Welcome to the second part of our guide to the best practices for using hashtags on social media. In Part 1, we explored how hashtags can be used by international schools and agencies on Facebook and LinkedIn. Here, we move on to two other key social media platforms – Instagram and TikTok.

Using hashtags on Instagram 

Instagram is perhaps the most hashtag-centric platform of all, allowing you to use up to 30 hashtags per post. Although you probably won’t need to use that many, it’s good to know what’s acceptable, so you can experiment. To increase your reach and engagement on Instagram, try using a mix of well-known, moderately popular, and niche hashtags to attract different layers of your target audience. The search box is a great place to discover which hashtags your competitors are using, as well as those used by influencers in your field. What’s more, since Instagram is the best platform for multiple hashtags, try using a wide variety in your posts, stories, reels and comments in order to reach the widest audience possible.

Using hashtags on TikTok

TikTok, the hub of viral content, thrives on hashtags for content discovery. The platform's algorithm favours posts with trending and specific hashtags. The limit for captions on TikTok is 4,000 characters, so there’s plenty of room for experimentation. Similar to Instagram, ideally you should use a combination of popular and niche hashtags to get the most reach. Just be aware that with TikTok being a relatively new platform, hashtags change frequently, so keep an eye out for current trends on the ‘Discover’ page. 

As we’ve learnt in this guide, hashtags are great tools for enhancing your business’ reach on social media, but their effectiveness lies in how well they are tailored to each platform's specific audience and algorithm. Remember, the key is to stay relevant, be strategic, and keep evolving with the trends!

Written by Stephanie Clark