Standing out on social networks and reaching the audience you want is increasingly complicated. Instagram, a social network where more than 65,000 photos are published per minute, it is practically impossible to reach more users if you do not know the necessary strategies. When it comes to using Instagram hashtags, it can be a touchy subject, because some people hate them and others love them too much. But do you know that posts with at least one Instagram hashtag averages 12.6% more engagement than posts without a hashtag?
What is a Hashtag?
Hashtags are a term or set of terms preceded by the symbol “#” that are used in social networks to describe the topic that is discussed in a publication or post. They are also known by the name of tags on Instagram.
They help users find content related to their interests. For example, by doing an Instagram search with the hashtag #mountain, we will find hundreds of thousands of photos of users who have photographed landscapes with mountains and have used that hashtag to tag their publication.
For this reason, you also have to start using hashtags when promoting your brand online. It will help you achieve greater visibility because not only will your followers see your content, but many more users will potentially be able to access it. So don’t waste the opportunity; use them in all your posts.
Traditionally, professional photographers have been the quintessential experts using hashtags for photos. But any business should know what hashtags to use to get followers and have more likes on Instagram. Use hashtags related to your brand.
Hashtags, unless it’s a case in point, have no hidden meaning. Influencers, companies or any account that wants to grow uses them to get followers and earn likes. So, if your business is in the process of growth, it can be a very interesting tool to achieve your goals.
Many popular hashtags are English acronyms that try to make some sense of the post they’re accompanying. For example, do you know what TBT means on social media? Throwback Thursday (something like “the memory of Thursdays”), usually accompanies an old photo. WHAT ABOUT OOTD? Outfit of the day (“ outfit of the day “), very popular in fashion-related posts.
Also Read: 5 Ways To Convert Your Instagram Audience Into Customers
On Instagram, you can use up to 30 hashtags and there are couple of strategies to be followed when it comes to the number of hashtags.
- Less than 10 hashtags: A study shows that engagement decreases as the number of hashtags increases. Other observers recommend choosing a limited number of hashtags and selected with goldsmith precision.
- Using 30 hashtags: Instagrammers who scrupulously followed these recommendations came back. They saw a real drop in engagement on their posts (yet of the same quality as the previous ones) and resumed their habits and again saw an increase in the popularity of their content.
Use the strategy below to find the right hashtags for your Instagram posts:
List your keywords
Before anything else, start making a list of hashtags that people could use if they were looking for your content. For example, if you are a salad bowl, some obvious first hashtags are #salad, #mixedsalad, #dietetic, #eathealthy, #healthy, etc.
Test your list in the search box
When you type the first letters of a #hashtag in the search box, Instagram will automatically suggest several popular keywords starting with those letters. You will no doubt discover other hashtags that you might not have thought of.
When you type your #hashtag in the search box, then wait for the results. You will find a few lines below a list of associated hashtags suggested by Instagram.
A simple Google search should shed light on the hashtags most used by Internet users on Instagram in 2020, for example. Be careful, these are also perhaps the ones on which there is the most competition. And not all of them are necessarily relevant to your industry!
Get inspired by influencers
A simple keyword search will allow you to discover the most popular publications with your hashtag. Take a closer look at what other hashtags these publications incorporate and if they are also relevant to you!
To save space or for aesthetic reasons, some users post their hashtags in the first comment of the publication. So this is where you will find hashtag ideas!
By using a popular hashtag you make sure you bring more visibility to your content. The problem is that using overly popular hashtags (hundreds of millions of uses) is likely to drown your post quickly. This is all the more true if your account has few subscribers.
Conversely, a less followed but well targeted hashtag can give very interesting results in terms of engagement .
It’s up to you to find the happy medium . To do this, locate the popularity of a hashtag (for example with the Instagram search tool) and rank them according to this data:
· Unpopular : 500 to 10,000 publications using this hashtag
· Popular : From 20,000 to 100,000 publications using this hashtag
· Very popular : 100,000 to 500,000 publications using this hashtag
It’s up to you to find the right dosage. Start with 30% of the first category, 40% of the second and 30% of the third. There is no sure rule, each experience is different, each content is different, it’s up to you to find the recipe that suits you.
1. Webstagram
This is the simplest and free tool that you can find to choose hashtags. It acts as a hashtags search engine: simply, you write your topic and the tool shows you a list with the best hashtags around that topic.
But it doesn’t stop there. In addition to hashtags, it shows you what other users are related to your content. You can use this to establish connection loops, find out what hashtags they are using, etc.
2. Display Purposes
The most characteristic thing about this free tool is that you can write a hashtag of your choice and find all the related terms.
In addition, you can also filter the search based on location. Thus, finding the hashtags closest to your audience is far from a problem.
3. Hashtracking
It is a powerful tool that allows you to analyze a hashtag thoroughly. In addition to being able to see the number of impressions, likes, comments, etc., it offers a handful of functionalities such as seeing what colors have been used in the most valued images, what related hashtags we should use and many other things. However, it is a paid tool for which you will have to pay at least $60 a month.
4. Tagsleuth
We have talked long and hard about how to choose our hashtag, but what if we want to create our own hashtag? For an event, for example.
Then we can use Tagsleuth , a tool that will be of great help to you when creating and tracking your hashtags. They analyze the data through different social networks and allow you to compare the results. Subscription plans start at $25 a month.
The best hashtag for Instagram will be the one you choose
Whatever tool you use, don’t forget that quantity is not equal to quality. Only by trial and error will you find the best hashtags for Instagram. Once again, run away from anyone who promises you a definitive list with “150 hashtags to get likes” or a “top tag for Instagram”. Using hashtags to gain free followers is a good decision, but act smart.
And remember that it will take some time to see results. Instagram tracks users’ accounts for valuable content. Even if you start using quality hashtags, this social network will take some time to start “trusting” you and your content. So don’t despair if you don’t see much improvement at first. In the long term, the results may start to become more and more visible.
And, if after a while, you see that your strategy still doesn’t work, investigate again and try other combinations. In the end you will find the perfect recipe.
