As an independent filmmaker, social media can be your best friend and your worst enemy. As much as you may hate it, it is a necessary evil when it comes to marketing your work–a reality which can cause huge amounts of stress for even the most confident filmmakers. In today’s society, it is vital to keep your Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram up to date in order to generate buzz, and keep it. One of the best ways to spread the word and promote your film is through the use of hashtags.

Here at Colaborator, we use social media constantly to speak to our target group of professional filmmakers. These are the hashtags that we have found most effective in reaching that filmmaking community:

1) #indiefilm

The most popular hashtag when it comes to independent films. Using this will put you in front of a broad group of artists and enthusiasts. Although it may not be as fascinating or specific as you would like, you will be broadcasting to a very large audience.

2) #filmmaking, #filmmakers

Social media helps level the playing field in all industries, including this one. Filmmakers can share their work and learn from others without spending a penny. These two are bread and butter for your hashtag blocks.

3) #FilmmakersFriday

But only on Friday, of course!

4) #SupportIndieFilm

According to RiteTag.com, this hashtag gets exposure to about 69,775 users per hour. This is an important hashtag because it’s not necessarily composed of all filmmakers. They may be aspiring actors or simply people who like to watch independent films. This includes people looking to help crowdfund or support films they think deserve to be noticed.

5) #Crowdfunding

Another one to attract those interested in supporting independent projects.

6) #Scriptchat

This one works particularly well if you're interested in reaching writers and writing fans looking to give feedback on, and develop, budding projects. A great source of likes and shares, as fellow working writers support each other.

7) #filmcurious

Seed & Spark is a popular crowdfunding service for filmmakers with a 75% success rate on their campaigns. They have biweekly Twitter chats using the hashtag #filmcurious to discuss their experiences and advice, as well as connect with the filmmaking community in general. They’ve also hosted guest speakers like entertainment lawyers. Networking can be a powerful tool for bringing new interest and audiences to your work.

8) #WomeninFilm

Identity-based support hashtags are huge, and none huger than #WomeninFilm. It leads to surprisingly large amounts of likes and shares, as activists are more likely than anybody to promote projects that support their missions.

9) #[genre]

Attract more attention by targeting a specific area of interest. Is your film a documentary? Add in: #documentary, or go a step further and include the general subject (eg: #food #foodie #documentary, #fooddoc). Trying to engage a specific group related to your theme? Add a specific hashtag that they would follow. For example, if your film has a strong female presence, hashtag #womeninfilm. The world of indie film is vast, and letting people know the focus of your work will help it gain relevance.

Using hashtagify.me, you can search the subject of your film and see what hashtags are most closely related. This will also help you find Twitter influencers in that area and figure out the kinds of things they tweet and hashtag to their large followings.

10) #[YourMovieTitle]

This may seem a little obvious, but it’s important. Creative film titles draw people’s curiosity. Using a title hashtag will also allow your followers to easily keep up to date with news about the film, especially if you are tweeting from a personal account rather than one created for your film.

*Note: Depending on what you have decided to name your film, you might want to include the word “film” or “movie” in your hashtag. For example, Spotlight (who just won best picture) used the hashtag/handle “SpotlightMovie” to avoid ambiguity.

Honorable Mention: Trending hashtags

Also remember to keep up with trending hashtags. This could mean entertainment award shows, moviemaking news, or film festivals. It could also mean just something random going on in the news that is somewhat relevant to your film. If it is at all related, tweet about it! Those tags get a lot of traffic and someone who would not normally come across your work might just do that.