Hashtags are not a growth hack. Used well, they are labels that help the right people find your posts. Used badly, they make a caption look like spam. For most small businesses the answer is simple: fewer, better hashtags.
How many to use
A handful of relevant hashtags works better than filling the maximum. Three to five well chosen tags per post is a good default on Instagram. On LinkedIn, two or three is plenty. On TikTok, a few tags that describe the video help it reach the right viewers.
Choose relevant over popular
The biggest hashtags are crowded, and your post disappears in minutes. Smaller, specific tags are where people who care about your topic actually look. A bakery will reach more of the right people with a tag about sourdough in its city than with a generic tag about food.
Mix three kinds of tags
- What the post is about: the product, the topic or the tip.
- Where you are: your city or neighbourhood, if you serve a local area.
- Who you are: one tag for your business name, used on every post.
Keep a short list
Make a list of fifteen to twenty tags that fit your business and rotate through them, picking the few that fit each post. It saves time and keeps your tags consistent.
Place them at the end
Put hashtags at the end of the caption, after your call to action, so they do not get in the way of the message.
Written for you
Hulby adds hashtags to every caption, chosen for that post and that network, so each post goes out with a small set of relevant tags instead of a wall of them.
