I must admit that I am no expert when it comes to hashtagging, online personal branding, or social media for that matter (heck, I only just joined Twitter and Instagram this year). But this course has forced me to hop on that train and learn, because the reality is: This is the digital era, and social is a vital part of it. If you are not connected online, your business is missing out on a lot of opportunity. So perhaps this post is more of a beginner’s guide for myself, and hey, reader, maybe it’ll help you too!

I came across an interesting article that studied engagement levels of hashtagging on Twitter and Instagram. Turns out, more hashtags on Twitter don’t necessarily mean more engagement. In fact, Tweets that did not include hashtags actually outperformed those that did. For Instagram, the story is a little bit different. Posts that yielded the highest engagement score (3.03) used exactly 3 hashtags. Posts that used zero hashtags were barely behind, with an engagement score of 3.02.

So what have I learned? Don’t spam hashtags, because engagement rates do drop off (for Instagram, after about 3 hashtags)! When you choose to hashtag, make sure they are relevant, and avoid spammy behaviour that will make viewers avert their eyes. Practice quality tweeting and caption-writing, because those are what will ultimately capture and retain customer engagement.

Main article: http://www.adweek.com/socialtimes/locowise-hashtags-engagement-twitter-instagram/629995