Let me start with a small story. TikTok started off as just another social media platform, where creators could post 60-90 second video content in 2016. The COVID-19 lockdown helped TikTok find its voice. With nothing else to do and a sedentary lifestyle, people quickly became addicted to almost anything and everything on TikTok. Screen time surged and the platform became one of the proponents of what we call “the doomscroll era.”
Fast forward to the present time.
TikTok has 1.12 billion monthly active users globally. According to the Financial Times, US adults spend 53.8 minutes on TikTok daily. Although its popularity is behind other social media platforms such as Instagram or Facebook, it isn’t that far behind.
So, the dramatic rise of TikTok during the pandemic wasn’t a fluke or a one-time thing. It was just the beginning for TikTok.
Now, let me bring your attention to some different kinds of stats. We’ve all seen many brands promoting their products or services on TikTok, right? In 2023, the platform helped SMEs generate $14.7 billion. Let that number sink in.
More than 50% of brands post an average of 9 times per month on TikTok. And businesses are now allocating 15% of their marketing budget to TikTok.
So, TikTok is no longer on a mindless scrolling platform. It is a medium for brands to gain more visibility and revenue. That’s why you see businesses trying to get verified or gain more followers or likes on TikTok.
And one of the keys to achieving these targets is TikTok hashtags.
What are TikTok Hashtags and How They Have Evolved
TikTok hashtags are words or phrases that follow the “#” symbol. For instance, #fyp. Hashtags help to categorize your content and make them more searchable. However, in the recent context, TikTok hashtags haven’t been limited to helping people find your content - they help you to stay relevant to the digital pulse of a generation.
Firstly, you can become a trendsetter on the platform with the right hashtags. You can also start and promote challenges that hook users and drive traffic to your page. Let’s say you want your content to reach a very niche audience or achieve a very specific purpose. The straight answer to how? Using the best hashtags for TikTok can get the job done.
Finally, let’s not forget that with trending TikTok hashtags, you simply have better chances of reaching your audience in a sea of similar content.
How Do Hashtags Impact TikTok Success
If you can find the top TikTok hashtags that align with your content, it’s a very big advantage. When your content gets tagged with the best TikTok hashtags, it can impact different aspects of your content performance –
- Enhanced Visibility
When you use the most popular hashtags on TikTok for your niche, you ensure post visibility beyond your followers and to a much wider audience. This can further increase engagement. For instance, the popular anime One Piece is returning with its new arc this April 2025, which makes it the perfect opportunity for anime content creators to use the best TikTok hashtags related to the show. Just for the record, the One Piece hashtag has generated 294.6 Billion overall views. That’s a lucrative weapon for any content creator.
- Community and Engagement
Trending TikTok hashtags help build communities around a specific product, service, or cause. For instance, there’s #ShotonIphone or #NikeShesBallin. People who are users of Apple or Nike products have a community and content creators can reach these communities by properly utilizing these hashtags to go viral within those communities. This results in higher engagement further boosting sales. Coca-Cola’s #ShareACoke increased the brand’s sales by 2% in the US.
- Data-backed Insights
Let’s say you want to create social media strategies for campaigns during holiday or festive seasons. Your static posts, videos, reels, or any other social media content should align with the theme of the holiday you are targeting. These strategies are extremely important because 89% of shoppers claim that a brand’s social media content influences their holiday purchases.
But how do you get access to data such as what are shoppers expecting, planning, or what are they most excited about for the holiday?
By constantly monitoring trends on TikTok.
What are the Best Practices for Using TikTok Hashtags in 2025
If you want to get actual results using the best hashtags for TikTok, your content needs to follow some strategies to stand out -
1. Try the 3x3 Strategy
You need to have three kinds of hashtags in your posts -
- Product/Service Hashtags
Answer the question ‘What?’
Use Trending TikTok hashtags for products or services that you provide. For instance, let’s say you provide marketing services to brands. You could use #digitalmarketing or #contentmarketing.
- Target Audience Hashtags
Answer the question ‘Whom?’
So if you are providing marketing services you will be serving #B2B or #brands. And if you’re targeting a specific industry, it could be #fashionmarketing.
- Pain Point Hashtags
Answer the question ‘Why?’
What are the pain points that you are solving? Sticking to our example, these problems could be #lowviews or #organictraffic.
For each type of TikTok hashtag, you’ll have to use 1-3 hashtags.
2. Use Data for Better Insights
Suffice it to say, you can’t just put 50 hashtags on your post expecting to go viral, because not every hashtag that you use is going to drive engagement for your brand. So, monitor the performance of your hashtags and identify the top TikTok hashtags that seem to work for your posts. You can do these with the help of AI tools like Brandwatch or Sprout Social and then you can double down on those Trending TikTok hashtags.
3. Stay Relevant
In the age of social media, nothing stays relevant for too long. What worked today might not work 6 months later. So, regularly update your list of the most popular hashtags on TikTok, which can help you stay updated with current trends. You can do so using brand monitoring or social listening tools or by subscribing to industry reports.
4. Ensure Quality over Quantity
As mentioned before, don’t go overboard with your hashtags. Research shows that you need 3-5 proper hashtags per post to go viral on TikTok. So, don’t bombard your captions with hashtags, because it might give viewers the ick as well. Just use the ones that fit your context best to avoid looking like spam.
5. Experiment and Analyze
Now, I’ve mentioned above that 3-5 hashtags are good to go for your posts. But full disclosure, you might come across conflicting information on the internet. Some might even recommend that using zero hashtags bring better results. The truth is, all these people are speaking from personal experience on how hashtags have performed on their posts, which can vary significantly from account to account because the algorithm is constantly evolving.
So, what do you do? Run your tests. Post constantly for a month on your account using a varying number of trending TikTok hashtags and then evaluate the result at the end of the month. This allows you to have your data to figure out which are the best hashtags for TikTok that support your content.
How to Choose the Right Hashtags for Your Campaign
Selecting the right hashtags requires a blend of creativity and analytics. Here’s a step-by-step guide:
- Research
There’s no way around research if you want the best results. What you can do is head over to TikTok Creative Center and go to the Trends section to browse the trending hashtags on TikTok.
An underrated way is to use the TikTok search bar. You’ll get tons of related hashtags from there that could boost your content engagement.
- Analyze Your Competition
Skim through the content of your competitors to figure out which hashtags they are using. Then you can run tests on your account with similar or related ones and find the gaps in your strategy. - Prioritize Your Brand
There are many generic popular Tikok Hashtags such as #Fyp, #Viral, or #Trending. But at the end of the day, your hashtags should express your brand’s message in the best way possible. For you, the best TikTok hashtags are the ones that your audience can relate to.
What is The Future of TikTok Hashtags in 2025
2025 will bring more sophistication to TikTok Hashtags. There will also be challenges as the algorithm will keep on evolving based on the trends globally. In addition, constant developments in the field of artificial intelligence, such as the use of AI in social listening or sales, will bring in changes in how you analyze and use hashtags.
And it’s not just hashtags, creators will be shifting towards hyper-personalized content. So, there won’t be any more random hashtag-dumping hacks that actually deliver. To keep up with all these changes your constant superpower is going to be data on customer sentiment, conversations, and so on.
So, what you can do to prepare for the future is start researching and investing in AI sentiment analysis tools that can help you listen to these conversations and understand your users better.
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