The Best Ways to Check Hashtag Success

By Bob Deakin #BobDeakin

Part II: Making Hashtags Work Without Too Much Work

Are Hashtags Worth the Effort?

Time spent researching hashtags that effectively put your posts in front of the right eyeballs is worth it if you see results. For hashtag success, be specific. If your subject is gaming keyboards, don’t waste your time with #computers or #gamers when #mechanicalkeyboards or #rt100 find your kindred spirits.

Hashtags come in three general flavors: Content, Trending, and Branding, in addition to Industry, Event, Campaign, Community, Geotags (locale), and Niche (hyper-focused).

Website builder Wix advises keeping your tags short, not overusing them, and putting strategy into your selections. You are most likely not inventing the hashtag you use, so spend a moment on research. A site like Best-Hashtags.com helps you choose, including for what social platforms.

How Do I Check Hashtag Success?

I’m using my recommendation of the Brand24 hashtag analyzer from last week’s blog. I entered links to my Facebook and Instagram accounts and hashtags from last week’s blog, Hashtags (What Are They Good For?): Absolutely Something. The process takes getting used to. 

You must create a project on Brand24 (14 days for free) and follow it over time. The information returned is extensive. FYI I received barely any attention using #hashtagstrategy, #techhumor, and #socialmediamarketing on my Facebook tech page last week. On other posts and pages about very specific music topics, I’ve earned better results.

Checking hashtag progress is a work in progress, but fun once you begin receiving feedback. It comes from unlikely sources from all over the world. I also advise keeping a list of hashtags that you use per your intended audience.

Best-Hashtags.com provides a current list of the 100 Most Popular Instagram Hashtags. Here are the top ten:

1. #love - 2,147,483,647

2. #instagood - 1,804,787,004

3. #instagram - 1,297,844,989

4. #fashion - 1,169,969,331

5. #photooftheday - 1,071,124,488

6. #art - 1,070,020,394

7. #photography - 938,937,928

8. #beautiful -762,664,764

9. #nature - 742,622,371

10. #picoftheday - 656,725,154

I Don’t Want to Work That Hard at Hashtags

Digital marketer Kim Garst has an easier suggestion. In the Instagram search bar, type in a keyword or two related to your niche. For instance, British pop. You’ll see the tag at the top of the page. Click on ‘Tagged’ below that and see who uses it. Look at their profiles to see what other tags they use.

“These tools are all great, but don’t forget that YOU’RE the expert when it comes to your niche and audience!” Garst assures. “I’d encourage you to take some time to sit down and brainstorm which keywords will be of interest to your audience. Once you’ve come up with a list, you can plug them into the tools above to find related hashtags and to see how popular they really are.”

Follow Your Mentors

Researching hashtags is time-consuming, and we’re already writing with best SEO practices, posting frequently, defining our audience, and eating and sleeping. 

Don’t get hung up on hashtag research unless you enjoy it. There are people and organizations that you surely enjoy following, who have massive numbers of followers. Look at what they use for hashtags and take their cue. But don’t use too many. As I said last week, use your hashtag powers to exhibit quality, not fake it.

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