Chris Nokes
Digital Marketing Lead
Hashtag Etiquette
Hashtags are essential in building a following of the right people who are interested in what you and your business have to say.
They can be useful in progressing and creating a community of people who will engage with your posts. While it’s exceptionally important to get your point across and to direct the right people to your site and your content it’s also important to treat these people with courtesy.
We’ve become so accustomed to hashtags that, sometimes, we don’t even notice they’re there.
That is, unless, they’re completely bombarding you.
This article is a quick guide to utilising hashtags while maintaining hashtag etiquette.
Your use of hashtags depends heavily on which social media platform you’re using. There are some stark differences between various platforms.
Something that Instagram generously includes in its posting options is the ability to hide your hashtags.
If you’d like to hide the hashtags, all you need to do is the following:
Add a caption to the post, as usual.
Something like…
“It’s an Instagram post! Look at that photo. That’s a good photo. I should have studied photography!”
You can then comment beneath the image using as many hashtags as you think are required. Use the following structure to obscure your hashtags and make sure they’re not bothering anyone:
“
.
.
.
.
.
#photo #photography #photographer #lookatmylovelyphoto #etc”
Adding ellipses will ensure that Instagram will make the comment collapse and ensure the hashtags are not visible to users while the main thrust of your message remains front and centre.
Be careful not to go too over the top with your hashtags though because any more than 30 hashtags will wipe your caption. Despite your followers not being able to see them, Instagram sees everything.
You can also follow any hashtags you might be interested in. You’ll never miss out on any photos of #catsinboxes again.
Just us? Nevermind.
That also means you can follow your own hashtag and see who mentions you in a post. Fantastic!
Twitter and Facebook
This is where we have to rein ourselves in. Instagram is a haven of hidden hashtags compared to Twitter and Facebook. On these social media platforms we must wear our hashtags on our sleeves.
That’s why, when using them, it’s best to stick with one or two hashtags. That’s it. If you use more than that user engagement will actually drop.
This is because an overload of hashtags just looks like spam to a casual observer. If you add a link into the mix then you’ve got what, to social media conditioned minds, looks like spam central. It’s not a good look.
When incorporating your hashtags, try to make them fit naturally into the post. For example:
“Check out our latest #blog post on improving your social media engagement.”
Hashtags are extremely useful when it comes to getting your content noticed on LinkedIn. When it comes to posting articles on LinkedIn you can add hashtags at the bottom of the article before it's published.
It’s also a good idea to have hashtags worked into your profile on LinkedIn so that you can easily be found. When mentioning your skills or your company’s skills, why not hashtag it for findability?
There’s a right and wrong way to do this, however. For example...
We wouldn’t recommend this:
“We are CORE. Connecting #creativity, #strategy and #technology. We work across all areas of #digital: #websitedesign, mobile and app development, #searchengineoptimisation, #socialmedia, and #digitalmarketing, to name a few. Our reach extends across the UK and internationally, in partnership with communications agencies and a wide range of industry clients.”
Something more like this would work though:
“We are CORE. Connecting creativity, strategy and technology. We work across all areas of digital: website design, mobile and app development, search engine optimisation, social media, and digital marketing, to name a few. Our reach extends across the UK and internationally, in partnership with communications agencies and a wide range of industry clients. What We’re Good At: #digitalmarketing, #socialmedia, #seo, #usinghashtags”
As a general rule, between 4 and 5 hashtags on LinkedIn is optimal.
Here’s hoping that this guide to hashtagging was helpful to you. However, if you need more help understanding the nuances of social media then we at CORE would be more than happy to assist.
