Hashtags play a vital role in Instagram users’ discovery journeys, exposing marketers to subsets of the population with same interests.
With all these additional features and vastly varied character counts, hashtags may now be even more crucial to Instagram marketing than they were to Twitter marketing (where they originally debuted on August 23, 2007).
Best practises for using Instagram hashtags to promote your business or cause are discussed here.
Everything from finding the right hashtags for your content to using them effectively will be discussed.
When I initially started Instagram, I was annoyed that I had to use hashtags.
Not only did I not enjoy Twitter, but I also became weary of seeing the hashtag #FOMO attached to so many tweets. As I dug more into my studies, I realised, “We’re not in Kansas anymore, Todo.”
My first takeaway is that, despite their shared fundamental function and occasional use of identical terminology, Twitter and Instagram hashtags are mostly used in quite distinct ways.
Clickable hashtags in a bio may direct people to feeds full of user-created material, making this statement much more relevant now than it was before because users can now follow hashtags and UGC campaigns are utilised more frequently on Instagram than Twitter.
Rule Number One of Instagram Hashtags: Always Be Prepared
Learn as much as you can. You should have a solid plan for which hashtags to use, or else you risk overusing meaningless phrases.
Conducting studies in the marketplace. Check out the language used by your target market and competitors in the same field. To check if a certain hashtag is currently being used or is useful to your goals, simply click on it.
Studying the competition. This is a part of the market analysis, but its sole purpose is to learn more about your rivals. Where can I find their hashtags? Find the similarities and any unfamiliar phrases that you believe would interest your readers.
Research using hash-tag apps. Hashtagify, which ranks the relative popularity of hashtags and other phrases, is my go-to. Find out which hashtags get the most attention so you can utilise them to expand your audience and attract new followers.
Establish a Branded Hashtag and Constantly Disseminate It
Most competitions and user-generated content initiatives will require participants to use a branded hashtag as part of the entry process.
You can easily track down user-generated content (UGC) people are posting about your brand, and you can leverage it to attract consumers to feeds of material published by and about you.
My go-to footwear, Tieks, has amassed an impressive quantity of user-generated material on Instagram. Branded hashtag searches for Tieks nearly invariably return images posted by Instagram users. It worked on me; I finally gave in and bought my first pair as a result.
Blend It Up
Except for your branded hashtag, you should vary the hashtags you use.
Maintaining variety increases the likelihood of connecting with as many viewers as possible.
Think of them as keywords; your goal should be to include as many as possible.
I find that pre-scheduling material for clients makes the process much more manageable.
Always Put Tags Under Your Caption
Although you want to make use of hashtags in your actual caption, you don’t want to inundate users with them.
The main content and the majority of the hashtags are always separated by at least one line in my posts.
This increases the likelihood that people will read the caption and makes it easy for them to do so, all without reducing your exposure.
Make Use of the Terms Your Followers Are Looking For
Like search engine optimisation (SEO), hashtags might be useful. It makes no difference if you have the number one position for a term that receives zero searches per month.
It might be challenging to locate your target audience at times.
Now imagine you own a restaurant and want to advertise it by reaching out to a local food blogger who writes about the area. When I don’t know what to write, I just put “food blogger” (other options include “health blogger,” “life coach,” “world traveller,” “tech junkie,” and so on).
Try Method
The optimal amount of hashtags to employ for optimum interaction has been the subject of some minorly contradicting information.
Interest levels rise to that degree, then decline.
After all, you can use up to 30 hashtags each post.
To broaden their audience, some firms will employ 30 hashtags total, including 10 geo-specific tags, 10 broad-appeal tags, and 10 specialised tags.
Prioritise Your Most Valuable Hashtags
You’ve got a good chunk of hashtags ready to go. Excellent! Now comes the time when you must make a calculated decision on which hashtags to use initially.
Whether you use 8 or 30, users are unlikely to read through all of your hashtags. Put the hashtags you want them to see first, such “#bestcustomersever” or “#shareyourthoughts.”
This is also true for hashtags that are meant for fun, since it will boost the number of people who read them.
