With time, hashtag functionality has evolved. They are no longer used dominantly for topic searches but are more focused on categorizing content and helping your platform’s algorithm push your content into the right places.

If your marketing strategy for 2025 includes running hashtag campaigns, it’s crucial to understand the changing landscape of hashtags and social media platforms.

In this blog, learn the importance of hashtag campaigns and how to approach them for 2025.

Let's revisit, ​​​​​​what is a Hashtag Campaign?

A hashtag campaign is a marketing strategy that uses a specific hashtag to promote a brand, product, service, event, or idea on social media platforms. These campaigns instantly create buzz around the topic as they demand people’s participation with hashtags.

You choose hashtags based on your goals, push hashtags via your business's official accounts, and encourage your followers to post with hashtags. Hashtags are now more about quality than quantity and must be contextual. Too much of irrelevant hashtags in posts sometimes also lead to penalties from platform algorithms for spamming.

Hashtag campaigns help you gather user-generated content, which can be repurposed in your future marketing efforts.

For example, Rihhana’s FentyBeauty, famous for its inclusive makeup range, uses different hashtags like #fentyface, #fentyparfum, and #fentylips to promote its products. Their customers actively create content using these hashtags and share their makeup tutorials, reviews, selfies, and makeup challenges.

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Why should brands run a Hashtag Campaign?

Hashtag campaigns are important in your social media marketing strategy because,

1. They Create Brand Visibility

Social media platforms’ algorithms understand the category of your posts with the included hashtags. The focus should be on choosing relevant hashtags, as it makes it easier for the algorithm to find your content and show it to the right audience. Your posts also get more engagement because of this.

Also, when your followers and your customers start participating in your hashtag campaigns, their posts help your brand reach new audiences without extra effort.

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For example, Coca-Cola ran a hashtag campaign with the hashtag #ShareaCoke. With this campaign, they encouraged people to share their pictures with Coca-Cola bottles. This campaign sparked a global wave of user-generated content, with people from around the world actively participating.

2. Encourages user-generated content (UGC)

With hashtag campaigns, brands not only get extra visibility with more posts but also get more user-generated posts beyond simple photos of your product. They share videos, testimonials, reviews, creative interpretations of your brand, and real-life usage of your products or services shared by your audience. UGC acts like free advertising because it shows real people loving your brand.

When everyone uses the same hashtag, it creates a shared experience, making your brand feel approachable and popular. It’s a win-win: your customers enjoy the recognition, and you get valuable content and positive exposure. For example, GoPro, an industry leader in camera technology, uses dynamic social media campaigns & competitions to increase engagement.

GoPro runs its own campaign called “GoPro Awards.” In this campaign, they encourage people to shoot and submit videos or images using different hashtags showcasing the activities they enjoy. Every year, this campaign receives numerous submissions and enhances GoPro's brand visibility.

With Floker, GoPro collects all the social media posts (from multiple accounts) with #GoProAwards and displays them on their website in a beautiful layout for threefold benefits:

• To increase brand awareness

• To form a community and increase the participation rate

• To enhance the credibility of their product

3. Promote events and drive engagement

Hashtags are perfect for promoting events, whether it’s a product launch, a sale, or a live webinar. A branded hashtag creates a collective excitement around the events and as the number of people participating goes up, it creates more buzz. Also, using hashtag campaigns for events will not only bring you buzz before the event but also will get you user-generated content after the event.

For example, hashtags like #BlackFridayDeals or #MyFitnessChallenge keep people engaged and talking about your brand. Even after the event, the hashtag can keep the momentum going by sparking continued conversations. It’s a fun and interactive way to connect with your audience and keep the energy alive.

One such famous example of the correct usage of an event hashtag is #Coachella2024. The #Coachella2024 hashtag showcases all the posts from celebrities, influencers, and other participants leading to strong marketing for the event.

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Changing landscape of hashtags on different social platforms in 2025

Hashtags in 2025 have taken on new roles, shaped by platform-specific trends and user behaviors:

1. Instagram

Hashtags on Instagram categorize your content to the algorithm. When the algorithm understands how to categorize your content, it makes sure that the right people see your content.

Even when asking the head of Instagram, Adam Mosseri, himself, "Do hashtags help views?" he said: "Not really. They do help us to understand what a post is about."

While executing hashtag campaigns, try to use limited hashtags. Instagram allows up to 30 hashtags per post, but that doesn’t mean you should use all of them. Aim for 3-5 relevant hashtags per post.

For example, Harvard University uses hashtags actively on Instagram to post about different events. They have an adopted strategy for hashtags and use not more than a couple of (relevant) hashtags per post. They use hashtag feeds to showcase events like:

• Welcome day

• Sports events

• Alumni and Convocation Day

What they also do differently is showcase the curated hashtag content on the website using the Flockler widget to generate more engaged website sessions.

This social feed on their website is popularly called a ‘social media wall’. A social media wall is very effective for showcasing your strong social media presence on your website for new visitors.

2. Facebook

Hashtags on Facebook have never been as influential as they are on Instagram or TikTok. While Facebook supports hashtags, their primary purpose is to categorize posts and enable content discovery within groups, pages, or broader search queries.

In 2025, the platform's focus will remain on community-building and personalized content feeds. Hashtags on Facebook are now more commonly used in group discussions and events to link related conversations. For example, in a local community group, hashtags like #EventsInNYC can help members find specific content.

While implementing a hashtag campaign on Facebook, you can use 1-3 strategic hashtags relevant to your audience or topic.

3. TikTok

The first hashtag strategy you need to make sure you're using on TikTok is two niche-specific hashtags and one broad hashtag.

Broad hashtags are things like #fyp, #viral, and #trending. Niche-specific hashtags are specific to whatever you're posting about. For example, if you're posting about affiliate marketing, it would be #affiliateMarketing; if you're posting about fitness, it would be #fitness; and so on.

The second hashtag strategy is to use six hashtags—two broad and four niche-specific. If not specified, assume they should all be niche-specific.

Also, TikTok looks at more than just hashtags to determine content relevance. Ensure your niche-specific hashtags match the keywords in your description, voiceover, and on-screen text.

4. X (Twitter)

Hashtags on Twitter are currently useful for hyperlinking posts about a topic and can be used to identify topics that are trending. Twitter’s help center itself recommends using no more than 2 hashtags per post as best practice.

However, you can give a boost to your hashtag campaigns on Twitter by using Spaces on Twitter. It’s the criminally underused feature of Spaces on X and is a fantastic way to build communities and grow.

To get started, join other Spaces first to observe and engage. Once you’re comfortable, launch your own Space on a chosen topic for hashtags. Be a good host by ensuring everyone gets a chance to speak.

How to build a Hashtag campaign in 2025

Create your 2025 hashtag campaign in four easy steps:

1. Research your brand and competitors

2. Create a memorable hashtag

3. Popularize hashtags with micro-influencers

4. Measure the results of your hashtag campaign

1. Research your brand and competitors

Dig deep into your brand's personality before you even think about launching a campaign. What’s your unique voice? Are your values loud and clear on social media? Look at how customers already talk about your products or services—this can reveal hidden gems.

Research the preferences and behaviors of your target audience to ensure your hashtag aligns with their interests. Analyze your competitors' campaigns as well. Learn what hashtags worked for them to take inspiration to come up with something unique.

2. Create a memorable hashtag

A great hashtag is the heart of your campaign—it’s what people will remember and use. Your hashtag should be short, catchy, and easy to spell to work best.

The best hashtags can come out anywhere— from social media research, or from your customer interactions. Are there any catchy slogans/words your customers use naturally that are also relevant to your campaign goals? While deciding on the hashtag, ensure it is not already used. You don’t want to compete for attention or confuse your audience.

To check the impact before going all-in, share the hashtag with your team or a small focus group to gauge reactions. Does it spark excitement? Once you’re confident, launch it widely. A memorable hashtag will keep your campaign on everyone’s radar.

3. Publish hashtag content with advocates

Now it’s time to put your hashtag into action. Start sharing high-quality content from your official brand page and employees page. Think of eye-catching visuals, entertaining videos, or inspiring stories to encourage your audience to share posts using the hashtag.

Highlight if there are any rewards for their participation such as shoutouts or contests. Also further push the campaign with influencer participation. Partner with influencers whose audience aligns with your target demographic. Their involvement will significantly boost your campaign’s visibility and engagement.

4. Measure the results of your hashtag campaign

The success of your hashtag campaign isn’t just about how often your hashtag was used; it’s about the impact it created. You can get the basic hashtag insights from each platform’s in-built tool but use third-party tools to get detailed analytics.

Understand with hashtag analytics:

• What is the total reach and impressions generated by the hashtag?

• What sentiments (positive, negative, neutral) are expressed in posts using the hashtag?

• Did you boost traffic, generate leads, or increase sales?

• Did the campaign drive traffic to your website or landing pages?

Use your hashtag campaigns on websites with Flockler

Your hashtag campaigns help build trust and credibility as visitors see user-generated content (UGC), boosting confidence in your products or services. With Flockler, you get tools for:

• Custom forms for collecting customer reviews

• UGC rights management

• Shopify shoppable feeds

Flockler also offers a social analytics tool that not only helps you understand your content’s performance of hashtag campaigns but also hashtag campaigns lists the most popular and influential participants of hashtag campaigns.

With social media analytics, you will get

• List of your top content

• Understand the key metrics of X, Facebook, and Instagram posts you've aggregated with Flockler's Automated Feeds.

• Excel and PDF export

• Daily updates

• Unlimited campaigns

Here is a step-by-step guide on how to use Flocker for hashtag analytics.

Step 1: Sign up to your Flocker account

Step 2: Choose the platform and channel

Select your social media platform and hashtag mentions. Once the posts show up on that hashtag, you can select multiple posts for the social feed.

Step 3: Select the layout design

Choose the layout design to display your content on your website or digital screen. Flocker offers four different layouts for your social media feed: Social Wall, Grid, Carousel, and Slideshow. Please select one of them.

Step 4: Moderate your posts

Once you select the automated feed option, by default, your social media wall updates fresh content every 5-15 minutes.

Step 5: Edit and copy the embed code

From the “Edit style and setting” option, you can edit the look & feel of your layout to match their brand and perfectly fit the context. Copy and paste the embed code to any website, intranet, or digital platform.

Liked the idea of embedding your hashtag campaign posts on your website? Try out Flockler for free for 14 days without a credit card!

FAQs

1. How do I choose the right hashtag for my campaign?

Start by understanding your brand's unique voice and campaign goals. Research audience preferences and analyze competitors’ successful hashtags for inspiration. Choose a short, memorable, and easy-to-spell hashtag. Ensure it’s not already in use by searching social platforms. Test it with a small group for feedback before launching it widely.

2. What are the best platforms for running a hashtag campaign in 2025?

The platform depends on your audience and content. Instagram excels with visual content and hashtag discoverability. TikTok thrives on viral, creative posts. Twitter is ideal for trending topics and conversations. Facebook suits community-driven campaigns. Leverage each platform’s unique features, like Instagram’s Explore page or TikTok’s niche-specific hashtags, for maximum impact.

3. How does Flockler enhance hashtag campaigns on websites?

Flockler enables you to showcase user-generated content from your hashtag campaigns on your website through visually appealing social media walls. It also provides tools for UGC rights management, shoppable feeds, and detailed analytics, helping build trust and drive conversions directly from your website.