The importance of hashtags – Social Media for Dentists
A hashtag is a hash symbol that is used within a message to recognise a subject or keyword which many others may be talking about. They are mainly used to search for other posts which are using the same hashtag. Hashtags on Instagram work by collating photo and video content.
When talking about hashtags on Instagram, there are usually two sides of the situation. Some people that use Instagram dislike them and steer away from using them, however, the other half absolutely love them, some people even going crazy when using them!
You may be wondering why you should be using hashtags on Instagram? Posts with at least one hashtag have roughly 13% more engagement on Instagram compared to posts that have not used a hashtag. 7 out of 10 hashtags that are used on Instagram are branded which means they are unique to a specific business or marketing campaign. A lot of the time, they use the company name, the product being advertised or company tagline.
There are many places you can use hashtags, including posts, comments, bios and stories. You are allowed to use up to 30 hashtags in a single post, however, this is considering overdoing it. A recent study on the subject suggests that the optimal number of hashtags to use is 11, however, the rules on Instagram are always changing.
Recently, Instagram rolled out a new function where you are able to follow hashtags which allow users to look at posts using certain hashtags in a different way. Rather than searching for a hashtag, users are able to follow them where they can scroll through their own feed and see some of the posts using the same hashtag. Saying this, Instagram’s algorithm has always preferred certain hashtags over others and some are more relevant than others.
If you are interested in social media for dentists, there are many hashtags that you could use which are dentistry related, however we have found that the top 10 hashtags to use are #Dentistry, #Dental, #Teeth, #DentalImplant, #Invisalign, #Braces, #Smile, #TeethWhitening, #PearlyWhites and #Veneers. These hashtags can be topped off with a branded hashtag that is related to your dental practice.