The Ultimate Guide of Hashtags in Social Media

What is a HASHTAG?
Hashtag is a social media tagging system that categorizes the content.

A hashtag provides 2 values:

  • Viewable by anyone with an interest in your hashtag, even those outside of your network.
  • Expands your reach to anyone interested in that hashtag phrase or keyword.

Hashtags on Twitter

  • Tweets with hashtags get 2X MORE ENGAGEMENT (clicks, retweets, favorites and replies) than tweets without.
  • You’ll want to keep it to NO MORE THAN TWO.
  • 1-2 hashtags is optimal. More than two hashtags drops engagement by an average of 17%.
  • 21% higher engagement on tweets with 1-2 hashtags.
  • 55% more likely to be retweeted on tweets with 1 or more hashtags.
  • 25% of tweets without hashtags gets retweet.
  • 40% of tweets with hashtags gets retweet.

Hashtags on Instagram

  • Instagram is another hotspot for hashtags, but works different than Tweets.
  • Interactions are highest on Instagram posts with 11+ hashtags.
  • 0 Hashtags – 18% interaction per 1k followers
  • 1 Hashtags – 29% interaction per 1k followers
  • 2 Hashtags – 42% interaction per 1k followers
  • 3 Hashtags – 39% interaction per 1k followers
  • 4 Hashtags – 31% interaction per 1k followers
  • 5 Hashtags – 43% interaction per 1k followers
  • 6 hashtags – 33% interaction per 1k followers
  • 7 Hashtags – 30% interaction per 1k followers
  • 8 Hashtags – 39.5% interaction per 1k followers
  • 9 Hashtags – 40.5% interaction per 1k followers
  • 10 Hashtags – 22% interaction per 1k followers
  • 11 Hashtags – 79.5% interaction per 1k followers

Hashtags on Facebook

  • When Facebook first started using Hashtags, it didn’t work well.
  • Posts with hashtags: 0.80% median viral reach per fan
  • Posts with hashtags: 1.30% median viral reach per fan
  • As time went on, it started to pickup:
  • 1-2 Hashtags: 593 avg. interactions per post
  • 3-5 Hashtags: 416 avg. interactions per post
  • 6-10 Hashtags: 307 avg. interactions per post
  • 10+ Hashtags: 188 avg. interactions per post

Hashtags on Google+

  • On Google+, your posts are given hashtags automatically based on their content, but you can also edit them or add your own.
  • You can add hashtags in your comments as well as your posts – doubling the opportunities to be found.
  • Hashtags are now automatically built right into Google searches.
  • If you type in a hashtag search, you’ll get the normal search results plus a sidebar of relevant Google+ posts.
  • Google+’s “related hashtags” offer smart marketers a brainstorming opportunity to discover new content ideas and gauge interest level in specific topics.

Source: The Ultimate Guide to Hashtags