Do Hashtags Work on Facebook?

Many of us wonder if hashtags work on Facebook.

Facebook is the biggest social networking platform, with 2.7 billion active monthly users. Despite that, it’s not one of the first social platforms that pop up when discussing hashtags.

Hashtags on Facebook were introduced back in 2013, but it remains one of the untapped resources. People are still unaware of whether and how they work.

If you want a direct answer to your question — do hashtags work on Facebook?

It’s a yes.

Hashtags do work on Facebook if you implement them the right way.

They work similarly on Facebook as they do on Instagram — users can enter a hashtag in the search bar and discover topics, posts they want to learn about. Or, they can click one to find more content on the related term.

Here’s an example:

When we searched for #veganrecipes, Facebook returned the search result with a feed of posts that contain this particular hashtag.

Should You Use Hashtags on Facebook?

If you’ve spotted a sudden rise of hashtags in Facebook posts, you might naturally ask whether you should use them too.

According to a Facebook blog:

Hashtags turn topics and phrases into clickable links in posts on your profile or Page. When people click a hashtag or search for a hashtag, they'll see results that contain the hashtag so they can learn more about topics that interest them.

You can use them in profile or page description, images, videos, articles, and posts.

Here are three reasons to use hashtags across posts and campaigns:

1. Increase Search Discoverability

When you’re adding hashtags to your content, you’re potentially increasing the chances of Facebook recommending your content to searchers who’re looking to explore further.

Simply put, by labeling your posts using hashtags, you can categorize content and make them discoverable organically.

This is what hashtag search results look like on Facebook. As we entered #nachochips, Facebook’s algorithms quickly identified content matching the hashtag and made them visible to us.

Now we can even scroll further down to explore more if we want to. The same thing applies to other users.

2. Boost User Engagement

Encourage your followers to engage with you by using unique hashtags. Here’s an example to inspire you:

What Coca-Cola terms “Project Connect” is today’s massively popular and successful “Share a Coke” campaign.

Coca-Cola encouraged and inspired users across social channels to use their hashtag #shareacoke along with an image and description. This campaign has since garnered over 1 billion impressions, shares, mentions, and user engagement. Moreover, this campaign helped Coca-Cola increase sales.

And as you can see from the image below, Coca-Cola lovers worldwide continue to publish content using their hashtag #shareacoke.

Taking cues from Coca-Cola, you can also start a conversation with your audience around a topic and encourage them to join you by using branded and campaign hashtags on Facebook.

3. Bolster Campaigns Across Social Channels

If you’re promoting hashtags in campaigns through other channels like Instagram and Twitter, you can amplify them by including hashtags in your Facebook posts too.

As you can see from the example, Coca-Cola didn’t limit its “Share a Coke” campaign to Twitter or Instagram; it included Facebook too.

This post is a testimony to that.

By doing this, their marketing team was able to target more users and bolster its brand presence.

Hopefully, now you’re convinced that there are good reasons to use hashtags on Facebook. So be an early adopter of the best practices and reach your marketing goals faster! 

Unlike Instagram, where people are used to seeing several hashtags in a single post, it might not be a good idea to add more than 5-7 hashtags on a Facebook post. Keep them relevant, short, and sweet. 

And most importantly, don’t forget to test different ways to use hashtags on Facebook and monitor their performance. This way, you’ll have a better understanding of what’s working and not working and shift your Facebook hashtag strategy accordingly.