Real Estate Hashtags: How Many are Too Many?
How many hashtags is too many? Should you use all you can or stick to one or two? We will tell you how many hashtags for real estate you should use.
If you have a presence on social media marketing for Real Estate like many other agents, most probably you have come across hashtags and might have used them on your posts. There is a lot of debate on hashtags usage and its optimal number. Some suggest agents should use as many hashtags as the platform allows while others recommend agents use few relevant hashtags. They believe using too many hashtags can get the post flagged as spam. That may be right to some extend. But how many is too many? In this article, we will tell you how many real estate hashtags you should use on your social media posts.
The Double-edged Sword
Despite all the benefits hashtags for real estate offer, using them the wrong way will do more harm than good. Hashtags are used to increase your reach and allow users to find your content easily. However, if you use too many of them, your post will be considered spam. If you use too many hashtags chances are some of these hashtags will barely relate to the content you have shared and when people land on your content following a certain hashtag, they will be disappointed to see content that is not even related.
The More, The Merrier?
Everything in life should be taken in moderation, even hashtags. People think the more hashtags they use the more chance they have of being seen. They are wrong. Here is why:
What is the point?
Each piece of content you share has a single message. Hashtags help people find the content by following certain tags that relate to your post. When you use too many of them, these tags will be barely related to each other, and also people will find your post desperate for attention and trying to get views by any means. Hashtags need to be united around the topic and the message of the content.
Too many: Spam
Spam can be defined as something that you have not asked for. When using too many hashtags you might attract attention that your content is no good for. and that is when your post becomes spam. Yes, you need attention, but not any kind of attention. You need the attention that will help the audience, not you.
Strategy anyone?
Maxing out on hashtags has other drawbacks apart from the points above. Hashtags are assets on social media that need to be used properly. And to do so, you need to have a strategy to target specific keywords for a certain audience. Where is the strategy in using 30 hashtags on Instagram? what and who are you targeting? I bet you have no idea.
Harder tracking
Hashtags are not just for show. Just like any other aspect of social media you need to track your hashtags and see which ones perform better which ones don’t. When you use too many hashtags, it will be harder to track them and decide what is working. on the other hand, using a few targeted tags will enable you to track the performance of your posts easier.
Limited Characters
On some platforms like Twitter, hashtags are counted in the character limit for each post. Therefore, you cant just use as many hashtags as you wish. That’s why most of the Tweets include one or two tags. Even if you are not bound to a certain number of characters, using many hashtags will make your post look weird as they will be seen in the post. There are some ways to hide the tags but they are still there.
So How Many Hashtags Should You Be Using for Real Estate?
Now that you know using many hashtags is wrong, let’s see how many hashtags you should actually be using across different platforms. But there is no magic number and it varies based on the platform and also your content. Here are some basic guidelines:
Instagram allows users to use up to 30 hashtags on their posts and in fact, it is where hashtags are mainly overused. We see a lot of posts sporting 30 hashtags most of which are not even related. Many people go for popular hashtags like #love even though those are not related to their business and their content. Instagram allows people to follow hashtags just like they would follow people.
However, Instagram can benefit from more hashtags compared to other platforms. While we suggest agents stay away from 30 tags, they can benefit from a handful of related tags on Instagram to improve their reach and also increase awareness of their brand.
In short, do not use hashtags on Facebook. In fact, a study by BuzzSumo found that posts without hashtags perform better than those including hashtags. Since Facebook is an awesome platform for B2C businesses, you do not want to ruin your chances of getting exposure and engagement by using too many hashtags. Stick to the content you share on Facebook and if you have to use hashtags, use as few as possible.
Hashtags were first used on Twitter and we have to thank the platform for that. However, Twitter counts hashtags in the character limit it has. Therefore you can’t use many of them and in fact, need to be very picky about the hashtags you use. Unlike other platforms hashtags become trends and many people use certain tags all at once. You can use this feature to your own advantage if the tags relate to your business.
YouTube
YouTube, the video version of Google, uses its solid search engine and people can find any video they want with ease. That is why hashtags are not very popular on YouTube. However, the tags you use on YouTube will be clickable and we recommend that agents use a few tags in their video description although the platform allows a maximum of 15.
Real Estate Hashtags: How Many are Too Many?
We now know that using too many hashtags is bad for your business both on the platform and among your followers. They will make you look spammy and desperate for attention. A few related hashtags that tightly relate to your business are a better choice. However, regardless of the number of tags, you will use, the quality of the tags matter. you need to use them strategically and make sure they represent the content you share well and help people find them easier.
