When it comes to marketing your business and your images on social media, hashtags are the key to the visibility of your content and can be an essential factor in building brand awareness across multiple platforms. Hashtags also allow you to search and start conversations, as well as attract new followers.

Here at Parrot Print, we’ve got all the information you need to know to help you use hashtags effectively on Twitter and Instagram. So, prepare yourself because after reading this post, your presence on social media will never be the same again!

Twitter tags to tap into

Welcome to the world of Twitter, where the hashtag was born. Hashtags are a great search tool that you can use to find people who have similar interests or clients who are searching for your kind of services.

If you’re just starting out on Twitter we suggest clicking onto the search bar where you can see the top 20 hashtags that are trending throughout the day. Whether you see one that’s of interest to your brand or yourself, get involved. Start a conversation or voice your opinion, this will only increase your social activity and attract more followers. But don’t be tempted to use the hashtag where it’s not relevant.

In addition to general hashtags, there are also dedicated industry hashtags, daily hashtags and hourly hashtags. When you’re promoting your photography or canvas prints, we suggest finding the hashtags that suit you best and use them in every tweet. To ensure you’re using the correct hashtags, NW Design has a database of UK-based Twitter networking hashtags.

When it comes to using industry hashtags, daily hashtags and hourly hashtags, the hashtag itself will normally have its own Twitter account. If you use these particular hashtags the account holder will usually retweet you, which will result in your tweet reaching a much wider audience.

To entice your followers to stop, stare and interact with your tweet among their feed, make sure you add a photo. Use a striking image that showcases your talents or an image of a photo canvas that you’re selling. Photographs have been repeatedly shown to increase click through rates.

There’s one more important factor you need to take into account, and that’s timing. Timing is everything on Twitter and according to Social Media Examiner, if you tweet between 8am and 7pm you’ll receive 30 per cent higher interaction. If you struggle to tweet during these hours because of work, then sign up to something like Tweetdeck or Hootsuite. These allow you to schedule updates in advance, just don’t forget to cancel them if they suddenly become irrelevant or controversial.

Insta-successful tagging

Right, you’ve captured a breathtakingly amazing image and now it’s time to share it with your followers, as well as every other Instagram user. According to Statista,
there are more than 500 million active Instagram users and every one of them could see your image if you used the correct hashtags. This is where Top Hashtag comes in.

Once you’ve entered a specific area or genre, you’ll find a huge selection of top hashtags. You’ll also receive an insight into how many people have uploaded a photo using that specific hashtag. Make sure to bookmark this site, as it will come in handy for finding hashtags for all kinds of photos.

If you want to include more than ten hashtags, click onto the microscope on the Instagram app. Here you’ll find a search bar - simply click on the ‘tags’ option and search away. Also don’t forget to add your location on every image too. This is another great technique that allows people, who are either in your geographical area or are searching for it, to see your photographs, which could result in more followers and likes.

What social media platform works better for you - Twitter or Instagram? Do you have a favourite hashtag? Please share them with us in the comments section; you never know, we may even find your images!