We know you’ve heard of hashtags, but did you know that there are many great tools out there to assist in using hashtags for social media marketing? Social media hashtags are full of so much uncertainty, even for the most experienced marketers. They can be very difficult to understand and use, but they can actually be a very good tactic for content creators – if you know where to look.

What is a hashtag?

The origin of hashtags can be found back in 2007 by Chris Messina, a web marketing specialist. He suggested to the creators of Twitter that the # symbol should be used to group related Tweets together. Fast forward 15+ years and the use and effectiveness of hashtags is continuing to grow.

Despite the change in the use of hashtags over the years, the purpose of the symbol has not changed. Hashtags exist to essentially group social media content, based on a specific topic or theme. Also, they have expanded outside of Twitter and can be used on other social media platforms too.

How to find the best hashtags for your content

Let us drop in a word that is any social media marketer’s fuel – trends. Trends allow content to be reached by a wider audience and it is crucial to be aware of that. Therefore, by using tools that will enable users to use trends to their advantage, you will be able to stay on top of them. However, there are many hashtag-specific tools out there, so how do you know which ones will actually do their job?

Here at The Lighthouse, we provide resources and advice for each social media platform. Below, we have provided suggestions for hashtag tools we have tried and tested.

Tagomatic

We recommend content creators use the app Tagomatic. This 4.4 star rated app helps find the optimal hashtags for Instagram posts. The app works by generating the best hashtags to use around a certain topic that you enter.

To use the app, enter a single, relevant word into the search bar and Tagomatic will search among the trending hashtags and choose the best ones related to your keyword.

The standout aspect of Tagomatic is that it searched hashtags in real-time instead of taking the results from a static list. This will allow you to get the highest results on Instagram search results.

Hashtagify.me

For both Instagram and Twitter we also recommend using the website Hashtagify.me to find the right hashtags for your content. The free hashtag finder searches through 12,485,395 hashtags and picks the best ones for your needs based on their popularity, relationships, languages, influencers and many other metrics.

Through this site, you can monitor your performance and also get the best hashtag suggestions for your content. This site will help you drive engagement and market results found.

Just when you thought it couldn’t get better, Hashtagify.me also helps amplify your reach by identifying the right Twitter influencers to fit with your brand, track any twitter account and competitor and so much more. It is such a useful marketing tool!

Brand24

Brand24 is a great social media monitoring tool. It works by tracking and analysing the mentions of your specific hashtags across various websites, blogs and social media platforms. Not only are you able to see the performance of your hashtags, but also the influencers that have been using the hashtags and potentially talking about your brand.

TweetBinder

TweetBinder is solely a hashtag tracking tool for anyone who wants to analyse hashtags on Twitter and Instagram. The perk of this site is that you are able to get a historical and real-time data report for both platforms. This is extremely useful as you can see the users who are interacting with the hashtag and also see their reach and influence.


Summary

Hashtags are useful for reaching new audiences that are like-minded and belong to the same niche but are also helpful to provide context and increase engagement with followers. The way you use hashtags can differ depending on the size of your account, the social media platform you are using and your content. To find the best hashtags for your content, it can often be helpful to use an app or website that can automatically generate them for you. There are many websites and apps out there claiming to be able to generate hashtags, just make sure you do your research and use the most legitimate tool.

Have you ever used a tool to generate hashtags for your social media?

Tinisha Osu is a Marketing Executive with two degrees in Psychology. She is the first-author of a published psychology paper and is beginning her career in marketing through blog-writing, creating social media content and running marketing campaigns.