How to use Twitter hashtags: Find trending X hashtags [2025]

In today’s competitive social media landscape, simply posting on each platform isn’t enough. In addition to a comprehensive social media strategy, you also need a sophisticated hashtag strategy to reach a wider audience. If you’re not yet using Twitter (rebranded as “X”) hashtags to their fullest potential, you could be missing out on a lot of prospective impressions and engagement. In other words, it could be a missed opportunity to attract a relevant audience on the platform.

This guide will explain how and why Twitter hashtags matter for your brand, how to find popular and relevant hashtags and when to use them for marketing. Let’s get started.

What are hashtags and why are Twitter hashtags important?

Hashtags are a combination of keywords or phrases preceded by the # symbol, excluding any spaces or punctuations. For example, if you put the # symbol in front of the phrase “social media,” it becomes the hashtag #SocialMedia.

Hashtags on Twitter are best used for maximizing visibility and reach on the platform. But what’s even more important is that hashtags are used to categorize your content and make it discoverable to a wider audience interested in those topics. So when someone clicks on or searches for a specific hashtag, they’ll be able to find all the profiles and public posts that use that hashtag. For example, if I search for #AFROTECH2024, I can see plenty of posts from the conference.

Twitter hashtags expand your reach, putting your brand in front of potential customers and followers, who are actively seeking conversations around the topic. By using hashtags to join in on subjects like industry discussions or Twitter trends, you can become visible to a wider audience outside your following and boost the discoverability and reach of your content.

What are Twitter trending hashtags?

Engaging with trending Twitter hashtags could also help you attract a highly relevant audience that’s interested in what you have to say. Some might discover your products through these hashtags, while others might start following your brand.

What does it mean for a Twitter hashtag to become “trending?” Twitter trends can be found in found on the “What’s happening” sidebar on desktop, or the search tab on mobile, and show the topics that are currently picking up momentum and driving the conversation on Twitter. These topics, news stories and popular hashtags are selected based on global trends, regional ones or related by the Twitter algorithm to an individual’s own interests, depending on user settings.

One reliable source of Twitter hashtag ideas are the regularly occurring hashtag holidays that frequently rank as a Trending Topic. We’ve created a full yearly calendar of hashtag holidays you can easily slot them into your publishing plans.

Beyond these more predictable top hashtags, Twitter trends emerge rapidly around the day’s news, events and even memes that unexpectedly gain viral traction.

While it’s okay to join popular hashtags and conversations, make sure you know what a hashtag means and if it’s relevant to your brand before posting a Tweet. Before using a trending hashtag, ensure it’s relevant to your content and target audience without the risk of appearing opportunistic or out of touch.

Using hashtag research tools can help you efficiently and effectively incorporate hashtags into your upcoming content–read on for ways to find top Twitter hashtags.

3 ways to find trending Twitter hashtags

Besides knowing when to use Twitter hashtags, you need to find out which hashtags are popular. One way to do that is with a hashtag tracking tool like we offer at Sprout Social, but here are three other ways to find valuable Twitter hashtags:

1. Twitter Trending and Explore tabs

Twitter comes with a native search feature that lets you keep up with the latest hashtags. From your Twitter dashboard, click on the #Explore tab. Then select the Trending tab to get a list of the topics and hashtags currently trending in your region.

Find a list of popular topics and hashtags personalized according to your interests or business. Since these are the top trends for a wide audience, it can be hard to focus on the specifics that your brand’s audience may be interested in. That’s where a more powerful Twitter hashtag tracking tool comes in.

2. Sprout Social Social Listening

To create a more relevant list of important Twitter hashtags for your brand, make the most of Sprout Social’s Listening tools. Social listening tools are a superpower that lets you monitor specific keywords, hashtags and even competitor mentions. By tracking these conversations, you gain invaluable insights into what your target audience is discussing, the hashtags they’re using and the trending topics that resonate with them.

This real-time data lets you identify relevant hashtags organically woven into conversations, ensuring your content aligns with current trends and interests.

With Sprout’s robust analytics, you can go beyond simply identifying Twitter hashtags. Analyze hashtag performance, track engagement metrics and understand how specific hashtags contribute to your overall social media goals. This data-driven approach allows you to refine your hashtag strategy, and ensures you’re identifying the most important hashtags and maximizing your social media ROI.

Conducting this research doesn’t have to take a lot of time. Check out our list of 40 ways to use social listening for inspiration on targeted, efficient ways to start using these powerful insights.

3. Use a Twitter hashtag generator

Twitter hashtag generators can be valuable tools for brands looking for hashtag inspiration. These tools help identify new and relevant hashtags, expand brainstorming and refine hashtag lists.

While generators offer time-saving benefits, brands should use them strategically and not rely on their suggestions completely. It’s important to evaluate the relevance of the suggested hashtags and ensure they align with your brand’s voice and content. By combining hashtag generators with manual research, trend analysis and audience insights, brands can strategically optimize their hashtag use, expand their reach and generate engaging conversations on Twitter.

Top 30 trending hashtags on Twitter for businesses

It’s tough to guarantee these will be the top-trending hashtags for Twitter when you read this list in the future. At the time of writing, these are the most popular hashtags for B2B businesses to use on Twitter.

1. #marketing
2. #digitalmarketing
3. #socialmedia
4. #business
5. #entrepreneur
6. #smallbusiness
7. #contentmarketing
8. #SEO
9. #innovation
10. #technology
11. #leadership
12. #sales
13. #branding
14. #customer
15. #customerservice
16. #ecommerce
17. #retail
18. #growth
19. #productivity
20. #businessgrowth
21. #businesstips
22. #businessowner
23. #womeninbusiness
24. #futureofwork
25. #remotework
26. #sustainability
27. #ai
28. #web3
29. #metaverse
30. #NFT

Dos and don’ts of using Twitter hashtags

While it’s tempting to use the hottest hashtags on the platform, it’s important to do your due diligence and research before you do so. Using hashtags blindly in your content without understanding context could lead to a social media disaster and you’ll end up doing more damage control than good.

Here are some quick do’s and don’t tips when using hashtags on any platform, but especially Twitter:

• Do a real-time check: Twitter moves fast! Don’t only rely on any list (even this one). Always glance at Twitter’s Trending Topics page to catch anything super hot right now. This makes sure you’re tapping into current conversations.
• Do use relevant hashtags: A hashtag might be popular, but don’t blindly use these. If it doesn’t fit your content or your brand, it could look spammy and confuse users. Before using a hashtag, ask if it relates to your content, audience interest and brand.
• Do mix up the types of hashtags: Don’t just use super broad hashtags (#business) or super niche ones (#socialmediamarketingforstartups). A mix is best. This lets you reach a wider audience while also targeting those with specific interests, increasing your chances of connection.
• Don’t overuse hashtags: A few strong hashtags are better than a huge, irrelevant list. Focus on a few strong ones. Think quality over quantity. Each hashtag should add value; don’t throw several in your content to see what sticks.
• Do track what works: See which of these (or others you find) get you the most engagement to refine your strategy. Pay attention to which hashtags get you the most engagement. This tells you what resonates with your audience, letting you refine your strategy over time.

How to use trending Twitter hashtags for your brand [+ examples]

The key to Twitter hashtags is to use them correctly rather than just blindly using them and hoping for the best. This is especially true for those running brand social media accounts, as it requires taking a calculated approach to proper hashtag marketing.

Check out when you should use Twitter hashtags for your brand:

1. Tweet about events and conferences

Make the most of Twitter hashtags to join in on conversations around popular events (#Oscars) and industry conferences (#SocialMediaWeek). Better yet if your brand is making an appearance or a relevant contribution to an event, you can use these hashtags to share news about your participation.

See how the American Music Awards uses the #AMAs50 hashtag in the following Tweet to create a discussion around the event.

2. Celebrate holidays and notable days

Use Twitter hashtags when celebrating a national (#Thanksgiving) or global holiday (#EarthDay) with your community. In addition to important holidays, join in on the fun with lesser-known celebrations such as National Pancake Day or National Emoji Day. Be sure to make the most of celebrations that are highly relevant to your product.

Take, for example, take how Good Morning America posted about #NationalBurgerDay.

3. Promote brand campaigns

The best time to use Twitter hashtags is when you’re promoting your brand and its products. This could be through a hashtag for a certain marketing campaign or even a hashtag for the product itself. You can also create a branded hashtag campaign to collect user-generated content and drive even more visibility around your brand.

For example, Social Media Examiner uses the #SMMW25 hashtag to promote Social Media Marketing World Conference.

4. Connect with pop culture trends

Twitter is a conversation hub, especially on pop culture topics. So if you decide to join in on those conversations, using a relevant hashtag for the topic will help your Tweet get some visibility.

See for example how the official Wendy’s Twitter uses the Animal Crossing: New Horizons hashtag #ACNH in the following Tweet.

Keep in mind that your brand doesn’t need to get involved in every pop culture topic. Social media crises can happen even when you think your Tweet was on par with the topic. Make sure you understand the topic before you post.

5. Join a weekly trend or challenge

A lot of the major Twitter hashtags involve weekly challenges and trends, such as #ThrowbackThursday, #MondayMotivation, etc. So if you ever decide to join in on these challenges, don’t forget to make use of the relevant hashtags.

Check out Sanrio posting something for #MondayMotivation. It’s simple and uses imagery that aligns with their brand voice.

6. Support a cause

In an era of socially conscious consumers, it’s become crucial for brands to stand up for a cause. According to the Sprout Social #BrandsGetReal survey, 70% of consumers feel that brands should take a stand on public issues.

And when showing your support for a cause, use Twitter hashtags to gain more visibility. Ben & Jerry’s has been exemplary in this aspect, as covered in our recent Social Spotlight. See how they used #ClimateWeek in the Tweet below, for example.

7. Join the discussion on relevant topics

Even when you post about general interest topics (#nature, #marketing, etc.), including a relevant hashtag will help you gain more visibility among an interested audience.

See the hashtags like #ethicalfashion and #sustainablefashion in the following Tweet from the UK brand Baukjen, for example. By using those general interest topics, they’ve expanded their audience beyond their local market.

Twitter hashtags for your marketing strategy

Effectively using Twitter hashtags frequently comes down to striking a balance between original branded hashtags and joining the conversation on relevant hashtags. This gives you options in your publishing strategy and content planning: find a balance between planning content around a campaign hashtag and gaining visibility through trending Twitter hashtags.

Either way, hashtags are a powerful avenue to brand recognition and success. Have you noticed how fast food brands like Wendy’s created their own hashtags and made them go viral on Twitter? The brand used their #WendysBreakfastBattle hashtag to Tweet scorching roasts about its competitors. Use our Twitter marketing strategy guide to help shape your Twitter strategy and inspire your next campaign.