Hashtag analytics: Your complete guide to tracking hashtag performance

Hashtags are imperative for social media platforms. Whether you use Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, etc., each gives hashtags enough weightage, though they have their own criteria.

Also, it doesn’t matter if it is for business purposes or using as content creators. Almost everyone uses hashtags.

Hashtags can indeed yield enough social media success. But how exactly do you measure how they are performing?

Like any metrics you look into to ascertain which hashtags are performing comparatively better.

This is like having an analytical understanding of your hashtag performance.

In this guide, let’s see how you can track the performance of your social media hashtags.

Understand the importance of hashtags

The first step is to understand the importance of hashtags. You use them in almost every post, but what is its purpose? Hashtags actually increase your reach. And this reach is not random but relevant and meaningful.

Usually, people follow keyword hashtags for topics or things they are interested in. So, when there is anything relevant to that anywhere on social media, it possibly becomes visible to them.

That means you can appear in their feeds using hashtags if you have any product, service, or content they are keen to know.

Because they are already interested, they can engage more likely, making hashtags a great tool for both reach and engagement.

Read also: Are you using banned hashtags? Here is how to avoid them!

Key metrics to track

Knowing what hashtags can be used for social media growth, you use them. But how would you exactly know if they are performing as you intended?

Like there has to be any metrics that you need to track to ascertain their overall contribution to your social presence.

Here are some

Reach: This is how many people saw your post through hashtags.

Engagements: How many people interacted with your post through hashtags, e.g. liked, commented, shared your post, or engaged in any other way?

Followers: Did posting with hashtags help you gain some followers?

Mentions and UGC: If any user or your customer used your branded hashtags

Related article: Beyond Likes: Unveiling the Real Value of Social Media Engagement

Now, let’s talk about where to find this data exactly.

Suppose you are tracking Instagram hashtags. To see how many people your post reaches through them, you can check the insights of your hashtags for that particular post.

In the view Insight section, Instagram will show the exact number of people who saw your post and how many came from hashtags.

Moreover, you can use a third-party hashtag analytics tool like Keyhole or Later for detailed information.

Suppose you use Later to see the performance of your social media hashtags. To do so, simply attach your social media account (Instagram, in our case) to it. Then, go to the Analytics tab in the Dashboard and then to the Hashtags Analytics option.

Here, for each post, you will see the number of people engaged through hashtags.

Read also: Instagram Productivity Hacks That Actually Work

Track Branded Hashtags

If you are using any branded hashtags or any special campaign hashtags, you should track them as well. This will give an idea of how people are using them.

To do this, many social listening tools like Brand24. For any hashtags or keywords, such tools can fetch the overall scenario from all over the Internet, other social media blogs or any other online directory.

They can tell you about your overall brand, the mentions, what influencers talk about your brand, and how it is performing in the competitive area.

Read also: Is Your Social Media Strategy Falling Short? Avoid These Mistakes!

Now, the question is how to track hashtags effectively. Like is there any procedure for it?

So here are some steps

Select Relevant Hashtags:

First, figure out what hashtags you want to target: E.g. local hashtags, branded hashtags, niche hashtags, or those trending.

Set Goals:

Now that you know what hashtags you are targeting, clear your intent on what you want them to yield i.e. brand awareness, engagement or leads.

Monitor consistently:

After selecting the relevant hashtags based on the ROI intent, when you incorporate them in your social media post, tracking what and how much they are yielding becomes imperative.

Analyse and Adjust:

Upon tracking hashtags, if you find there are some hashtags performing not so well, you can swap them and retain those yielding enough of what you intended.

A/B Test:

To check which hashtags are good for your social media, you can A/B test different combinations to know which bring better reach, engagement or whatever your intent is.

That’s it

We hope that implementing the mentioned hashtag analytics tracking hacks helps you in your social media efforts so you can focus on meaningful engagements and better overall social media performance. In case you are looking for a social media marketing company to help with Instagram and other social platforms as well do give us a call at +91 901 276 4000 or check out social media marketing packages.