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Social media hashtags: before and after targeting
Five real hashtag-set rewrites, across five different small businesses — plus the four habits behind every one of them. No signup required; use whichever parts are useful and tag your own posts with them if you'd rather do it yourself.
Local florist
Before: broad tags
#flowers #florist #love #beautiful #instagood
After: local + specific
#fairviewflorist #samedayflorist #fairviewweddingflowers #petalsofthetown
Why it works: The broad tags sit under millions of posts a day and a new post vanishes in seconds. The local and service tags put it in front of the much smaller group actually searching for a florist nearby.
Bike repair shop
Before: broad tags
#bike #bicycle #cycling #bikelife
After: local + specific
#fairviewbikerepair #flattirefix #bikeshoplocal #cyclecommute
Why it works: "#bikelife" is mostly riders showing off a ride, not people looking for a repair. A tag naming the actual problem and the actual town reaches someone searching for exactly this shop.
Home cleaning service
Before: broad tags
#cleaning #cleaningservice #clean #home
After: local + specific
#fairviewhomecleaning #moveoutcleaning #petfriendlycleaning #weeklycleaningcrew
Why it works: Generic cleaning tags are dominated by product ads and satisfying-video content. Naming the specific job (move-out, pet-friendly) and the area matches how someone actually searches when they need a cleaner.
Pottery studio
Before: broad tags
#pottery #ceramics #handmade #art
After: local + specific
#fairviewpotterystudio #potteryclassesfairview #beginnerpotteryclass #wheelthrowing
Why it works: "#art" and "#handmade" reach other makers, not people looking to take a class. A tag for the exact class type and the town reaches people who are actually deciding where to sign up.
Pet sitting service
Before: broad tags
#petsitting #dogs #cats #petcare
After: local + specific
#fairviewpetsitting #overnightpetsitter #catsittingfairview #localdogwalker
Why it works: Pet photo tags like "#dogs" are flooded with content that has nothing to do with booking care. Naming the specific service and the town reaches someone who actually needs a sitter this week.
The four habits behind every set above
Trade size for relevance
A tag with a few hundred searches from the right people beats one with millions of posts and no connection to your business. Bigger is not better once nobody searching it is a customer.
Pair a "where" tag with a "what" tag
One tag naming the area and one naming the exact service together reach people who are both close enough and looking for precisely this. Either alone reaches a much wider, less useful crowd.
Keep one or two broad tags, don't drop them
Dropping every wide tag loses the occasional browser who finds businesses that way. The fix is a mix — mostly narrow and local, with one or two broad tags left in, not zero and not all of them.
Only use a tag that is honestly true of the post
Borrowing reach from a popular tag that does not describe the post (tagging "wedding" on a post that is not a wedding) looks like spam and teaches people to ignore your tags.
Would rather not build the tag sets yourself?
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