How Many Hashtags to Use on Social Media in 2023

Hashtags have been around for more than a decade, in fact, hashtags were invented in 2007. The term ‘#hashtag’ was first used by Chris Messina, an American product designer on Twitter. The idea stemmed from chat rooms and separating each group using the # symbol. 

Now many people either utilize hashtags immensely on their platforms or do not see the reason for them at all. In this blog, we are not only going to discuss the benefits of using hashtags, but we are also going to discuss how many hashtags are the sweet spot for each platform. 

Benefits of Using Hashtags 

There are several benefits of using hashtags on your social media platforms. Let’s discuss some key benefits: 

Increase Organic Reach 

Using hashtags can help your post reach a wider audience, even those who do not follow you. Hashtags help put your posts into specific categories to get your posts in front of the correct audience. 

Brand Recognition 

Creating branded hashtags for your specific brand such as a slogan, product, or business name is a great way to increase brand awareness. The three best ways branded hashtags can help your brand awareness are: 

• Organize your posts in one place – using the same hashtags on your posts regarding the same topic will all be found in one place when searched. See an example below: 

• Measure your campaign success – by using hashtags, you can monitor the success of your posts by the use of branded hashtags and compare them to non-branded hashtags. Learn more about measuring hashtags at the button below: 

• UGC content – by creating branded hashtags you can see all of your user-generated content who use your branded hashtags so you can be sure to engage with these posts. 
• SEO recognition – hashtags can also serve as keywords to make it easier for your content/profile to be found

Join Trends and Conversations 

By finding hashtags having to do with your industry, you can join in on trends other brands or competitors are participating in as well as join in on conversations having to do with your industry. 

By participating in trends that make sense for your brand as well as using those trending hashtags, have the opportunity to put your content in front of a wider audience. 

By joining in on conversations you can answer people’s questions, help them with their pain points, and market your products or services to the right audience. 

Raise Awareness 

Using a specific hashtag to market an event or topic can help spread awareness in a quick and effective way. You and the community can use one hashtag and spread awareness of a specific event or topic via social media. 

How Many Hashtags to Use on Social Media

The amount of hashtags differs when it comes from platform to platform. Below we will dive into how many hashtags are most effective for each social media platform.

How Many Hashtags to Use on Instagram 

Instagram allows users to use up to 30 hashtags, but Instagram recommends using only 3-5 hashtags per post. The 3-5 hashtags are usually placed at the end of your caption, but if you want to use more, placing them into the first comment instead of the caption could be useful as well. 

With Metricool, you can also see your top-performing hashtags on Instagram in our Analytics section. You just have to go to the Instagram analytics section of your Metricool account and scroll down to hashtags. 

How Many Hashtags to Use on TikTok 

On TikTok, it is also recommended to use 3-5 hashtags as well. It is important to mix in hashtags regarding your brand, niche, and trending hashtags. For example, if you are a social media marketing company you could use #metricoolers, #marketingteams, and #socialmediamarketingtips. 

How Many Hashtags to Use on YouTube 

The number of hashtags on YouTube is very important. YouTube will ignore all of your hashtags if you use over 15. So the sweet spot of hashtags on YouTube is just 1-2. It is best if you add 1-2 hashtags to the video description. 

Using location-based hashtags, niche hashtags, and trending hashtags will be best for your YouTube strategy. It is also important to note that you must follow YouTube’s Hashtag Guidelines. 

How Many Hashtags to Use on Facebook 

You could use as many hashtags as you want on Facebook but it is actually recommended to use 0 to 3 hashtags per post. Overusing hashtags on all social media apps comes off as spammy and too salesy, especially to viewers on Facebook. 

As you can see in our example below, we did not use any hashtags: 

How many Hashtags to Use on Twitter (X)

Twitter recommends using very clear and concise hashtags and to also use them consistently. Making them clear and using them consistently increases awareness and makes it easier for users to use the hashtags on their own. Twitter recommends using 2 hashtags per post. 

A good practice to find hashtags would be to type a hashtagged keyword in the search bar to discover content and accounts based on your interests.

Metricool Hashtag Generator 

To make your life easier, we highly recommend creating a free Metricool account and taking advantage of our Hashtag Generator for TikTok and Instagram. A hashtag generator is a tool external to the social network to provide you with the most popular tags that you can use for your content. 

To use the hashtag generator, just: 

• Head to the Planning page and click on Create a New post 
• Once you have written your post and added your content click the # icon among the icons at the bottom
• Type in your topic or industry
• View the hashtags usage count, and choose among the populated hashtags

Now all you have to do is sign up for your free Metricool account by clicking the button below: 

sophie , 28 November 2023