How to Find Trending Hashtags on Twitter to Boost Engagement

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Think of finding trending hashtags on Twitter as a two-pronged attack. First, you've got the quick-and-dirty method right inside the platform itself. Then, for a more surgical strike, you bring in the heavy artillery: analytics tools like SuperX. Using both ensures you're not just seeing what's popular, but what's actually relevant and valuable to your specific audience.

Let's cut through the noise. Of course, trending hashtags get you more eyeballs. That's the obvious part. But the real magic? It’s all about connection. When you tap into the right trend, you’re plugging directly into niche communities that are already fired up and ready to engage—audiences you’d struggle to reach otherwise.

A trending hashtag isn't just a searchable tag; it's a digital block party. People are gathering there for a reason. They want to share an opinion, crack a joke, or just feel like they're part of a moment. When you show up, you’re not an outsider crashing the event. You're joining a conversation that’s already buzzing with energy.

The Psychology of Joining the Conversation

Why do we love a good trend? It's simple human psychology. Jumping into a trending discussion gives us a little hit of social validation. It makes us feel connected and part of something bigger. For brands, this creates an audience that is incredibly receptive.

When you slide into that conversation authentically, you're tapping into all that positive energy. This isn't about slapping #SuperBowl onto a tweet about marketing software. It's about finding a trend that genuinely overlaps with your brand's world and adding something real to the mix. Nail this, and you build authority and spark interactions that feel organic, not forced.

The right hashtag can be the difference between a tweet that gets a few likes and one that opens the door to a flood of new followers, customers, and genuine fans. The interactions are just more powerful because they start with an interest the user already has.

The goal isn't just to ride the wave of a trend; it's to turn that fleeting energy into a lasting connection with your community. By showing up thoughtfully, you prove your brand is dialed in, relevant, and actually listening.

The sheer scale of these conversations is mind-boggling. Every single day, users share around 125 million hashtags, spanning every topic imaginable from #learning to #ai. This just goes to show that no matter how specific your niche is, there's a conversation happening that you can be a part of.

Building a Strategy That Outlasts the Trend

Authentic engagement has a ripple effect that lasts long after a hashtag stops trending. Every meaningful reply and retweet signals to Twitter's algorithm that your content is worth seeing, which can give your entire profile a nice little boost.

To do this right, you need to get comfortable with two different ways of finding trends. Here's a quick look at the two main approaches.

Native Twitter Features vs Third-Party Tools

This table breaks down the two main ways to find trending hashtags. Think of it as your cheat sheet for choosing the right tool for the job.

Method	Best For	Key Advantage	Limitation
Native Twitter Features	Quick, on-the-fly trend spotting and seeing what's popular in your region.	It's free, built-in, and personalized to your activity. Super easy to use.	Lacks deep data; shows you what is trending, not why or for how long.
Third-Party Tools (like SuperX)	In-depth strategic planning and finding niche or emerging trends before they peak.	Provides rich data like velocity, sentiment, and related keywords.	Usually comes with a subscription cost and a slight learning curve.

Using a mix of both is where you'll find the sweet spot. The native 'Explore' tab is perfect for jumping on immediate, mainstream conversations. For deeper strategic plays, a tool like SuperX gives you the data to find trends before they hit the big time.

Mastering both lets you build a dynamic content strategy—one that balances broad, pop-culture moments with highly targeted, niche opportunities. If you really want to dig in and learn how to use data to your advantage, our guide on how to go viral on Twitter using a data-driven approach is the perfect next step.

Getting the Most Out of Twitter’s Own Discovery Tools

Before you even start thinking about third-party analytics tools, you need to get really good at using the powerful features Twitter gives you for free. Honestly, the platform’s own discovery tools are your first and best bet for spotting what’s buzzing in real-time.

If you know where to look and how to tweak the settings, you can turn the standard Twitter interface into your own personal trend-spotting command center.

The most obvious place to start is the #Explore tab on your desktop or the search tab on your phone. This is Twitter’s main hub for aggregating news, topics, and hashtags that are picking up steam. But don't just glance at the default list and call it a day—the real magic is in the customization.

Fine-Tuning Your "Trends for You" Feed

Out of the box, Twitter curates trends based on your location and who you follow. This is actually a pretty solid starting point for finding conversations that are already relevant to you. Think of it as a friend who only shares news they know you'll care about.

But what if you need a wider lens? Maybe you're a US-based brand trying to connect with a UK audience. In that scenario, knowing what’s trending in your own backyard isn’t going to help much.

This is where you can manually switch up your trend location. Go into the Explore tab's settings and you can see what’s popular in any country or city around the globe. This is a game-changer for international brands or for anyone planning a campaign aimed at a specific regional audience.

Go Global: Get a bird's-eye view of worldwide events and conversations.

Zoom In Regionally: Target specific countries to build localized marketing campaigns.

Get Hyper-Local: Drill down into city-specific conversations for super-targeted engagement.

This simple tweak lets you peek into different cultural moments, helping you craft content that feels authentic and local, no matter where your business is based.

Digging Deeper with Advanced Search

While the Explore tab shows you what’s hot right now, Twitter’s Advanced Search is your secret weapon for finding consistently valuable hashtags. It’s one of the most powerful—and most overlooked—tools available to marketers. I like to think of it as a time machine that lets you see which hashtags killed it in your niche over the past few weeks, months, or even years.

For instance, a fitness coach could use Advanced Search to pull up all tweets from last January that used #NewYearNewMe and got over 1,000 likes. This doesn't just give you the hashtag; it shows you the exact content that performed best, handing you a proven blueprint for your own posts.

Pro Tip: Use Advanced Search to do a little friendly snooping on your competitors. Search for their Twitter handle and add a filter for a minimum number of replies. This quickly reveals which of their posts sparked the most conversation and, more importantly, which hashtags they used to do it.

This approach is perfect for unearthing evergreen hashtags—the kind of tags that are always active within a specific community, like #WritingCommunity for authors or #SocialMediaMarketing for us marketers. They might not always be on the main "Trends for you" list, but they’re packed with your target audience. Finding these recurring hashtags is how you build a sustainable content strategy, not just chase fleeting trends.

Learning From What Works for Others

Honestly, one of the best ways to learn how to find trending hashtags on Twitter is to just watch what the successful accounts in your space are already doing. Don't just follow them—study them.

When you see a tweet from an industry leader getting tons of engagement, pay close attention to the hashtags they’re using. Are they broad or super niche? Are they jumping on a well-known conversation like #ThrowbackThursday?

Here’s a simple routine to put this into practice:

List 5-10 key influencers or top brands in your niche.

Check their profiles regularly and see which tweets get the most action.

Click on the hashtags they use in those killer posts. Is the conversation lively? Is it a good fit for your brand?

This kind of manual research provides priceless context. A trending hashtag might look tempting, but seeing how a respected account uses it can give you the confidence to join the conversation in a way that feels natural. By combining the immediate intel from the Explore tab with the historical data from Advanced Search and some good old-fashioned competitor analysis, you can build a powerful, native strategy for finding hashtags that actually drive results. For more on this, check out our guide on how to get more engagement on Twitter.

Diving Deeper with Analytics Tools

While Twitter's own features are great for a quick look at what's buzzing, they really only scratch the surface. If you want to get serious about your strategy and start catching trends before everyone else does, you need to bring in the heavy hitters. This is where dedicated analytics tools like Brand24, Sprout Social, or our own SuperX really shine.

Think of it this way: Twitter's Explore tab gives you the final score of the game. Analytics tools give you the entire game tape. You can watch every play, check individual player stats, and see the exact strategies that led to the win. They provide the rich context and hard data you need to stop guessing and start making truly strategic moves.

So, instead of just seeing that #MarketingMonday is trending, a robust analytics platform gives you the full story. You can see how fast that hashtag is gaining momentum, which influential accounts are driving the conversation, and whether the overall vibe is positive or negative. This is the kind of detail that helps you go from just jumping on trends to building a powerful brand presence around them.

The chart below lays it out pretty clearly. There's a big difference in effectiveness when you move from only using native features to incorporating a proper analytics tool.

As the data shows, it's not just about finding more hashtags. It's about finding the right ones, which translates directly into a serious boost in engagement.

Predicting What's Next with Hashtag Velocity

One of the coolest and most powerful metrics these tools offer is hashtag velocity. This isn't just about how many people are using a hashtag, but how fast its use is accelerating. Spotting a hashtag with high velocity is your ticket to getting in on a trend as it’s just taking off. You get to be the early adopter, not the brand that shows up late to the party.

For instance, you might spot a new hashtag like #FutureofAI starting to pop up among a small, influential circle of tech leaders. It’s not big enough to hit the main "Trends for you" list yet, but an analytics tool will flag its rapid growth. This gives you a crucial head start to craft some smart content and establish your brand's voice before the conversation gets crowded.

By tracking velocity, you stop reacting to what's popular and start anticipating what will be popular. Honestly, this proactive approach is a massive competitive advantage.

This is also a fantastic way to uncover niche hashtags your competition is completely missing. While they're all duking it out over a broad tag like #Business, you could be quietly dominating a smaller, more valuable conversation like #B2BTechSales and connecting with a much more engaged audience. Understanding the whole picture is everything, which is why we break down why you should use Twitter analytics to elevate your social media game over on our blog.

Understanding the Story Behind the Trend

Finding a hot hashtag is only half the job. You have to understand the story and the sentiment behind it, especially for brand safety. Jumping on a trend without knowing the context is a surefire way to create a PR nightmare.

Let's say a hashtag like #MarketingFail is trending. On the surface, that seems relevant for a marketing agency, right? But a quick sentiment analysis would show you the conversation is overwhelmingly negative, full of people calling out brands for huge mistakes. Joining that conversation with the wrong tone could be an absolute disaster.

A good analytics platform will let you:

Track Sentiment: Instantly gauge if the feelings around a hashtag are positive, negative, or neutral. This is your first line of defense against accidentally associating your brand with something toxic.

Identify Key Influencers: Pinpoint the specific accounts driving the conversation. A little engagement with these power users can amplify your message in a big way.

Discover Related Hashtags: See what other tags are being used alongside your main one. This is a simple trick to broaden your reach and tap into adjacent discussions.

Key Metrics for Hashtag Analysis

When you first open an analytics tool, the amount of data can feel a bit overwhelming. Focusing on a few key metrics will help you cut through the noise and find the gold.

Understanding these metrics in an analytics tool will help you choose hashtags that deliver the best results.

Metric	What It Tells You	Why It Matters
Reach & Impressions	The potential size of the audience that saw the hashtag.	Helps you gauge the overall visibility of a trend and its potential impact.
Volume of Mentions	The total number of times the hashtag has been used over a period.	Shows the raw popularity and activity level of a conversation.
Hashtag Velocity	How quickly the usage of a hashtag is growing.	Allows you to spot emerging trends before they become mainstream.
Sentiment Analysis	The emotional tone (positive, negative, neutral) of the conversation.	Critical for brand safety and ensuring you join conversations that align with your brand values.

These metrics work together to give you a complete view of a hashtag's health and potential.

Ultimately, using analytics completely changes your approach to finding trending hashtags. You're no longer just a passive observer; you become an informed strategist. Of course, this goes beyond just one hashtag's performance. For a deeper dive, check out this excellent guide on how to measure social media engagement. This data-first approach ensures you aren’t just chasing fleeting moments but are building a smart, sustainable strategy that gets real results.

How to Choose the Right Hashtags for Your Content

Finding a trending hashtag is one thing. Knowing which ones to actually use for your brand? That's a whole different ball game. It’s easy to get caught up in chasing whatever’s popular, but without a smart approach, you're just throwing content into the wind and hoping something sticks.

This is where you need to put on your strategist hat. The real goal is to figure out if joining a trend will actually move the needle for you—whether that's getting more eyes on your brand, pulling in new leads, or just building a stronger community. Otherwise, you’re just adding to the noise.

Broad vs. Niche Hashtags: Know the Difference

One of the first things you learn is the massive difference between huge, general hashtags and the smaller, more targeted ones. I like to think of it as the difference between shouting in a crowded stadium and having a great conversation at a small dinner party.

Using a broad tag like #marketing is like being in that stadium. Sure, there's a massive crowd, but they’re all there for different reasons, and your voice can easily get lost. You might get a few quick impressions, but you're up against thousands of others.

Now, a niche hashtag like #B2BSaaSMarketing is that intimate dinner party. The group is much smaller, but everyone at the table is genuinely interested in what you have to say. The engagement you get here is almost always more valuable. The best strategies usually find a way to use a mix of both.

The Relevance Gut-Check

Before you even think about slapping a hashtag on your tweet, run it through this quick three-question filter. It’s a simple gut-check that has saved me from some cringey, off-brand posts more times than I can count.

Does this actually fit my content? The hashtag has to be directly tied to what your tweet is about. Forcing #SuperBowl onto a post about your new productivity app just because it's trending is a fast track to looking spammy.

Does this fit my brand’s vibe? If your brand has a serious, professional tone, jumping on a silly meme trend might confuse your audience. Make sure the conversation's tone matches the personality you've built for your brand.

Does this fit my audience? Seriously, would your ideal customer be looking for or clicking on this hashtag? Put yourself in their shoes. If the answer is "probably not," then it’s the wrong tag, no matter how many people are using it.

When you nail this alignment, the results can be huge. Just look at major events. During awards season, #Grammys was used in over 4 million tweets and #Oscars in nearly 3.9 million. That's the kind of visibility you can tap into when your content perfectly matches a trending conversation.

A relevant hashtag isn't just a label. It's a signal to both people and the algorithm that your content is a valuable part of a specific conversation.

At its core, all of this is about getting the right message in front of the right people. Choosing hashtags is really just a social media spin on keyword research. If that's a new concept for you, getting a handle on the basics with something like keyword research for beginners will give you a really solid foundation.

Finding the Right Mix of Trendy and Evergreen Tags

A great hashtag strategy isn't just about what's blowing up right now. It's about building a balanced portfolio of tags that do different jobs for you. Trending tags give you a quick visibility boost, but it's the evergreen ones that provide steady, reliable value over the long haul.

Trending Hashtags: These are your go-to for jumping into real-time conversations. Think holidays, cultural moments, or breaking news. They're perfect for showing your brand is current and for grabbing a burst of short-term attention.

Evergreen Hashtags: These are the bedrock of your community. Tags like #WritingCommunity or #B2BMarketing are always buzzing with activity. They connect you with your core audience day in and day out, helping you build a real presence in your niche.

Your content plan should have a healthy dose of both. Use your evergreen, community-focused tags on your daily value-packed content, and keep an eye out for relevant trending tags to sprinkle in when the opportunity feels right. This balanced approach helps you build something that lasts, not just chase fleeting moments.

To really dive deep into building this strategy, be sure to check out our full guide on how to do hashtag research the right way.

Hashtag Mistakes Everyone Makes (And How to Not Be That Person)

It's surprisingly easy to mess up hashtags. One wrong move and your carefully crafted tweet goes from insightful to spammy, out-of-touch, or worse, offensive. Let's walk through the most common pitfalls I've seen brands stumble into, so you can confidently use hashtags to get your content seen, not buried.

Think of this as your guide to avoiding the classic blunders.

Mistake 1: The Hashtag Wall of Shame

You’ve seen it. That one tweet crammed with a dozen hashtags, desperately clawing for attention. It usually looks something like this: "Check out our new blog post! #marketing #contentmarketing #seo #growthhacking #business #startup #digitalmarketing."

We call this hashtag stuffing, and it’s the fastest way to look like you're shouting into the void.

Not only does it look terrible to a human reader, but the Twitter algorithm is smart enough to see this as spammy behavior. You might actually hurt your tweet's reach instead of helping it. It just screams desperation.

The Fix: Breathe. Quality trumps quantity every single time. Stick to one or two highly relevant hashtags. This focused approach tells both people and the algorithm exactly what your tweet is about, attracting the right kind of engagement.

Mistake 2: Jumping on a Trend You Don't Understand

Hopping on a trending hashtag can feel like a shortcut to viral fame, but it's a minefield if you don't look before you leap. A hashtag can trend for all sorts of reasons—some of them sensitive, controversial, or just completely bizarre.

I once saw a B2B software company try to use a trending hashtag about a celebrity divorce to promote their project management tool. It was cringe-worthy. The backlash was swift because they forced their way into a conversation where they clearly didn't belong.

Before you even think about using a trending tag, do one simple thing: click on it. Spend a few minutes reading the top tweets. Get the vibe, understand the context, and see who's talking. If it feels off, it is. Stay away.

Mistake 3: Using Vague, Meaningless Hashtags

Generic hashtags like #viral or #business might seem like a good idea because they're so popular, but they're a trap. Your tweet will be instantly swallowed up in a massive, chaotic stream of totally unrelated content.

Think about it: the person searching for #fyp (a TikTok tag with an insane 35 trillion views) isn't looking for your insights on enterprise software. While tags like #trending are popular on Twitter, they are useless unless your content is genuinely about a trending topic. For a deeper dive into the numbers, this comprehensive statistical overview on hashtags is fascinating.

The Fix: Get specific. Really specific.

Instead of #business, try #SmallBusinessTips.

Instead of #marketing, try #ContentStrategy.

This ensures you’re reaching people who are actively searching for the exact value you provide.

Mistake 4: Ignoring the "Why" Behind the Trend

Not all attention is good attention. A hashtag can explode in popularity because of a PR disaster, a public safety issue, or a social controversy. Accidentally attaching your brand to a negative conversation is a recipe for a reputation crisis.

Here’s a real-world scenario:

The Tweet: A local cafe posts, "Stuck in traffic? Swing by for a pick-me-up! #MorningRush"

The Hidden Context: Unbeknownst to them, #MorningRush is trending because of a massive, city-wide transit strike causing commuter chaos.

The Result: The brand comes off as profoundly tone-deaf and insensitive. Ouch.

The Fix: Always, always investigate the sentiment behind a trend. A quick search on Twitter or using an analytics tool like SuperX can show you the overall feeling of the conversation. This one simple check can save you from a major public blunder and help you find genuinely positive moments to engage with.

Got Hashtag Questions? We've Got Answers

Once you start digging into hashtags, you'll inevitably run into a few tricky questions. Everyone does. Let's clear up some of the most common ones so you can build a killer hashtag strategy with confidence.

Seriously, How Many Hashtags Should I Use?

This is the big one, right? The answer is simple: don't overdo it.

While you can technically cram your tweet full of hashtags, it just looks spammy and desperate. No one wants to see that. The real sweet spot is one to two incredibly relevant hashtags. That's it.

Why? A focused approach keeps your tweet clean and easy to read. More importantly, it sends a crystal-clear signal to the algorithm (and to people!) about what your content is about. Always, always choose quality over quantity. One perfect hashtag beats ten random ones every single time.

What's the Deal with Following vs. Tracking a Hashtag?

They sound the same, but they’re completely different plays in your strategy.

Following is casual. You pop #MarketingTwitter into the search bar to see what's new, read a few posts, and get the general vibe. It’s like window shopping for conversations.

Tracking, on the other hand, is a serious, data-backed move. This is when you use an analytics tool like SuperX to watch a hashtag’s performance over time. You’re monitoring metrics like mention volume, reach, and sentiment to see if it's actually worth your time.

Think of it this way: following is about the content, while tracking is about the performance.

Can I Put Hashtags in My Twitter Bio?

Yep, and you absolutely should! Adding a clickable hashtag to your bio is a smart, low-effort way to boost your discoverability.

You could use your own branded hashtag (like #SuperX) or a key industry tag you want to be known for (like #SaaS). When someone searches for that tag, your profile can show up. It’s a great little signal that tells visitors exactly what you're all about the second they land on your page.

Timing is everything. You want to ride the wave, not get drowned by it.

Using a trending hashtag is most powerful when the conversation is really heating up, but before it gets so ridiculously crowded that your tweet disappears in seconds.

The sweet spot is the early-to-mid stage of a trend's life. It's already got momentum, but it's not totally saturated yet. That's your window to get seen by a massive, engaged audience before the noise takes over.

Of course, this also depends on when your audience is online. Marrying a trending topic with your followers' peak activity times is the ultimate power move. If you want to get scientific about it, our guide on the best times to tweet can help you maximize your reach. Finding the right hashtag is just one piece of the puzzle; knowing when to use it is what separates the pros from the rest.

Ready to stop guessing and start making smarter decisions with your data? SuperX delivers the insights you need to truly understand your audience, track what's working, and grow your presence on X. Try SuperX today and see what you've been missing.