How Hashtags Work On Social Media [2024]
Explore how hashtags work on social media in 2024 including an in-depth analysis into hashtag use and tips for Instagram, Facebook, TikTok and LinkedIn. Are hashtags dead or do they still have a space in social media marketing?
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If you have worked in social media or have any experience in social media management, you will know that the world of algorithms and how hashtags work on each platform is an ongoing minefield. Specifically, how hashtags work on each unique platform.
Luckily, at Silly Goose Digital, we are here to break down the use of hashtags on social media platforms, the most effective ways to utilise these and the top tools to use to keep track of your hashtags.
The History of the Hashtag
The first hashtag made its debut on Twitter (now X, that one is another story), in 2007 from product designer, Chris Messina. Chris explained:
“I designed the hashtag to thwart any one social network from becoming the dominant gatekeeper. Think about it: The hashtag is one of the few superstructures that spans across all social media platforms. Only hashtags allow similarly-interested folks to find each other—whether they’re on Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, TikTok, Reddit or elsewhere. It provides a glimpse into what an interoperable, decentralised social web could be like.”
Since its debut, the hashtag has been used on several platforms as a way for brands and creators to facilitate growth. But the same question always remains, how can they be used and how do we use them to maximise reach?
What Are The Benefits of Using Hashtags in 2024?
Despite the algorithm changes, hashtags are still a good way to categorise your content to make it easier for your audience to distinguish the topics of your post and to be seen in those relevant hashtags.
Branded hashtags are also a good way to increase user-generated content (UGC) and create a community through social media. An example of a successful branded hashtag is Apple’s #ShotOniPhone campaign. The campaign was designed to show wider customers just how good the iPhone camera can be, all while getting their community on board.
Just think – if you enjoy photography, you’ll want bragging rights for how good your iPhone photo was – and being reposted by Apple is a bonus! This campaign had no incentive, but it still generated more than 29 million Instagram posts. (As of December 2023).
How Hashtags Work on Instagram
As mentioned, algorithmic changes and shifts in platforms make it harder to know what is working. However, Instagram’s Creator Community broke down tips for using hashtags which we still use in our social strategies in 2024.
The creator community also breaks down these three guidelines; only use 3-5 hashtags at a time, use hashtags in your posts & stories and only use hashtags relevant to your community and brand. At times, it can be tempting to ‘hashtag stuff’ your content to maximise reach, however, it’s important to only use a few hashtags which are relevant to your post and/or brand.
Instagram also recommends using a mix of well-known and niche hashtags. Luckily, our free keyword & hashtag planner template allows you to break down your hashtags based on small, medium and large hashtags. They also recommend using hashtags that your audience follows. To see this, simply click on a hashtag on Instagram and see if anyone you follow also follows the hashtag.
To layer on this, we also recommend looking at social SEO tactics such as keyword planning and researching trending topics. Instagram’s search bar is great for looking for related keywords (and keywords that are currently trending) so make sure to add these to your hashtag plan.
How Hashtags Work on Facebook
This one has always been a bit of a grey area for us, and we don’t use hashtags on Facebook unless it’s for a specific event i.e. #WorldBookDay. This is partly because Facebook has never been a top platform which used hashtags – in fact, they only introduced hashtags in 2016. You’ll also find that Facebook’s search is more facilitated towards keywords rather than hashtags like Instagram and TikTok.
However, research from Sprout Social recommends using only 1-2 hashtags, use hashtags on posts & stories and using timely hashtags since many users turn to Facebook for news and events.
How Hashtags Work on TikTok
TikTok is the newer platform on this list, but don’t underestimate the use of hashtags on this platform as it’s apparent hashtags really do work on TikTok. For TikTok, we also recommend using 3-5 hashtags per post but the key is keeping up to date with the latest trending hashtags and topics.
One useful resource for this is TikTok’s Creator Center which breaks down the top hashtags by views, posts and trend graphs. You can also filter this by industry to tailor directly to your business. This tool also allows you to browse top songs, creators and videos to give you even more inspiration.
How Hashtags Work on LinkedIn
Finally, we have LinkedIn which is a funny platform when it comes to hashtags. LinkedIn only introduced the hashtag feature in 2018, and since then it has had mixed usage. Back in 2020, Joe Gannon gave a round-up of the best way to utilise LinkedIn hashtags including using 3 hashtags, placing hashtags at the end of content and using 2 big hashtags and 1 niche hashtag.
However, LinkedIn has recently come out and added more context to how hashtags work on their platform in 2024. As explained by LinkedIn:
“Using hashtags can be a helpful tool for viewers to easily identify what a post is about and find other related posts. However, it’s important to use hashtags that are closely related to the topic of the post for them to be most effective. In addition to hashtags, we also consider conversation topics and keywords to help surface relevant information for professionals looking to advance in their careers. When searching for conversations on a specific topic you can use topics or hashtags.”
From this, we conclude that LinkedIn are putting less emphasis on hashtags, and more emphasis on the keywords used in the main post. Like all algorithms, post-performance will also be based on engagement and interaction with the post so this will also be a bonus for increased reach.
To find hashtags on LinkedIn, simply type in the hashtag you wish to search for i.e. #Engineering – from there, you can see the following of the hashtag to analyse how big or niche the hashtag is. You can also find the top-used hashtags via LinkedIn (2021) here.
What Else To Consider
As we have mentioned previously, keyword stuffing and hoping to get increased reach is unlikely to work. From our own experience, you need to implement a hashtag strategy as above but also work to the algorithm’s needs.
For example, algorithms reward engagement and being active on their platform so we would recommend going through the hashtags you use and engaging with posts on these (genuine engagement, not AI-generated comments!) It’s a very manual process, but we’ve found there’s no easy way of ‘cheating’ algorithms. Happy hashtag planning!
