The Ideal Length for Twitter Hashtags (And Common Mistakes to Avoid)
Hashtags have become an essential part of social media, especially on Twitter. They make your content more discoverable, allow you to join relevant conversations, and help build your brand. However, many marketers still struggle with the basics, like how long a hashtag should actually be.
Get your hashtag length wrong, and you risk hurting your reach and engagement. Go too long and your message gets cut off. Too short and it may lack meaning or uniqueness.
So what‘s the sweet spot when it comes to Twitter hashtag length? Let‘s dive into some best practices, common mistakes to avoid, and real examples. By the end, you‘ll know how to craft the perfect-sized hashtags to maximize your impact on Twitter.
The Optimal Length for a Twitter Hashtag
Research has shown that the ideal length for a Twitter hashtag is 6 characters. One study analyzed over 1 billion tweets and found that hashtags with 6 characters received the most engagement in terms of retweets, favorites, and replies.
Hashtags with 3-6 characters also tend to be more memorable and easier to read at a glance. Anything longer than 6 characters is still okay, but engagement tends to drop off.
As a general rule, try to keep your hashtags between 3-12 characters whenever possible. Hashtags longer than 12 characters see significant drops in usage and engagement.
The Problem With Long Hashtags
One of the biggest mistakes brands make is using hashtags that are way too long. Not only do excessively long hashtags take up precious character space in your tweets, they also create several other issues:
Hashtags get cut off: Currently, Twitter cuts off hashtags at 21 characters. So if your hashtag is longer than that, people won‘t be able to see the full thing. This makes your hashtag confusing and ineffective.
Harder to read and remember: The longer your hashtag is, the harder it becomes to read and understand at a quick glance. If people can‘t immediately tell what your hashtag says, they‘ll be less likely to engage with it or use it themselves. Long hashtags are also much harder for people to remember and recall later on.
Reduced reach and exposure: Since long hashtags are harder to read and use, you‘ll naturally get less people clicking, searching, and adding the hashtag to their own tweets. This limits the overall reach and visibility your hashtag will get.
Looks spammy and gimmicky: Stuffing a ton of words into one long hashtag comes off as desperate and inauthentic. It looks like you‘re trying too hard to force something clever rather than using hashtags organically and strategically.
Hashtag Length Fails and Mistakes
There‘s no shortage of brands that have missed the mark with hashtag length. Here are a few real examples of hashtags gone wrong:
#makeboringbrilliant – At 19 characters, this hashtag from a major media company is right on the cusp of getting cut off. It‘s difficult to parse at a glance and doesn‘t add much context.
#SFBatkid – This hashtag was used to celebrate a young cancer survivor‘s wish to be Batman for a day. While a heartwarming story, the hashtag caused confusion since SF could stand for San Francisco, science fiction, or other things. A more distinct hashtag would have helped the story gain traction.
#McDStories – McDonald‘s launched this hashtag to get customers sharing positive stories about the brand. But at 10 characters, it was a bit long and awkward to work into a tweet naturally. The hashtag also backfired as people started sharing negative stories instead.
#susanalbumparty – Susan Boyle‘s PR team used this hashtag to promote her new album release party. But the lack of capitalization and proper spacing made it read like "sus anal bum party" to many people. Yikes! Shows the importance of checking your hashtag for potentially embarrassing interpretations.
Best Practices for Hashtag Length
Now that we‘ve seen the pitfalls of poorly crafted hashtags, let‘s go over some tips to nail the length and formatting of yours:
- Aim for 3-12 characters: Whenever possible, keep your hashtags on the shorter side. Remember, 6 characters is the ideal length for maximum memorability and engagement. 12 characters max if you want to play it safe.
- Avoid going over 21 characters: Never exceed 21 characters unless you want your hashtag to get tragically cut off by Twitter. People need to be able to see and understand the full hashtag for it to be effective.
- Shorten long phrases: If you have a long phrase or sentence you want to turn into a hashtag, find ways to shorten it while keeping the meaning intact. Remove filler words like "the," "and," "of," etc. Use abbreviations where it makes sense. Capitalize each word to make the hashtag easier to read.
- Make it easy to remember: Clever and catchy hashtags will get more traction than generic, forgettable ones. Focus on the key words that communicate what your hashtag is about. If you‘re trying to brand your hashtag, a short tagline or phrase is better than the full campaign name.
- Research the hashtag first: Before committing to a hashtag, do a quick Twitter search to see if and how it‘s already being used. Make sure it‘s not associated with irrelevant or inappropriate content. Check if there are similar hashtags with more traction you could use instead.
- Capitalize multiple words: Capitalizing the first letter of each word in a multi-word hashtag makes it much easier to read. All one case can cause confusion. #CollaborationOver
Competition is much clearer than #collaborationovercompetition.
Using Hashtags Strategically
The length of your hashtags is just one factor in your overall hashtag strategy. For best results, pair these hashtag length best practices with other optimization tactics:
Use relevant and specific hashtags. Choose hashtags that are directly relevant to the topic of your tweet. The more specific, the better. This helps you connect with the right audience.
Don‘t overdo it. Stick to 1-2 hashtags per tweet whenever possible. Research shows engagement drops significantly once you use 3 or more hashtags.
Mix branded and community hashtags. Branded hashtags are great for campaigns and tracking conversations about your brand. But don‘t forget to use popular community hashtags to expand your reach and join trending conversations.
Incorporate hashtags naturally. Don‘t just tack hashtags onto the end of your tweets. Work them into the tweet copy organically so they flow with the rest of the message.
Monitor your hashtag performance. Keep an eye on which hashtags get the most engagement over time. Double down on the hashtags that perform well and phase out the ones that don‘t resonate with your audience.
Hashtag Length Across Platforms
Twitter is not the only social network that uses hashtags. When cross-posting content to other platforms, you may need to adjust your hashtag approach. Here‘s a quick overview of hashtag length best practices on other major networks:
Instagram: Instagram allows longer hashtags (up to 30 characters) but it‘s still better to keep them concise. Aim for 5-15 characters and use around 8-12 hashtags per post for optimal engagement.
Facebook: Hashtags never really took off on Facebook. Most studies show posts without hashtags actually perform better. If you do use them, keep it to 1-2 short hashtags.
LinkedIn: LinkedIn recommends using no more than 3 hashtags per post. Keep them shorter (under 10 characters) and highly relevant to your industry and audience.
TikTok: TikTok‘s younger audience loves hashtags. Most viral TikToks use 3-6 short, snappy hashtags. But you can use up to 12 if they are hyper-relevant. 10-15 characters is a good length to aim for.
Key Takeaways for Mastering Hashtag Length
Hashtags are a powerful tool to grow your reach and engagement on Twitter when used correctly. Crafting hashtags with the ideal length is an important part of any effective hashtag strategy.
As a general rule, keep hashtags between 3-12 characters and never exceed 21 characters. Aim for short, memorable hashtags that are easy to read and tap into relevant conversations.
Avoid generic, overly long hashtags that get cut off or are hard to decipher. Always research a hashtag before using it to check for any unintended meanings or associations.
Combine hashtag length optimization with other hashtag best practices like using 1-2 per tweet, mixing branded and community tags, and monitoring your top performing tags. This will help you get the most mileage out of hashtags as a tool to grow your Twitter presence.
By following these guidelines consistently, you‘ll be able to avoid common hashtag length pitfalls and use hashtags more strategically to boost your Twitter marketing results.
