Hashtags, of course, are “topics” around which people talk, post, and share on social media. They began on Twitter, and now exist on nearly every social media network. If, for example, you want to see what people are saying about Tulsa, just go to Twitter (or Instagram) and type in #Tulsa. Or, it can be something that’s abstract, like #Globalwarming or something silly like #Spacealiensongs. If you’re not sure what a hashtag is, check out this article.
Watch How to Find Trending Hashtags on YouTube.
Let’s review how to find trending hashtags, but first we need to take a little detour to your keywords. If you sell motorcycle insurance, for example, you don’t want to tweet about organic food, or about Donald Trump. You want to tweet about things that are RELEVANT to your brand. Even if Taylor Swift is trending on social media, you don’t want to go “after the volume” because you really need to go “after the value.”
So don’t be mesmerized just by the coolest and biggest hashtag, as size isn’t everything!
OK, so we’ll assume you know a few of your keyword themes, so you at least have some starter keywords. Let’s review some tools that can help you both discover hashtags and discover which ones are trending. Namely:
Hashtagify.me at http://hashtagify.me. Click on popular, here.
Hashtags.org at https://www.hashtags.org/
TagDef at https://tagdef.com/
Webstagram at https://web.stagram.com/
Ritetag at https://ritetag.com/hashtag-search
Take a look at each one and they give you some generic “trending” hashtags, plus you can often enter a “starter hashtag” and find its volume, plus related hashtags.
As you research Hashtags, be sure you’re clear about these three different concepts with respect to hashtags for your marketing efforts:
- Relevant Hashtags – any business has a “focus” as to what you sell, that your target customers want. Insurance companies sell insurance, dog toy companies sell dogs, and cat boarders sell a place to stash the cat. So look for relevant hashtags, trending or not, and like any keyword you have a trade off between volume and value. All that trending really means is that volume is accelerating, that is increasing over time. But you want something that is relevant!
- Popular Hashtags – some hashtags like #NYC or #Obamacare have a lot of volume, all the time 24/7. So these are just popular hashtags. It’s hard to chime in on a big hashtag like #motorcycles and be seen. So even if a hashtag has a lot of volume, doesn’t meant that you can do much with it. Often times, “riches are in the niches” even with respect to hashtags.
- Trending Hashtags – a trending hashtag – by definition – has accelerating volume. These are often related to news topics, or trending news. What’s cool about them – especially brand new trending hashtags – is that you can “jump on the bandwagon” early and hopefully be a “leader” with respect to a trending hashtag.
In summary, you want to research, find, and monitor hashtags that are a) relevant, b) popular, and c) trending with an eye to “chiming in” on these topics whether on Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, or even Facebook where you can “make a difference” when it comes to your marketing efforts.
