How to find and use the best Hashtags for Nonprofits

Gain more exposure on Social Media by finding and using the best hashtags for your nonprofit.

GlobalOwls individuals

What is a hashtag?

A hashtag is a short link preceded by the pound sign (#). You’ve seen them all over social media and you might find them ugly to use in your posts, but hashtags actually help organize posts on social media.

You know what else? Hashtags can also help you gain more exposure. 

Do you want to know how to get more followers on Instagram? Create meaningful content, engage in meaningful conversations and use the right hashtags to gain visibility.

Do you want to know how to get more followers on LinkedIn? Create meaningful content, engage in meaningful conversations and use the right hashtags to gain visibility. Yeah, it’s basically the same.

Proof that hashtags work

We could add nice screenshots of posts with and without the right hashtags, but since it’s so simple to execute, you might as well just try it and see for yourself.

Here are the steps to take:

  1. Make a list of relevant hashtags like we’re showing in this post below;
  2. Select the best hashtags based on the number of views, be sure to also add less competitive hashtags to your mix;
  3. Use them in your next post. On Instagram, you can add about 10 or 20 hashtags (Instagram has a maximum of 30 hashtags you can use), but don’t overdo it on Twitter, Facebook or LinkedIn. About 3 hashtags per post should be sufficient on these platforms;
  4. Keep track of hashtag mixes that work best for you.
How to find the best hashtags on social media

What are trending hashtags?

First of all, you need to know that there are basically two types of hashtags:

  1. Trending hashtags like #MeToo, which have a high amount of views for a short period of time.
  2. Evergreen hashtags with pretty much a stable amount of views over time.  Using #Nonprofits will give you about the same exposure any time you use it (unless it goes trending).

When conducting your hashtag research. Be aware that some hashtags might be very seasonal.

How to find the best hashtags for your niche

To find the best hashtags for your niche, you can use Digital Marketing Tools. For the Instagram Hashtag research, we’ve used Displaypurposes.com and for our Twitter hashtag research, we’ve used  RiteTag.com. Our niche is:

Nonprofits and Social Impact.

What are the best hashtags for nonprofits on Instagram

Here’s a list for your inspiration. To get the best out of your Instagram Marketing, it’s best to use a mix of hashtags with a lot of exposure and a few hashtags which are less competitive.  Also, keep in mind that doing your hashtag research for Instagram is great to find out if you’re missing out, but you should always keep track of hashtags that work best for you.

Hashtag Popularity on Instagram
#philanthropy 60%
#causes 53%
#socialgood 57%
#dogood 62%
#fundraising 63%
#nonprofit 65%
#volunteer 68%
#activism 59%
#givingback 64%
#donate 68%
#givingtuesday 58%
#nonprofitorganization 50%
#volunteering 63%
#charity 72%
#giving 64%
#charityevents 58%
#humanitarian 59%
#giveback 66%
#fundraiser 66%
#change 76%
#water 84%
#ocean 82%
#trees 82%
#forest 79%
#woods 74%
#wilderness 70%
#wild 77%
#hunger 65%
#humanrights 64%
#civilrights 58%
#justice 68%
#equality 72%
#humanity 67%
#equalrights 64%
#gayrights 65%
#animalrights 64%
#animalliberation 57%
#animalcruelty 59%
#veganism 69%
#friendsnotfood 59%
#govegan 71%
#animalabuse 56%
#crueltyfree 72%
#earthlings 57%
#veganuniverse 43%
#veganlifestyle 65%
#animalwelfare 56%
#vegansofinstagram 68%
#teenvegan 44%
#veganlife 69%
#animallover 71%
#vegancommunity 60%
#animalactivist 52%
#animalrescue 61%

What are the best hashtags for nonprofits on Twitter

Like we’ve mentioned. Don’t overdo it with hashtags on Twitter. Use approximately three hashtags per post. Mix it up with hashtags that have a large number of views and less competitive hashtags.

Hashtag Unique tweets per hour Retweets per hour Hashtag exposure per hour
#nonprofit 21 33 26704
#nonprofitorganization 0 4 0
#fundraising 21 17 65662
#charity 50 46 48408
#care 12 9 30088
#community 38 45 129592
#donation 4 8 14592
#support 33 34 18296
#children 46 25 151538
#socialenterprise 0 4 0
#socent 0 12 0
#change 50 38 119829
#philantrophy 4 0 1800
#volunteer 17 4 17712
#givingtuesday 8 9 18129
#giving 8 0 212825
#water 75 83 189975
#plastic 8 21 1229
#plasticbags 4 0 129
#plasticpollution 12 5 8854
#waste 12 9 133312
#ocean 38 70 97467
#hunger 4 8 3358
#humanrights 42 79 315442
#civilrights 4 0 2212
#womansmarch 4 8 14033
#justice 71 50 214317
#socialjustice 21 8 168742
#law 42 70 189871
#hope 21 146 32050
#peace 92 70 57738
#equality 17 12 61921
#gender 17 25 59796
#genderequality 12 17 2005125
#feminism 21 25 2004679
#diversity 38 12 176525
#society 25 29 607379
#humanity 17 12 204754
#heart 50 50 300238
#humans 8 4 42583
#vegan 121 112 956446
#animalrights 8 21 25512
#govegan 4 42 3146
#wildlife 25 54 40196
#respect 71 75 191208
#rescue 21 37 7583
#shelter 12 5 12650
#adoptdontshop 38 79 157446

Always be learning

These 4 simple steps will set you in the right direction. It’s up to you to keep track of what works for you and what doesn’t.

Remember that the success of your Social Media marketing hinges on your entire approach:

  1. How relevant are your followers?
  2. How relevant and beautiful are your creatives?
  3. How often do you engage with your followers?
  4. How often do you post on Instagram or Twitter?

Using the best hashtags can validate that you’re on track with all the points mentioned above, but that you just needed that extra boost. Let’s hope that’s the case for you too ;).

You have a story to tell. We want to help.

Let’s create memorable content and reach tens of thousands of people.