A YouTube tutorial by Patrick Biddiscombe explaining five hashtag strategies to improve TikTok visibility: (1) find relevant hashtags (use app search and competitor analysis), (2) combine popular and niche hashtags (use TikTok Creative Center for insights), (3) place hashtags in captions (not comments), (4) use a limited number (3–5) to avoid spammy posts, and (5) track performance with TikTok Analytics and third-party tools (Hootsuite, Sprout Social). The video uses a Cookie Hub bakery example and closes with calls-to-action and a short HubSpot sponsor line.
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Do you want to know the magic formula for going viral on TikTok? Spoiler, my friend. It doesn't exist. But there are actual SEO strategies that you can take to gain exposure and make sure your content is ranking high for the right audiences. In this video, I'll share five of my favorite hashtag tricks to help you get your brand trending on TikTok. So enough dilly dallying, let's get after it. Tip Number one Find the right hashtags for your brand Even if you create the best TikTok of all time, it doesn't mean much if nobody watches it. Hashtags give your video a better chance of being seen, but the right hashtags can help you build brand awareness and extend your reach. So how do you choose the best hashtags for your brand? Well, you can start by identifying hashtags that are relevant to your industry and the products or services you're selling. Let's walk through this process with an example. Imagine you're the owner of Cookie Hub, a home based bakery that sells assorted cookies online. Sounds like the kind of business that I'd love to run, honestly, but I would take all the inventory and just eat all of it. So I don't know if we'd be profitable. To start your hashtag search, open TikTok and click the search icon on the top right of your screen. Then type your keyword into the text field. Our keyword is cookies. Once you hit search, scroll all the way to the right and select hashtags. Here you'll find a list of options related to your keyword. The second option on the list is Hashtag cookies. I like the plural choice because we sell a number of different flavors and and it has 21.9 billion views. Nice. You can also use competitor Analysis to pick effective hashtags for your brand. To do this, start by identifying a list of competitors in your industry. For Cookie Hub, really, any online cookie bakery is fair game. Then study the hashtag they're using and use that information as inspiration for your own posts. Let's say a lot of Cookie Hub competitors are using baking. That's probably an indicator that we should be using it too. And I know we're focusing on hashtags today, but if you're interested in leveling up your TikTok game across the board, you have to check out our marketer's guide to TikTok for business. In this guide, we share tips to help you make great content and become a TikTok marketing pro. Using real life examples of brands who do it right. But you can't become a pro without mastering hashtags, so let's get back into it. Number two Use a mix of popular and niche hashtags the other thing you'll want to keep in mind when searching for hashtags is the difference between popular and niche and niche keywords. Popular hashtags command a large audience, think trending topics and broad categories. Niche hashtags have a slightly lower search volume, full of highly engaged viewers. These often represent subcategories and tend to be a little more specific to your video or brand, and this might blow your mind. You'll need to use both if you want to optimize your search potential for Cookie Hub. Hashtag Cookies is a great example of a popular hashtag because it has billions of views on TikTok. If you want to find more popular or trending hashtags, you can check out the TikTok Creative Center. Told you we'd be coming back to this. In the Trend section, select hashtags from the dropdown menu. From here, you can search for trending hashtags by industry, time frame, or recency. You can also use the search button on the right to browse by keyword, just like you would in the app. The TikTok Creative center is great because you can view detailed insights for your selected hashtag. Featured metrics include post quantity, views, interest over time, related videos, and much more. Now that we've covered pop popular hashtags, let's move on to niche hashtags. One way to find these is by drilling down into product attributes. Let's say we want to post a video on our Cookie Hub account that introduces our holiday cookie collection. Our popular hashtag cookies is great, but we could also target hashtag Holiday cookies, which has 91 million views. Another way you can get more specific is by focusing on the purpose of the post. If that same video shows viewers how to make our sugar cookies, we could add sugarcookie recipe to our list, which has 22.4 million views. When you're looking for niche hashtags, it's a good idea to brainstorm a few options ahead of time, just like we did for Cookie Hub. Once you've picked out a few good ones, you can plug them into TikTok Creative center to view the latest insights. Tip number three position your hashtags for optimal visibility. Now that you know which hashtags you want to include, where do you put them? The best place to position your hashtags is in the caption of your video right at the end after your description. You also have the option to add hashtags in the comments section of your video, but this approach is far less effective when it comes to discoverability. Hootsuite found that the TikTok algorithm doesn't prioritize hashtags in the comments to the same level as those in the caption. With this in mind, our caption for Cookie Hub might sound a little something like this. Make these delicious Cookie Hub sugar cookies at home to get into the holiday spirit. Hashtag Cookies Hashtag Holiday cookies Hashtag sugarcookie recipe Adding hashtags like this gives your videos a better chance of getting noticed. Tip number four don't overdo the hashtags I know it's tempting, but please don't. The search for hashtags can be absolutely exhilarating. There's an endless amount to choose from, but you don't want to overwhelm your audience with too many in one post. Yes, you technically have 4000 characters to use, but you so judiciously and wisely. Here's why. Based on research, using too many hashtags can make your post look spammy or inauthentic. Plus, social media algorithms also often prioritize posts with fewer, more relevant hashtags. As a general rule of thumb, use three to five hashtags per post. This way you have enough space to write a fun and descriptive caption, and you can also make sure you're prioritizing quality over quantity. Tip number five track your TikTok performance once you've built out your hashtag strategy, keep a pulse on how your posts are performing and don't be afraid to refine your approach if you're not seeing the results you expect. TikTok has a built in analytics tool for businesses and content creators. To access analytics for Your account, open TikTok on mobile and tap the profile icon in the bottom right corner, click the three vertical lines at the top right of your screen and select Creator Tools. In the menu of options, select analytics and you're in the right place. TikTok analytics shows you total views, likes, comments, shares, and followers for your profile at a glance. All of these metrics can help speak to the success of your hashtag strategy. For example, if you notice an increase in views, that could be an indication that your is reaching a lot of people. But if you notice an increase in likes or followers, that means your content is reaching the right people. TikTok analytics is great, but you can also use external tools like hootsuite and SPROUT Social these tools allow you to track your Brand's performance on TikTok and compare that performance across social platforms. Both options offer free trials and low cost plan options depending on your needs. My friend. If you follow the tricks we reviewed in this video, your brand will be one step closer to being the next trending topic. Couldn't be more excited for you? Just remember that using hashtags Effectively is only one part of a successful TikTok marketing strategy. Check out the Marketer's Guide to TikTok for Business for even more tips to help you crush your TikTok goals. And be sure to like, comment and subscribe so you never miss out on any marketing tips and tricks. Now if you'll excuse me, I've got a hub of cookies I gotta go attend to. You know what I'm saying? Is it sales? Is it just eating all of them? Only one way to find out. Until then, I'll see you next time. I can't find this client info.
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