If you want massive growth on TikTok, your hashtag strategy must be on-point.
Hashtags are an incredibly powerful tool to expand your reach and escalate your TikTok account, but you need to know how to use them correctly to succeed.
Today we are going to cover exactly how to use hashtags on TikTok and explain the different approaches you can take to strategically implement tags on your content.
Apply these tips and tricks to your TikTok profile, and you will get massive reach and exposure by boosting your videos to the ‘For You’ page.
How TikTok Hashtags Work?
Hashtags on TikTok don’t work the same way they do on Instagram, Twitter, or other social media platforms.
On TikTok, hashtags categorize content to distribute it to certain people. Basically, tags on TikTok are a way to index content, and they also help the algorithm locate the appropriate audience for a video.
TikTok gives us creators hashtags to classify the primary ideas on our videos, and then distribute them to viewers who have already engaged with that sort of content.
In short: hashtags give the algorithm an idea of who may be interested in your video.
For this reason, hashtags can change the way your content is distributed on the ‘For You’ page: different tags will push your videos to different audiences, broader or narrower depending on the hashtags you use.
That’s why it’s so important to be mindful of your hashtag strategy: it can exponentially increase the reach of your content on the platform.
Because tags on TikTok work by delivering your content to specific audiences, you can use location-based hashtags if you want to reach audiences from specific places.
As we explain in this blog post about boosting your TikTok growth in 2021, the platform has a very geographical-based algorithm.
Which Hashtags Should I Use On TikTok?
Against the advice on hashtags for Instagram, on TikTok you want to use the most popular hashtags (those with the highest amount of views).
On Instagram, if you have a small account and use a highly popular hashtag, your content will probably get buried below thousands of other posts from popular accounts.
But on TikTok, popular hashtags will actually increase your reach and your ability to get more eyeballs to your content.
But remember: don’t only use hashtags in your videos. Always include a description, and make sure to locate it BEFORE hashtags.
Should I Repeat Hashtags?
You can repeat them for sure, but don’t simply copy and paste the same group of hashtags in each and every one of your videos.
The best option is to mix and match different hashtags for each video, according to the video’s main point or idea.
If your content is broader in nature, use broader hashtags as well.
Remember that getting too specific with hyper-niched hashtags and using them over and over again may shield you from reaching larger audiences on the platform.
How Many Hashtags Should I Use On TikTok?
As a rule of thumb, don’t exceed 6-7 tags.
Too many hashtags create a wall of text that obstructs almost half of the video. People automatically swipe down when they see a screen full of tags.
Hashtag spamming also take up great portion of the caption space and prevent you from crafting a good description.
Videos with 12+ hashtags also don’t get the same amount of views, neither reach the same amount of people that they could if they were fewer hashtags included.
That’s because, as we explained earlier, on TikTok a lot of tags will limit your reach and decrease your views (since your content will be showed to fewer people).
Types of Hashtags on TikTok
There are three types of tags, based on their level of popularity and reach: broad hashtags, featured or trending hashtags, and niche-specific hashtags.
Broad or ‘culture’ hashtags
Everybody knows them: these are the viral ones that have over 1B+ views and are being used by top-tier creators.
Trending or ‘featured’ hashtags
Featured tags are associated with specific trends or challenges (you usually find them on the ‘Discovery’ page). They change all the time and have a short life span, usually 2-4 new ones appear every day.
Niche-specific hashtags
The narrower of all tags, they are specifically related to what your profile is all about (for example: personal finances, gaming, entrepreneurship, nutrition, etc).
Either type of hashtag serves a mission and a purpose on the platform. There aren’t ‘better’ types of hashtags, and the ones you choose will depend on your content and profile.
3 Hashtag Strategies for TikTok
Choosing the top 3 recommended hashtags when you publish it’s NOT a strategy to succeed on the platform.
Do your research and find the best tags for each video you publish. Always test and improve.
Hashtag And Keyword Research
This is the most popular type of approach, and if you have a clearly defined niche or central idea to your profile or videos, it’s your best option.
Here is a framework for this hashtag strategy that works wonders:
- Browse keywords specific to your niche
Search keywords related to your niche on TikTok’s search bar and go to ‘Hashtags’.
- Compose a hashtag list
From those results, identify the most popular hashtags and arrange a list of 15-20 specific tags related to your niche.
- Explore related videos
Search the hashtags from your list and explore the videos related to them. For each video, take note of the hashtags they are using and the popularity of that video in particular.
We do this because in the first search some popular niche-specific hashtags won’t appear. When you search a keyword it will show you hashtags that contain that keyword, but not those that are related.
What are the most successful accounts in our niche, and what are they doing?
Of course, don’t use the exact tag group they used on their videos. But this is the best way to find new hashtags that maybe you weren’t aware of.
- Mix and match the hashtags you found on your content
And repeat this research often, because hashtags on TikTok change all the time.
Blend of Different Hashtag Types
This strategy consists of combining the three types of hashtags we discussed earlier (broad, featured, and niche-specific hashtags) in one video.
This allows you to introduce different audiences and increase the reach of your videos, providing you with a broad spectrum of attention on the platform.
Broad and trending hashtags will expand your reach and show your content to new audiences, while niche-specific hashtags will improve the engagement of your videos by showing them to people who are really invested in the niche.
A good rule of thumb is to include 1-2 hashtags from each category. You can also try 3 featured tags and 3 niche-specific tags.
Remember to use the top hashtag of each category (the ones with the most views).
Think in the aesthetic of your video and in terms of user experience: if people see a wall of hashtags they are going to swipe down quickly and you will lose their attention.
So, if the hashtags take too much space or are too long, use less of them.
No Hashtags
This strategy is commonly utilized to force TikTok’s algorithm to learn to what audiences show your content based on trial and error.
If there’s no hashtags, the algorithm will need to try your content on different demographics to see which types of viewers engage more with it.
Sometimes if you don’t give the platform enough information with hashtags, keywords, and captions, it will push it to try your content in audiences that you may not reach otherwise.
And always remember: hashtags don’t matter more than the type and quality of the content you’re creating, the watch time you get, and the number of people seeing your content.Hashtags are only an add-on to a really good video.
Conclusion
Try these strategies and play with them. If you post three times per day, use one different strategy each time. See what works best and keep doing that.
Remember the principles discussed in this post and you will exponentially improve your reach and growth on TikTok.
Hashtags are a very powerful tool to build your TikTok account. But if you need a little push and want quick growth, you can buy TikTok fans and likes.
They are 100% real and organic and will help you to kickstart your monetization journey on the platform.
Let’s continue the conversation in the comments below: Do you use hashtags? What is your current strategy, and how will you modify it after reading this article?
