Halloween is right around the corner, meaning people will share their favorite pumpkin recipes, post cute selfies in their Halloween costumes on Instagram, and more. As a business, you already know there's a ton of potential to capture the excitement behind this spooky season.
With a bit of creativity and a clear vision of your business's branding, a well-planned marketing campaign utilizing Halloween hashtags can help you reach out to new customers scrolling on Instagram or TikTok. Since social media like Instagram and Facebook use hashtags to group different posts, other users searching for those Halloween hashtags have a higher chance of finding your business. That potential to reach new customers is especially useful for small and medium-sized businesses looking to break past the usual expectations customers receive from your Yelp page.
What are hashtags?
You've most likely seen hashtags used in various Instagram and Facebook posts. Hashtags are words or phrases that begin with the '#' symbol. They're typically used to connect posts with other content utilizing similar hashtags, making hashtags is a great way to make sure your posts get some visibility with other posts engaging with similar trends and topics, such as Black Friday and Small Business Saturday. Without the '#' symbol, social media posts will not connect your post with other posts and images.
If you include multiple words under a single hashtag, do not include spaces between each word, like with #Pumpkinspice. While multiple words don't need to be capitalized either, including capitalized letters will make the hashtag easier to read. Just remember not to go overboard with hashtags. The last thing you want is for people to associate a messy catalog of '#' signs and words with your business.
As you can see in the official SpotOn Instagram post, we've included #HispanicHeritageMonth as a hashtag to group the photo with other Instagram posts that use the same hashtags. It's an easy and creative way to reach new users alongside your usual business marketing strategies.
Use Halloween hashtags organically
While hashtags are perhaps the easiest way to catch the attention of scrollers and social media algorithms, you still need to naturally include them in your post. That means irrelevant or poorly placed hashtags may distract the reader from the real purpose of your post. For example, if you post a picture of the cupcakes you'll sell during October, you can include Halloween hashtags as part of the text explaining the cupcakes' relevancy to Halloween. It'll look like this: "This #Halloween2023, try our new #spookycupcakes. Now with three different types of #pumpkinspice flavor designs."
Some posts even include a small list of hashtags at the end, like a grocery list, to make it easier to read. This strategy is a great way to keep your Instagram images and Facebook posts relevant without bogging down the messaging too much. Facebook and Instagram even let you use emojis in your hashtags. You can use a single emojis(#🎃 or #👻), a combination of emojis (#👻😨🥐), or a combination of words and emojis (#🧛trickortreat🍬).
And with Giving Tuesday approaching right after Halloween, businesses can even build hashtags that capture the excitement of giving back. Try out some hashtags related to your favorite charities, such as The World Wildlife Fund. It'll show guests your business is more than willing to help.
Include Halloween hashtags based on location & industry
You should also create hashtags that include your location and terms specific to your industry as well. Use hashtags that describe your business type and your city or town. Better yet, try creating a hashtag that does both. For example, a cupcake shop in Delaware could use the hashtag #DelawareCupcake or #DelawareDesserts alongside other Halloween hashtags.
Of course, getting too specific with your hashtags might only categorize your post with other posts barely seen by a few users, so remember to mix it up with a strong balance of generic and specific hashtags. An example social media post might look like this:
We’ve got some scary desserts this #Halloween for those brave enough in the #Delawaredessert scene. Stop by and try our chocolate croissants too. We promise this #Delawaretreat won’t try to trick your taste buds
#🧁 #🎃 #HalloweenCupcake #DelawareEats #pumpkincupcakes
If there's a popular movie trend like Barbie or a Taylor Swift concert nearby, try incorporating some hashtags surrounding those events as well. The hype behind those trends is a great way to capture the excitement from customers.
Get started with Halloween hashtags 2023
Now that you're a wizard at creating content for social media, you can get started with these simple Halloween hashtags. They're typically the most popular hashtags for the 2023 Halloween year on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter (currently known as X).
#HalloweenObsessed #HalloweenSpirit #HalloweenCountdown #HalloweenParty #HalloweenCake #HalloweenTreats #HalloweenBaking #HalloweenLover #HalloweenEveryday #HalloweenLife #HaloweenTime #Halloween🎃👻🕷#HalloweenFood
Of course, your hashtags and social media game will only be as strong as your point-of-sale system. With the right POS system, you can manage your online presence with different review sites like Yelp, receive instant reports on different sales data, and so much more.
