How To Use Top Hashtags To Find Paid Social Media Keywords

In digital marketing, we all know the importance of content and keywords, right? But there’s something that can get left out of the conversation.

Any ideas? Okay, I’ll tell you.

I’m talking about using the top hashtags to find paid social media keywords.

Keywords unlock connections to your target market—people looking for what you’re trying to sell.

When setting up paid social media campaigns, keywords can help you make those critical connections and ensure your campaign’s success.

Knowing which keywords to use throughout your campaign copy can be tricky. You might miss the mark and your audience if you’re unsure which ones are right.

The top hashtags can be the source of inspiration that gets your paid social media campaigns off the ground.

Want to learn more? Then let’s discuss how to find the top and best hashtags for social media.

The Importance of Hashtags in Paid Social Media Strategy

Why are the top hashtags important for inspiration and keyword ideas? Because they can provide a lot of information if you know how to find it.

Here are the questions you should ask when looking for the top hashtags:

• What are people talking about?
• What’s the demand for a particular product or service?
• Is there a rise in interest? Or is the trend on the decline?
• Who is using those hashtags?
• What’s the context of those conversations?

When you find the top hashtags, they provide relevant insights into the conversations happening around a topic. Their power is in the data you can mine from real-life, real-time sources.

Finding common hashtags can also lead to related hashtags and keywords; as you dig deeper, you may see patterns you can include in your campaigns.

Specifically, look out for:

• New or up-and-coming hashtags
• Hashtags used by other relevant target markets
• Questions or concerns people are expressing
• Phrases in the associated content that come up often

You can also use paid hashtags for your paid social media strategy. I’ll move on to that next.

How to Use Trending Hashtags for Your Paid Social Media Campaigns

First, you must find the top hashtags. Begin with what’s trending in your industry and go from there. There are also several hashtag checker tools you can use. I’ll round up a few later.

As you dive in, explore the content surrounding the hashtags.

How do you use the information you found? For inspiration. The hashtags, phrases, and keywords you find can inform your paid social media campaigns in the following ways:

• For text: What you’ve learned can be a launching point for your ad’s language. Look at the posts’ content in addition to the hashtags, and incorporate the language your target market uses. Knowing how people talk about things can teach you how to best speak to the pain points they face and the solutions they love.
• For images: What kinds of images are those top hashtags often associated with? Whether you plan to use a stock image in your ad or create your own, let what you find attached to hashtags help determine the images you use. You may even find a meme to use, making your social media ad more engaging.
• For target audiences: Use the hashtag research to inform the parameters of your social ad reach. Who is using these hashtags? Where do they live? How old are they? What else are they interested in? These stats can help you narrow the ad reach to your target audience.
• For sponsored post research: In addition to increasing the relevance of your paid social strategy, hashtags may also help pinpoint a recent post to put cash behind. Experiment with different top hashtags in your posts on each social platform. Those hashtags may help your posts perform well organically, and then you can use them as part of your paid social media strategy.

Finally, monitor and analyze the top hashtags. How are they performing? And how are others engaging with them? For example, is your chosen hashtag getting a lot of impressions? How many are using it in their posts? Is it getting likes, shares, and clicks?

Using TikTok Top Hashtags for Paid Ads

TikTok’s top hashtags are an effective way to reach a wider audience with your paid ads. Including these hashtags in your ad campaigns increases your visibility and engagement, leading to more clicks and conversions.

When selecting hashtags for your TikTok ads, target a specific audience. Like other platforms, that means choosing relevant hashtags that resonate with your ideal customers. You’ll want to look at current trends too.

Add some trending keywords to optimize engagement and create eye-catching, engaging content to captivate TikTok users. You can include some high-quality images, videos, and music to achieve this. Sounds are vital, too, as research shows 93 percent of TikTok users spend time on the platform with the sound on.

Additionally, track and analyze the performance of your TikTok ads campaigns. You can then use this data to enhance your future hashtags.

You can also learn a lot from the hashtags others are using. Search through the hashtags, and you’ve got a ton of consumer insights and competitive analysis at your fingertips.

Using Facebook Top Hashtags for Paid Ads

Let’s start with Facebook, one of the most popular platforms for online marketing.

With almost three billion users per month, some significant data is out there for finding the top hashtags on Facebook.

You are probably only connected with only a few people, but don’t let that stop you. You can choose who sees your Facebook ads:

However, before creating the ad, you must find the right words to get the most visibility. This is where Facebook hashtags come into play.

A quick search for #tacos on Facebook shows some drool-worthy meals from strangers worldwide who made their posts public and from brand pages. You do this from your search bar.

That list shows you what words most commonly follow that hashtag. Additionally, when you submit the Facebook hashtag you’re searching for, Facebook shows you how many posts there are about that topic.

When you type in the hashtag that interests you, Facebook also auto-fills other hashtag options to explore.

You can also explore Facebook bookmarks, including local events, crisis response, or other timely topics. These can provide insights into why a topic is among the top hashtags on Facebook.

Using Instagram Top Hashtags for Paid Ads

Instagram is a hashtag-heavy environment, making it ideal for top hashtag research.

Adding hashtags is vital for Instagram marketing, too. According to stats, posts with one hashtag get 12.6 percent more engagement. Posts with 11 or more hashtags get 80 percent more interaction.

Much like on Facebook, you can start by typing your hashtag ideas into the search bar to find the top hashtags on Instagram. You’ll also see auto-fill suggestions showing how popular those hashtags are by the number of people using them.

Instagram Explore

Do you want some more top hashtags? Then head to Instagram’s “Explore” section to see top posts related to content you have interacted with previously. You may discover new or emerging hashtags that you didn’t know about.

Now is an excellent time to stop and talk about how hashtags sometimes don’t translate directly into keywords and phrases for your paid social media strategy. You may have to convert from a succinct hashtag to a robust, natural way of talking. Here are a few tips for doing that:

• Listen to What Influencers are Saying With Those Hashtags: Find influencers and take some time to watch the video posts and Instagram stories associated with the hashtags you’re researching. Hear how they talk about the subject. What are some key phrases that come up often?
• Read and Take Some Notes About What the Hashtags are Saying: Turn off the videos and read the content. What are they using those character counts to say? This is where you can learn about crucial phrases everyone uses and the meat behind the hashtag topics you are researching. For instance, a top hashtag may be “#cleanbeauty,” but it’s not guaranteed to be about skin cleanliness—it could be about toxicity in beauty products, congressional oversight, regulations in the industry, or how to know what’s safe for your family’s skin. Learning about the issues and conversations behind the topics can help you frame paid social media content in a usable way.
• Talk Out Loud Using the Instagram Hashtags: Hopefully, you’re working alone because this could get a little awkward: It’s time to start talking to yourself. Go ahead. As you’re writing down ideas we discussed earlier and starting to craft your social media ad content, actually saying it out loud may help disconnect you from “internet speak” and get you into using a more natural tone.

Now you know how to find the top hashtags on Instagram, let’s move on to X (Twitter).

Using X (Twitter) Top Hashtags for Paid Ads

If you’re using X (formerly Twitter) on your mobile device, you can hit the magnifying glass icon at the bottom of your screen to see what’s trending. If you’re on your desktop, hit “#Explore” on the left side of the screen, then click “Trending” to see currently popular hashtags.

You can see what topics X thinks are important now based on its editorial board and algorithms, and how many posts (formerly tweets) are using those hashtags. Keep in mind some of these are promoted hashtags, which X is putting an end to.

To learn more, click “Show More” or the “Explore” section on the desktop layout to learn more about these topics and find more currently in use.

You may need to dig deep to find relevant niche hashtags. Check out those hashtags when you see a conversation or post around topics pertinent to your industry.

Also, don’t be afraid to see a spark of inspiration, such as a new hashtag that’s just starting to catch fire, and get on board that topic before it becomes a wildfire.

That’s how to use hashtags for Twitter (X) marketing; let’s discuss LinkedIn next.

Using LinkedIn Top Hashtags for Paid Ads

Where do you find the top LinkedIn for paid ads? There are a couple of different ways to start your research for the top hashtags on LinkedIn.

You can look up top hashtags in the search bar, just as you do on other social media platforms:

As you can see, like other social media sites, LinkedIn auto-recommends other options.

When you choose a hashtag, LinkedIn shows how many people are currently following that hashtag. This data can help you understand how many people may see your posts incorporating that hashtag. You will also see top posts with that top hashtag.

When you follow a hashtag you’re interested in, you can click on the three dots on the right of your followed hashtags and choose “Discover new hashtags.

Now you’ll see all kinds of top hashtags to inspire you.

If you want to skip those steps and start exploring, go straight to LinkedIn’s Follow Fresh Perspectives tab to see the top hashtags, accounts, and companies LinkedIn recommends.

Context Is Key When It Comes to Using LinkedIn

One of the most important things to remember about LinkedIn is it’s not like any other social media platform. It’s more of a professional networking site and works better if you’re a B2B business wanting to share industry insights and grow your brand.

Additionally, you can use LinkedIn to “show off” your expertise. When you’re posting content, the golden rule for LinkedIn is to focus on creating content relevant to your niche and your ideal customers.