Hashtags have been around since 2007 when Twitter first introduced them into the world. Now, most of us have a basic idea of how to hashtag. You add a number pad sign (#) to a word or a topic (example: #dogs) and then the hashtag becomes a link which populates all things tagged with that word. Pretty cool, right?

Still, there are three things to keep in mind when hashtagging.

1. What’s popular?

Believe it or not what’s going to get your post seen is using a popular hashtag. You don’t want your post to fall into obscurity because no one searched for your hashtag topic. Instead, do a little research to see what hashtags are trending. You can do this yourself by looking on Twitter for what’s trending, or you can use an app to help you. If you simply google trending hashtags you’ll be presented with a wealth of options to choose from.

1. Don’t go crazy!

Remember, hashtags are meant to be short and sweet. Don’t go crazy with hashtags. In fact, some social networks (LinkedIn) don’t even use hashtags currently. Use this guide for how many hashtags to use in your post:

Facebook: 1-2 Hashtags

Twitter: 1-2 Hashtags

Instagram: 10+ Hashtags

1. Create your own

Having a special promotion or day with your brand? Start a hashtag! While it may be difficult to get a hashtag to viral, try to get people within your company and brand to use the same hashtag when posting about your brand. This will help other people search for you and also aid in working to promote your brand.

Hashtags can be scary and intimidating, but they shouldn’t be. In fact, you should try to embrace them and use them in all of your postings – so long as it’s not excessively.