​Hashtags are one of the most commonly queried elements of social media marketing, particularly amongst people simply starting out. And that makes sense - hashtags can be confusing as they're not words within a sentence, necessarily, simply topic matches that assist improve discoverability. Some people think tagging every give-and-take will help, because it'll mean your content volition show upward in more than conversations, simply that's a flawed theory. In order to maximize the performance of hashtags, y'all need to comport research in gild to develop an agreement of which tags are most relevant to your business organization, and which are most likely to connect with people looking for discussion related to your focus topics.

And that's just the beginning of your hashtag understanding.

Another fundamental chemical element you demand to consider is how hashtags are used on different platforms. There'south a heap of articles almost this, looking at how hashtags are used, and how you should apply them on each platform. And ane of the near common questions that comes up relates to their use on Facebook, specifically.

The confusion around hashtags on Facebook is that hashtags are active on the platform - unlike LinkedIn, where they're simply non clickable (which largely negates their functionality), Facebook has tried to make hashtags a part of their search and discovery procedure.

So should you utilize hashtags on your Facebook posts? Will they help you get more reach?

Here'south what we know.

Hashtag Evolution

Facebook introduced hashtags dorsum in 2013, post-obit their rising use and application on other platforms, well-nigh notably on Twitter.

Should You Use Hashtags on Facebook? Here's What the Research Says | Social Media TodayAt the time, Facebook was very keen to push their employ on the platform, even prompting Facebook advertisers, specifically, to include them.

"If you're already using hashtags in an advert campaign through other channels, you can amplify these campaigns by including your hashtags in Facebook advertising. The aforementioned artistic best practices on Facebook nonetheless employ - compelling copy and photography that is in the make voice works best."

This was besides around the same time that Facebook was looking to ramp up their on-platform search and discovery efforts through the introduction of Graph Search, an advanced search engine which aimed to change the way people used the platform by providing the option to apply semantic, or conversational, type queries.

And Graph Search was great - information technology was hugely benign for marketers as it enabled far more circuitous searches.

But you'll note I said 'was'.

Graph Search had various problems, most notably in terms of privacy. Yous run across, through Graph Search you could notice out a heap of data, a lot of which users weren't specially groovy on making public. People, of course, take, and always have had, the capacity to control what's made available via search, but the complexity of Facebook's various privacy settings meant many weren't as covered every bit they would like, and thus, the implementation of Graph Search lead to a lot of complaints.

Should You Use Hashtags on Facebook? Here's What the Research Says | Social Media Today

Tom Scott compiled a heap of questionable Graph Search queries which were subsequently reported on by various major outlets, sparking concerns about the and then new option

On summit of this, Graph Search queries didn't always work, something Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg admitted a year after launch. These problems delayed the rollout of the choice on mobile, and the combination of these factors subsequently de-railed the Graph Search project and saw it de-emphasized by Facebook. Late last year, Facebook introduced their alternative, an improved mobile search functionality which focuses more on auto-suggest matches than personal queries. You can still use some Graph Search queries, but because of the more private nature of Facebook's network, the option never actually fit.

The evolution of Facebook search is particularly relevant when examining how hashtags part on the network. When Facebook introduced hashtags, they were looking to open up the platform, to make everything more searchable and connect everyone based on all the information Facebook has on each person. Merely users didn't necessarily want that. While Twitter is, in the bulk, an open network, where everything you tweet is added into the wider, global conversation, Facebook's more private, more aimed at hosting discussions among your firsthand connections and networks.

And that's a crucial consideration when looking at hashtag effectiveness on the network.

Hashtags in Practice

Ane of the most comprehensive posts on hashtag use and recommendations is this one past Buffer'due south blogger extraordinaire Kevan Lee. Lee breaks down all the key, information-backed recommendations for hashtag use across all the major networks, including Facebook.

So what does the information conclude about hashtag use on The Social Network?

"Facebook posts without a hashtag fare amend than those with a hashtag."

And while Lee does recommend that people should test for themselves, rather than going on the research alone, that finding has been supported by diverse subsequent studies.

A 2016 report from BuzzSumo, which analyzed more than than a billion Facebook posts from over thirty million brand Pages, came to exactly the aforementioned conclusion - posts without hashtags generated more reach than those with tags added.

Should You Use Hashtags on Facebook? Here's What the Research Says | Social Media TodayGiven the sample size, that's pretty conclusive evidence, though there are other considerations to have into account.

As noted in inquiry past Socialbakers, the use of more hashtags leads to significantly less engagement on Facebook.

Should You Use Hashtags on Facebook? Here's What the Research Says | Social Media TodayAs there's no limit on how many tags you tin can utilize on Facebook, people, over time, take driveling them, adding them to every give-and-take and mention in the hopes of expanding their reach. That obviously makes the updates themselves harder to read and thus lowers engagement - if that were happening on a broad plenty calibration, that could cause a significant turn down in overall engagement with hashtagged posts on The Social Network, which could be a contributing factor in their overall lower response rates on the platform.

At that place's also the consideration of cross-posting - people (still) often link up their Twitter and Facebook accounts and cantankerous-mail service to the two, meaning any hashtags y'all've used in your tweet also come upwardly on your Facebook post. Which, over again, makes your Facebook posts less appealing and also reduces engagement.

Due to these factors, Buffer's advice is correct - the just truthful way to measure the performance of hashtags on Facebook, for you and your brand Page, is to carry your own tests. Just that said, the inquiry data pretty conclusively indicates they hashtags are not adding annihilation, and may fifty-fifty be hurting your reach.

In Exercise

So given this inquiry, what does this mean for actual, practical use of hashtags on Facebook?

Here'southward a quick example.

On Pinterest, hashtags are pretty much pointless considering Pinterest volition search for related items whether yous utilise a tag or not (Pinterest really recommends against using them).

For example, if y'all search for '#socialmedia' on Pinterest, you'll become results for '#socialmedia', 'socialmedia' and 'social media' all mixed in.

Should You Use Hashtags on Facebook? Here's What the Research Says | Social Media TodayThat's not the case on Facebook - here I've searched for '#running'.

Should You Use Hashtags on Facebook? Here's What the Research Says | Social Media TodayAnd and then I've searched for 'running' without the tag.

Should You Use Hashtags on Facebook? Here's What the Research Says | Social Media TodayEqually you lot can see, the results are a lot unlike. In this sense, Facebook tags exercise take a specific purpose, but maybe users just aren't as actively searching for them, which so leads to their decreased performance.

Information technology's worth noting, besides, that Facebook is currently facilitating more than than 1.5 billion searches on their platform every mean solar day, then there's definitely search activity in that location. If people were looking for relevant info, there's a expert chance they are clicking on hashtags and seeing what's available.

So what's the answer? As noted, the enquiry say no, don't use hashtags on Facebook. But then again, the system is built to accommodate their use. Because of this, the existent answer, for you, likely comes downward to your specific audience and how attuned they are to hashtag use.

In an practiced round-upward post on Post Planner, Franscisco Rosales of Social Mouths came upwards with a skilful summary of constructive hashtag use on Facebook:

" I think they tin be useful in very specific cases similar an event or a promotion, with the proper support of other media, but I'm non certain it'due south moving the needle when information technology comes to regular content."

So if a hashtag is already widely associated with the topic, then it could help heave your accomplish on Facebook by linking upwards with that conversation - you can run across examples of this in Facebook'due south 'Trending News' section, where some conversations are linked to trending tags.

Should You Use Hashtags on Facebook? Here's What the Research Says | Social Media TodayToo, if you lot're looking to button a brand hashtag, it may help to generate more sensation of your tag if you use it in association with your Facebook posts also. Only the key rules of thumb would be:

  • Don't use more than than two tags per post
  • Always exist testing and watching your analytics.

If you do some A/B tests and find your Facebook audition doesn't respond well to hashtags, stop using them. If you lot run into your achieve dropping as a result of adding tags in, cut them out. But if you put a couple of tags on and accomplish and date goes up - that's a win.

Ideally, in the 'Top Sources' department within 'Folio Views' on your Facebook Insights listing, y'all'd be able to get a list of keywords that people had used to search and connect to your site on the platform, but that's currently not available.

As such, it's downwardly to your own testing to meet what you find out. As always, while the generic data indicates one thing - that hashtags are not overly useful - private results, equally they say, may vary. Conduct your ain experiments and come across what works for you.