Most of us have been there. We pour our heart and soul into a post and then.... crickets. Maybe your grandma or some strange kid you knew in grade school like it. Just them. Awkward. 

Posting into the void is a very real problem that everyone faces at some point. On any given day there are hundreds of millions of posts uploaded to social media channels. So much noise! How do you make sure your posts get lost in all of that? 

The easiest answer (aside from "create great content") is to use highly specific and targeted niche hashtags. Think of them like a postal address. Your hashtags tell the algorithm exactly who to show your posts to. And hopefully those people are going to like your content just as much as Grandma, and the dude who ate paste. 

So where do you start? Finding the content that you want to see and be a part of, can be just as frustrating as finding an audience. Ordinary searches may not yield much because these searches generally look at the names of accounts (real and user names) rather than the type of content that accounts produce. If you want to dive into genres on social, the most direct path is via hashtags. 

Before you begin using tags in your own posts, it is a good idea to do a deep dive into your niche and research tags that are in use. Take a look at the most popular tags and follow some of the most popular posters. If their content looks like a fit, try engaging with them. 

Then drill down some more. Are there more specific hashtags that are less crowded with content? Consider using some of these tags. 

Hashtaglists can help you find the hashtags with the greatest engagement and best visibility for your topic. Using these hashtags can help you find your tribe and attract people who are interested in what you are about.

And here's the best part:  Social algorithms WANT you to make those connections. The more your content is viewed and shared and the longer you are interacting with others who use similar hashtags, the more time everyone is spending on the platform. Now it's a party. 

Proper hashtag use is rewarded with additional discovery (ie - your post gets shown to more people). And that means more followers, more engagement and more fun. No more posting into the void. 

And it all started with a few humble hashtags.