded by the hash symbol (#), written within a post or comment to highlight it and facilitate a search for it. Essentially, by including hash marks in your post; it can be indexed by the social network so that it can be discoverable to everyone, even if they’re not your followers or fans. For example, Precious Threadz Boutique offers affordable kidz and momzwear fashions so when we post we add #instafashion or #kidsfashion to our Instagram posts to snag those people that share our passion of all things kids fashion!

 

Why should you use hashtags?

Thanks to hashtags, your posts aren’t limited to just your followers. By adding one of these bad boys, your content will be accessible to all other users interested in similar topics who search for your hashtag. Choosing the right hashtag can greatly broaden the reach of your social media posts to thousands of potential followers, fans or customers. For example, with Precious Threadz Boutique, it can be tempting to go for the obvious #kids, but beware! With over a million posts and growing the chances of being seen are as slim as a banana peel. Now if you throw on a more specific tag like #toddlerwear, your looking at better odds. This is all the more relevant with the recent update on Instagram, where you can now follow specific hashtags just like you would friends or companies. So it goes without saying: make sure you don’t just slap # on any word.

How to use hashtags wisely?

To create a hashtag, all you need to do is include a ‘#’ and a relevant keyword or phrase. This, you already knew. But what you didn’t know is that not all hashtags are born equal. In fact, they are only powerful when handpicked and used wisely. Here are two crucial general tips that apply to all social media and businesses:

Keep it short: To save everyone the headache, don’t squish too many words into one hashtag. Nothing turns people off more than overly lengthy hashtags – #YouDontWantToTryThisAtHome.

Don’t overuse: Another thing you want to avoid is writing your entire caption with one hashtag per word. #Because #its #not #really #fun #to #read #like #this #is #it? The number of hashtags you can allow per post depends on each channel. But as a general rule of thumb, only put an hashtag next to word that are really significant.

What are the best hashtag practices for each social media

Twitter

How many hashtags per post: Research shows that the optimal amount of hashtags is two. Over that, the tweets have a significant drop in engagement.

How to find the best hashtags around: It’s important to make sure people are engaging with the hashtags you use. A great place to start is Hashtagify, it allows you to check the popularity and recent popularity to know if your hashtag is relevant.

Where to place them: While you are more limited on Twitter with the amount of #’s you are less confined as to where they should go. It can be used at the end of a Tweet or incorporated as part of the sentence.

Instagram

How many hashtags per post: The more hashtags you use, the more engagement you see – up until a certain point. After about 10 hashtags, you risk losing out on some of that engagement.
How to find the best hashtags around: Head over to the search box and check what your audience, competitors, and industry leaders are already using. Pay attention to the number of posts, and how many likes the first images received.
Where to place them: In order to keep everything organized and neat, it’s best to put your hashtags at the end of your caption preferably separated by either dots or asterisks. If you’re a neat freak, you can also add your hashtags in a comment to your post.

Facebook

Believe it or not, hashtags are not important on Facebook. We recommend limiting the number of hashtags to a minimum. Indeed, concise captions tend to perform better on this platform. Of course, using your ‘brand-specific hashtags’ won’t hurt.

 

Where do I start? 

It can be exhausting to think of things so we've made it easy for you and compiled a list of frequent hastags that are related to what PTB is and does!

Precious Threadz Brand Specific Hashtags

#preciousthreadz #preciousthreadzlouisville #preciousthreadzboutique #momzwear #kidzwear #shopsmallbusiness #shoplocallouisville

Kidz Fashion 

#kids #fashion #fashionkids #babyfashion #baby #instakids #kidsstyle #love #handmade #cute #kidzfashion #cutekidsclub #kidswear  #babygirl #ig_kids #style #trendykiddies #instafashion #instababy #igkiddies #kidsofinstagram #fashionista #cutekidsfashion #igkids #shopsmall #instagood #toddlerfashion #kidsstylezz #babyboy #instatoddler #girl #babyshop #kidslookbook #photooftheday #girls #kidsclothes #children #beautiful #babystyle #cutekids #cutekidmodels #postmyfashionkid #kidsclothing #trendy_tots #ootd #ootdkids #ootdboys #ootdgirls

Mommy/Motherhood/Momzwear

#momlife #momblog #momcommunity #motherhoodrising #motherhoodthroughinstagram #momsofinstagram #unitedinmotherhood #momlifeisthebestlife #mommyblogger #momstyle #mommygoals #ohheymama #justmomlife #honestlymothering #momblogger #honestmomconfessions #momsofinstagram #motherhoodunplugged #honestmotherhood #ig_motherhood #bestofmom #parenthood_unveiled #dailyparenting #momentsinmotherhood #joyfulmamas #mynameismama #illuminatechildhood #stopdropandmom #watchthemgrow #worldoflittles #realmomtogs #teammotherly #littlefierceones #kidsforreal #motherhoodintheraw #momlifestyle #momtribe

Fashion/Style Hashtags

#howyouglow #theeverydayproject #fashionblogging #fashionblogger #styleblogger #stylecollective #styleblogger #fashion #lookbook #musthave #fblogger #bblogger #makeyousmilestyle #momstyle #ootd #outfitidea #instastyle #instafashion #fashion #style #lookbook #fashioninspiration

Lifestyle Hashtags 

#documentyourdays #holdyourmoments #simpleliving #mybeautifulmess #kindredmemories #mytinymoments #inbeautyandchaos #livethelittlethings #communityovercompetition #thatsdarling #thedarlingmovement #darlingweekend #thehappynow #pursuepretty #wadeleurspark #ABMlifeissweet #ABMlifeiscolorful #flashesofdelight #petitejoys #livecolorfully #morningslikethese #theblogissue #finditliveit #prettylittlething #photosinbetween #theeverydayproject #postthepeople #humaneeffect #slowliving_ #justgoshoot #postitfortheaesthetic #whywhiteworks #darlingdaily

I hope this article has helped just a little or provided a resource for our Brand Ambassadors to help us grow the Precious Threadz Boutique Brand! You can really use hashtags for likes and to search on instagram and to grow PTB so I really hope you'll use them! Also, don't forget to follow us if you haven't already @preciousthreadzboutique

0 comments

Leave a comment

Please note, comments must be approved before they are published