Optimum Number of Hashtags For Social Media Platforms
May 24, 2019
Hashtags can be used on multiple social media platforms. There is no fixed amount of hashtags that you should use on various platforms, however, the numbers below are a general guide in order to help increase engagement on your social media posts.
The ideal number of hashtags to use on Twitter is two. People do not often search using hashtags on Twitter, as much as you might do on Instagram, and so a large amount of hashtags is unnecessary. It is a good idea to take notice of trending hashtags as you can always get involved with popular/trending topics. For example, when the world cup was on last year, it was trending on Twitter. This is something that would have been great to get involved in on Twitter as it is a very popular subject and by using this hashtag, people will be able to find you this way.
On this platform, you are also largely restricted by the 280 character limit and so it would be unwise, and often impossible, to use a lot of hashtags within a tweet. Statistics also show that posts with more than two hashtags are likely to see a decrease in engagement by 17%. This is likely because a large number of hashtags makes a post appear cluttered and it could also be considered as spam.
On Instagram, people are much more likely to search for posts using hashtags and so it is vital that, in order to try and increase engagement, you use the ideal amount of hashtags. The optimum number of hashtags to use on Instagram is fifteen. We recommend that you should use no less than ten as this could dramatically affect the amount of engagement that your posts receive. On Instagram, you are not so restricted by a character count as your post caption is allowed to be 2,200 characters long. However, there is a limit on the number of hashtags that you can use. There is a limit of thirty hashtags on posts so you must ensure that the hashtags you choose for your post are as relevant as possible.
It is not common knowledge that you can use hashtags on Pinterest, however, this feature became available in 2017! You can add hashtags to your pins, just like you would on other social media platforms. It is recommended that you use no more than four hashtags on your pins. To find out more about using hashtags on Pinterest, take a look at one of our recent blogs here!
It is also not very well known that you are able to use hashtags as a feature on LinkedIn. You use hashtags on LinkedIn in exactly the same way that you would use them on other social media platforms. Using hashtags on your posts allows your articles to be found by users who search for a hashtag that you have used. It is recommended that you use no more than five hashtags on LinkedIn posts, however, there is no limit on the amount that you can use. As LinkedIn is a platform mostly used by professionals and for business, you should be extremely wary of the hashtags you use as this reflects on your professional appearance.
There has been a lot of deliberation about whether you should use hashtags on Facebook - some people do, some people don’t. We recommend that you do not use hashtags on Facebook, as they serve no real purpose. You are unable to search on Facebook using hashtags and there is no correlation between using hashtags and engagement on this platform.
Social media algorithms are constantly changing, so it’s a good idea to keep an eye on the most up to date information on the best ways to use your social media.
The Creation Lab specialises in SEO, video production and website design in Kent and London.
If you have a project you'd like to work on with us, then we'd love to hear from you! Please feel free to get in touch here, or give our friendly team a call on 0800 644 7070.