The Ultimate Hashtag Cheat Sheet (Infographic) New to Twitter? Or Instagram? Here's some #hashtags101 action for you.

By Kim Lachance Shandrow

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

By now you know that hashtags are like clickable magnets, drawing eyeballs to your social content. But did you know that if you use too many -- more than two or so per post -- it can actually drive people away? That is with the exception of Instagram, where numerous hashtag use is the norm and reel in tons of views. Eleven hashtags per post on the photo-sharing hub is the magic number...for now.

Sounds like a lot to remember? It can be. Each social platform has its own unwritten rules for hashtaggery and they're constantly changing.

Related: #HashtagFails? 5 Tips That Will Change Your Fortune

On Twitter, tweets bearing hashtags rack up double the engagement (clicks, retweets, replies and favorites). On Google+ -- surprise -- you don't even have to add hashtags to your posts. The Big G's social network automatically adds them for you, but you can edit them and add your own to better target your audience.

Over on Facebook, where hashtags yielded sluggish engagement at first, hashtagged posts pack .80 percent more viral punch per Facebook Page fan, according to Entrepreneur contributor and KISSMetrics co-founder Neil Patel. The social-media expert put together the helpful hashtag cheat sheet below, published last week on his blog Quick Sprout, to help social-media marketers know how many hashtags to use on which social platforms and why.

Related: 3 Ways to Leverage Hashtags to Enhance Your Brand

Here's how you can start hashtagging like a pro:

Click to Enlarge+
Ultimate Guide to Hashtags (Infographic)

Kim Lachance Shandrow

Former West Coast Editor

Kim Lachance Shandrow is the former West Coast editor at Entrepreneur.com. Previously, she was a commerce columnist at Los Angeles CityBeat, a news producer at MSNBC and KNBC in Los Angeles and a frequent contributor to the Los Angeles Times. She has also written for Government Technology magazine, LA Yoga magazine, the Lowell Sun newspaper, HealthCentral.com, PsychCentral.com and the former U.S. Surgeon General, Dr. C. Everett Coop. Follow her on Twitter at @Lashandrow. You can also follow her on Facebook here

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