We’ve all done it. We’ve all blindly bundled together some mindless hashtags – some of which are incredibly tenuous – & posted them in content without thinking of their potential reach or their relevancy.
But this has to stop!
Not only for the poor buggers who stumble across our irrelevant post in their search results.
But also for ourselves & the success of our content.
Luckily for us, a member of our online community, Digital Stars, asked the question:
I’m looking for a great and free (!) tool to research what hashtags work best for an industry or topic – any ideas?”
Digital Stars Member
There seem to be a lot of options out there, but most of them operate as paid-for services.
Taking away that attractive, shiny *FREE* feature that we’re all looking for.
But there seem to be a few reliable, accurate, & free tools that you can use to find focused hashtags for your content!
Let’s take a look at them… 👀
All-Hashtag
Easy to use & 100% free
Something I really like about this hashtag tool is that the website is so easy to use!
Unlike many others, the lay-out is simple & straightforward, meaning that it takes a matter of seconds for you to gauge your whereabouts before starting your search!
The tools provided on the site are also 100% free, with the creator himself stating that All-Hashtag is:
[T]he smartest and best free website for hashtags”
All-Hashtag
Hashtag generator
The ‘Hashtag generator’ will give you the top 30 hashtags based on a single keyword.
Why 30?
Because Instagram has a limit of 30 hashtags per post.
👉 And herein lies the one limitation of this hashtag tool (for me) – it’s focus on hashtags for Instagram.
Don’t get me wrong, the focus on a single platform is great for businesses promoting on Instagram. But if you don’t, then this isn’t the tool for you! 👈
Here’s how it works…
My advice
I would advise against simply copying & pasting all 30 hashtags into your Instagram posts.
Not only because using all 30 of these hashtags could make you look spammy. But also, because not all 30 of them will actually be relevant to the post that you’ve published.
They’re still quite generic, so use this tool to gain ideas, then add specific hashtags to your content wisely.
Hashtag analytics
This site does have an analytics tool to help you measure the success of certain hashtags, but having done my own research with our brand hashtags (which we use regularly), I wouldn’t recommend relying on this for your hashtag research!
Have a view of the video below to see what I mean…
Instavast
Free & simple
Instavast’s hashtag generator tool is incredibly easy & quick to use making it completely hassle-free.
The hashtag generator tool
The tool automatically generates ‘Related’ & ‘Niche’ hashtags based on a keyword, a URL, or an image that you post into the search box.
It also indicates the popularity of all the hashtags it suggests, making it easy for you to pick & choose which ones you think would (a) be most relevant to your post, and (b) help your post have the greatest impact.
Not only this, but the search results also give you the option of heading over to Instagram.com and viewing that particular hashtag in the platform’s own search results.
For me, this helps qualify the legitimacy and the accuracy of the results on the site!
*big thumbs up*
Finally, you can copy and paste any hashtags you might want by selecting tick boxes next to each option – it’s so easy!
👉 It is worth pointing out that, yet again, this tool is reserved for sourcing hashtags for Instagram only.
So it might not be relevant to you & your digital promotions. 👈
Here’s how it works…
My advice
Again, I’d definitely advise against just selecting 30 hashtags & using them in your post.
Consider the relevancy of the hashtag – #digitalmarketingbrasil would not be relevant for any of Hypestar’s own Instagram posts.
It’s best practice to keep it to the point, & limit the number of hashtags that you use – rather than including 30 that you think will get you the most ‘Likes’.
Union Metrics Tools
Free tools
Union Metrics offers three free tools that you can use to help you digital marketing efforts.
But, only one of these tools actually gives you hashtag reports like the ones we’re looking for. So we’re going to focus on that.
Unlike the other free tools we’ve looked at above (that focus solely on delivering information about hashtags for Instagram) this tool is for your Twitter activity.
Twitter Snapshots
The tool doesn’t generate suggested hashtags for you, but lets you research the relevancy, the potential reach, and the type of posts being created with that particular hashtag.
It also shows you the most recent contributors who have used the hashtag, as well as the latest Tweets to include the #.
This can be incredibly powerful for anyone looking to get involved in industry-related conversations on Twitter – all the information you need is right here!
The tool will also keep your recent searches logged in a database of sorts so that you can access information about that hashtag’s or keyword’s Tweet-rate, Impressions, & Reach.
How cool is that?!
*clap clap clap*
👉 Access the Twitter Snapshots tool 👈
Here’s how it works…
Got any more suggestions for free hashtag tools?
Let us know in the comments below! 💬
