Leading hashtags for 2023

Digital evolution

At Modular, we’re always on the lookout for the latest trending searches and the hashtags that accompany them. So here’s an incomplete list of what we think are some of the most popular, searchable hashtags on social media right now. To make this easier, we’ve separated them into sections for each of the respective leading platforms.

Social media has completely transformed our cultural discourse in a very short time-frame. The effects of this transformation are so powerful they’re hard to fully comprehend. A staggeringly large amount of content is uploaded to social platforms every single day. More than 500 hours of video content is apparently uploaded to YouTube every minute. The size and power of the servers that process and store this content is, at the same time, difficult to fathom. Apparently one billion stories are shared on Meta’s Facebook platform every twenty-four hours. In this vast ocean of social media content, it is becoming increasingly challenging for businesses to make their branded content stand out from everyone else’s. A seemingly small but nonetheless vital aspect of getting your content noticed on social media is the use of hashtags that make your stories and posts appear in trending searches. The more judicious and clever you are at using hashtags, the more your content will get noticed and clicked. It’s really that simple, apart from the fact that it’s also pretty complicated to get right.  

There are all kinds of different tools that help with hashtag-related optimisation, but the whole process can be extremely time consuming for a business with limited resources to dedicate to this most peculiar and sometimes confounding aspect of social media marketing.  The five key social platforms where content is promoted and boosted through hashtag-leveraged searches are YouTube, TikTok, LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram.

YouTube Hashtags

Interestingly, some of the most popular YouTube hashtags are associated with children’s content. We don’t feel it’s necessary to list these here, however, as much of this material isn’t commercial content linked to specific brands or businesses. Some of the most commonly used YouTube hashtags are fairly generic, and any brand will be able to include them in a natural way at the end of a YouTube video or related social media post with the video embedded. The following terms are some of the most common hashtags that appear within YouTube content right now:

• #youtuber
• #youtube
• #subscribe
• #like
• #gaming
• #love
• #youtubecommunity

Instagram hashtags

Together with TikTok, Instagram has become the number one place to find hashtagged content online. On Instagram, you can add hashtags in several different ways. You can add them to a post description, you can add them in your profile, and also on an Instagram Story. There is considerable disagreement about the number of hashtags that should be created on an Instagram post for the best effect. Some digital marketing professionals argue that the maximum permitted number of hashtags (30) should be used after a post to create the greatest possible reach. Others argue, on the other hand, that posts with too many hashtags look ridiculous and put people off the content itself. At Modular, we’d be inclined to agree with the latter position. The following terms are just some (but by no means all) of the most popular and prolific hashtags on the platform:

1. #love
2. #fashion
3. #art
4. #photography
5. #happy
6. #instagram
7. #cute
8. #tbt
9. #travel
10. #repost
11. #instadaily
12. #me
13. #food
14. #fun
15. #smile
16. #photo
17. #life
18. #makeup
19. #follow4follow
20. #dog
21. #instagood
22. #nofilter
23. #igers
24. #picoftheday
25. #lifeisgood
26. #caseofthemondays
27. #instapic
28. #instamood
29. #selfie

Hashtags on TikTok

TikTok is the cool new kid on the social media block. It’s entirely dedicated to video stories and posts, and has become wildly popular with the youngest generation of social media users. It permits a maximum of 100 characters for post captions – which includes hashtags. It is therefore essential to avoid using too many hashtags on TikTok, otherwise most of the post caption will be filled with them. It’s certainly possible that the creators of TikTok noticed how Instagram posts were becoming too hashtag-heavy, and built a natural limit to the number of hashtags that could be used on their platform with the low caption character limit. For what it’s worth, here are what we think are some of the most popular trending hashtags on TikTok right now:

1. #tiktok
2. #foryoupage
3. #fyp
4. #foryou
5. #viral
6. #love
7. #funny
8. #memes
9. #followme
10. #cute
11. #fun
12. #music
13. #happy
14. #fashion
15. #follow
16. #comedy
17. #bestvideo
18. #tiktok4fun
19. #thisis4u
20. #loveyoutiktok

Hashtags on Twitter

Twitter has been front page news of late following Elon Musk’s high profile and controversial purchase of the platform. It’s really easy to identify trending hashtags on Twitter. The Explore tab in the Twitter dashboard enables us to view a list of hashtags and topics that are trending in our region. While it’s a free means of finding hashtags, it’s not perfect. Unlike the various (paid) hashtag-finding tools, Twitter doesn’t have the capacity to highlight the hashtags of most relevance to your business and its specific audience. 

Certain key practices allow us to maximise the value of hashtags on Twitter. First, it’s better to stick to only two hashtags per tweet. Second, it’s a good idea to capitalise the first letter of each word in the hashtag. And third, it’s a great idea to give other users of the platform a reason to use your hashtags. It could be as simple as a retweet that will encourage them to take part in the conversation. Some of the most widely-used hashtags on Twitter right now include the following terms:

• #competition
• #influencer
• #influencermarketing
• #fridayfeeling
• #MondayMotivation
• #tbt
• #traveltuesday
• #vegan
• #fitness

Hashtags on LinkedIn

At first, it wasn’t clear if hashtags would take off on LinkedIn, the social media platform for work and professional interactions. This is now changing, and people are using them more frequently. The LinkedIn audience is a professional rather than public space. For this reason, some of the most popular hashtags from other social media platforms (#cute or #love) won’t work very well for the LinkedIn crowd. You can actually use hashtags in the summary of your LinkedIn profile; you can also add hashtags at the end of articles and in your business or company description. As with keeping the hashtags down on Twitter, it is best to limit it to two or at the most three on LinkedIn. According to the the social media and marketing management tool Hootsuite,  the following terms are amongst the most popular and widely used hashtags on LinkedIn right now:

1. #India
2. #innovation
3. #management
4. #humanresources
5. #digitalmarketing
6. #technology
7. #creativity
8. #future
9. #futurism
10. #entrepreneurship
11. #careers
12. #markets
13. #startups
14. #marketing
15. #socialmedia
16. #venturecapital
17. #socialnetworking
18. #leanstartups
19. #economy
20. #economics
21. #branding
22. #personaldevelopment
23. #sustainability
24. #travel

Do you need to analyse, refine, and optimise the way your business uses hashtags in your social media marketing? If so, it’s a great idea to have a chat with a friendly digital expert. At Modular Digital, we have an in-depth knowledge of the technical as well as the creative aspects of digital marketing. We’d love to discuss the particular needs of your business, so why not drop us a line to go through your requirements in more detail? All great business relationships start with a call.

You can reach out to Emma on 07584 652 285 or emma@thisismodular.co.uk to get the conversation started.