Hashtags can now be used on almost every well-known social network, but there are definite benefits of using them on some networks over others. In addition, there is a “best way” to make hashtags work for you on certain social media platforms. Keep reading to learn how to make the most of your hashtag usage.

Know the hashtag-to-engagement statistics: Many individuals are under the impression that adding more hashtags to their social content will immediately lead to an increase in engagement, but reality tells us differently. For both Twitter and Facebook, statistics show that the greater the number of hashtags (anything beyond two), the lower the consumer engagement. In contrast, Instagram garners an increase in consumer engagement when additional hashtags are used. It was shown that posts with nine or ten hashtags experienced the most engagement on their feed.

Hashtag tips for Twitter: On Twitter, hashtags are used to find conversations to get involved in or to start one of your own. It may benefit you to look at the “trending topic” hashtags of the day or week and include those in your posts, as they are the hashtags being heavily searched.

Hashtag tips for Instagram: On Instagram, hashtags are used to collect all photos with the same hashtag into one conjoined stream. A few quick tips for Instagram hashtags: use hashtags that are relevant to your posts, do not overuse a hashtag, and try to incorporate popular hashtags. Another tip would be to look at your most successful posts and see if there was a correlation between your hashtag usage and the success of your photo.

Hashtag tips for Facebook: Yes, contrary to popular belief, there are benefits to utilizing hashtags on Facebook. The truth is, hashtags on this site have a unique function. Hashtags are ideal for social listening, which is how brands know the terms their followers are talking about and the topics they’re interested in. If posts surrounding a certain hashtag perform well, that’s a signal to keep that topic in their content usage. Facebook hashtags also make posts more searchable by highlighting specific posts your followers might be interested in. It helps you get noticed in the sea of thousands of other posts that go out every day.

Although this is not a definitive list, we hope these tips help you increase your hashtag effectiveness on all of your future posts!