Hashtags are great to use on social media to increase a brand’s online reach and engagement.
A post with at least one Instagram hashtag averages 12.6% more engagement than posts without a hashtag.
To make your hashtags work harder for you, you need to do a bit of research to ensure the ones you’ve selected are right for you. How do you do this? Through a little hashtag research of course! Here are 5 free hashtag analytic tools you need right now.
1. Keyword Tool
There is a growing number of people that follow different hashtags on Instagram. The easiest way to get in front of them is to add relevant hashtags to your posts and stories. Depending on your requirements, you can use Keyword Tool to generate a list of popular and trending long-tail Instagram hashtags. All you need to do is enter a word related to the topic of your post into the search box and press enter. You’ll then see a list of hashtags that you can use for your posts or stories.
In addition to the hashtags suggestions, Keyword Tool will show you the number of posts that Instagram has for every hashtag.
If you want to find only popular or trending Instagram hashtags, you can use “Filter Results” from the drop-down menu to get Keyword Tool to show you hashtags that have a particular number of posts. By using filters, you can choose either the most or the least popular hashtags depending on your needs.
2. Hashtagify
Hashtagify will give you all the information that you need to know about how your brand hashtags are being used– including the top influencers that are using them. This tool will also show you a stream of posts using the hashtag and the hashtag’s usage patterns.
A personal fave: The tool will display the times of day your hashtag is most used, along with information about how it performs over time and projections for how it will be used in the coming week. Hashtagify will even show you common variations of the hashtag of your choice.
3. RiteTag
If you’re choosing or creating a branded hashtag, RiteTag will show you relevant hashtags, along with information about reach, exposure, and retweets. This tool allows you to get instant feedback on your hashtags and get recommendations on the hashtags not to use. You can get analytics on any hashtag that you are following, not just the ones that you’re actively using. #winwin
4. Keyhole
Keyhole lets you track Instagram, Facebook and Twitter hashtags in real-time. This hash-tracking tool will tell you the number of posts that contain your hashtag within a specific time period, how many users are using it, each post’s reach and the number of impressions.
Keyhole lets you run a test search on its home page and offers a free trial, after which it has multiple paid plans.
5. TweetReach
TweetReach’s free plan lets you access 100 free “snapshots” that give you a quick hashtag analysis. The tool gives you your top hashtag’s estimated reach, impressions, and contributors. TweetReach’s paid versions will also give you analytics on Instagram and Facebook in addition to Twitter.
Happy researching! Remember, we’re here to help you with your social media strategy. If you’re #stuck, contact us for a free quote.