Hashtags can be a great way to boost your post’s visibility, but the ideal number of hashtags depends on the social media platform.

While you’re better off using fewer hashtags on Twitter, you’ll see more success using a lot of hashtags on Instagram.

Let’s first cover why you should be using hashtags in the first place.

Why You Should Use Hashtags

There are many benefits to using hashtags:

1. Expand Your Audience

Hashtags are a great way to expand your audience on your social media posts. When you post on a hashtag, any user who taps that hashtag on someone else’s post has a chance of seeing your post.

2. Engage Your Audience

You can also use branded hashtags to build a community. For example, sports teams use branded hashtags so their fans can easily find each other’s posts, and retail brands can encourage user-created content by getting them to post their merch on their branded hashtag.

3. Promote an Event

By encouraging people to post on an event hashtag, you can get your audience to promote your event for you while at the event (even if it’s virtual).

4. Measure Your Impact

If you post consistently with the same hashtag, or you ask your influencers to post with a specific hashtag, you can measure the impact of particular types of content or particular influencers.

Let’s cover the best number of hashtags, platform by platform.

Best Number of Hashtags to Use on Instagram

You can use up to 30 hashtags on a single Instagram post, but that’s a great way to come off as spammy.

Research shows that it is best to use between 9 to 11 hashtags on Instagram, as that’s the magic range that generates the most engagement. It’s a nice balance between using enough hashtags to get found, but not so many that you have a wall of hashtags.

Tip: Many accounts use a series of dots to add spacing below their post content and then bury their hashtags at the bottom so that they don’t distract from the message of the post.

Hashtags are most beneficial on Instagram. When you use a hashtag on Instagram, your post will appear on the page for that hashtag, and it also has a chance of appearing in the relevant hashtag Story.

People can also follow specific hashtags on Instagram, so it can be a great way of getting your content in people’s feeds.

Best Number of Hashtags to Use on Twitter

Even though hashtags originated on Twitter, they’re more of a detriment to your Tweets.

The same research shows that using 1 to 2 hashtags generates far more engagement than 3 or more.

Twitter makes it easy to follow trending topics without hashtags, so tweets containing lots of hashtags are typically treated as spam (and often are).

Best Number of Hashtags to Use on Facebook

Hashtags never gained popularity on Facebook in the same way as many other social platforms—likely because most people get their Facebook content from friends and pages.

In fact, studies have shown that Facebook posts without hashtags perform better than those that do use them.

If you do need to use a hashtag—to promote an event for example—studies have shown that it’s best to limit your Facebook posts to 1 hashtag (if you use any at all).

Track Your Hashtags

Tools like Sprout Social makes it easy to accurately capture hashtag analytics in real time. By tracking your hashtag analytics, you can see what’s working, track which influencers have the biggest impact, and calculate the ROI of your hashtag campaigns.