Instagram hashtags remain one of the best ways to get more people to see your Instagram post. Using one Instagram post already ensures your post gets 12.6% more engagement than a post without a single hashtag. This is why having a hashtag strategy is important if you’re looking to grow your brand on Instagram.
Bear in mind that the Instagram hashtags can affect your Instagram posts positively or negatively. When used right, it could get your post in front of people who are interested in seeing it, but if misused, it could get you penalized by the Instagram algorithm or get you followers that are irrelevant to your brand.
To find the best hashtag for your account, you need to understand how it works, what it really is, and the best strategy to use them. People have many questions about hashtags because knowing which ones to use to get discovered by the right audience is confusing.
Some people are also unaware of whether the hashtags should be placed in the comment section or used as the post caption.
Another common question being asked by Instagram users is how many hashtags should be used for each post. Wondering where you can learn all of this? You’re in the right spot; let’s dive into it.
What Are Hashtags
The hashtag is a common phenomenon, but not many people really understand what it is and how it works. Hashtags are created with a combination of numbers, letters, and emojis. The # symbol precedes everything, and it is usually used to categorize a post on Instagram.
An Instagram hashtag makes it much easier to discover content on Instagram, and they are clickable. When you click on a hashtag, Instagram searches and provides the Instagram user with a page containing all the posts that have ever used that hashtag. It is the fastest way to find your interests on Instagram.
Why is Instagram Hashtags Important
If you want to expand your Instagram audience, then hashtags are the way to go without promoting on Instagram. It puts your post on the page for that hashtag. If you choose to use a hashtag when posting an Instagram story, your post will appear amongst the relevant hashtag stories for that page.
Anyone who chooses to search or follow that hashtag is presented with your post on their feed, whether they follow you or not, and this is one way to get more followers on your post. Simply put, hashtags are like road signs. They direct people to your post and work like keywords; they help with visibility issues.
You can use an Instagram hashtag to build up a community online, and when you have a hashtag peculiar to your brand, it encourages people to engage with your brand as your brand comes up every time a person uses that brand.
It also helps people be part of a wider conversation if the hashtag revolves around a trending topic. Instagram hashtags can also help you connect with other Instagram users in your vicinity if the hashtag you’re using is peculiar to a certain location.
Various Types of Hashtags
Many people think hashtags are all the same, but they are actually divided into various categories. Being aware of the different kinds of hashtags and understanding them is a good method to find the best hashtag for your account on Instagram.
Below are the kinds of hashtags you’re bound to come across on Instagram.
Community Hashtags
This kind of hashtag usually connects users who are like-minded and brings them together on a particular topic. Using a community hashtag helps you connect with others through your post and makes it much easier to search out your post.
It helps you gain followers as millions of people are constantly using community hashtags, and if you create one of your own, it can help you grow a community of your own. There are various types of community hashtags you can explore; some of them include:
Products hashtags
Some hashtags are used to indicate a product or a kind of service on Instagram like #woolsweaters or #icecreamshop.
Niche hashtags
this is another popular community hashtag and connects many people in a single niche. It can also provide information for those who are interested in that niches. Examples of niche hashtags include #travellifestyle, #fitnessblogger or #weddingphotographers
Insta Communities Hashtags
You can also join other people who share the same interest with you on a particular hashtag. Most communities create hashtags of their own, and it allows you to locate posts related to those communities and put your post in the limelight if it is related.
Popular community hashtags include #fashionistasofinstagram, #foodies, #instagrambaker, or #makeupaddicts.
Events and Seasons Hashtags
This is another hashtag that is fast gaining popularity online. If you have posts related to an event, you can make it easier for people to see it using a hashtag. Some events and seasons hashtags include #inaugurationday, #valentineday, #newyear, #mother’sday.
Location hashtags
If you want to find those who live around you, using hashtags specific to that location is one way to do this. If you also want to find businesses or spots in that location, you can also use a hashtag location to narrow your search down.
Business owners make use of location hashtags to make people around their locations find their businesses even faster. Examples include #bakersinArizona, #lagosweddingplanners or #madeinLA.
Daily Hashtags
This usually refers to a particular day of the week and can be used whenever you post on such days. It is also a way to be part of a larger community, as many people tend to add these hashtags to their daily posts. Popular daily hashtags include #throwbackthurday, #mancrushmonday, and #tuesdaytoughts.
Phrases Hashtags
People also use phrases hashtags, especially when the phrase is relevant to their brand or business. It is a great way to get your products or brand to the right audience and in front of people actively searching for your business. Some examples include #blacklivesmatter, #streetstyle, and #keepgoing.
Acronyms Hashtags
This is also a type of hashtag that uses only acronyms; it is a trendy hashtag that has fast gained popularity. Examples are #ETH (Ethereum), #TGIF (Thank God It’s Friday), or #BLM (Black Lives Matter).
Emoji Hashtags
This usually consists of emojis alone and is used by many people to convey their feelings on a particular post. It is not a popular kind of hashtag.
You can use various hashtags on your posts and Instagram stories to ensure it reaches several communities at once. It ensures that your post reaches a crowd that’s looking for things similar to your posts.
Branded Hashtags
This is a unique type of hashtag connected to a particular community and redirects Instagram users to your business page when used or search on the social media platform.
A branded hashtag could simply be your business name; it could be your tagline or the name of your products. Sometimes the branded hashtag is not the name of your product or business but simply something that is wholly related to your brand identity.
Although community hashtags are supposed to increase your post’s audience, a branded hashtag is a form of connection between you and your audience. You can use a branded hashtag to promote a campaign online.
If you can get your followers and customers to use your branded hashtag, it helps to get your business in front of a new audience as their followers also get to see the post, which leads them back to you. Companies usually use it to drive awareness and give customers and followers a common ground to share content relevant to your brand.
You can ask customers who purchase your product to share pictures related to the product using the hashtag. By doing this, other people can simply tap on the hashtag and be redirected to other posts related to your business and, inevitably, your business Instagram page.
The best thing to do is to follow your own branded hashtag; this allows you to stay updated on all the new content being shared related to your brand.
Campaign Hashtags
This is a kind of hashtag with a very short lifespan. Community hashtags could last forever or at least several years. The same could be said for branded hashtags, but campaign hashtags are very different. They are created to simply run for days, weeks, or months.
They are tied to select campaigns like the launch of a new product, a partnership, or events. They help to gain engagement for such campaigns in very little time.
Finding the Best Hashtags For Your Instagram Account
If you utilize Instagram hashtags appropriately, you will be able to grow your posts’ reach and get more engagement on posts made on Instagram. It is also a great way to attract followers to your Instagram account, but you need to employ the right strategy and know the best hashtags to use and the right time to use them.
Just because a hashtag has been used many times doesn’t mean that you’ll get many likes or comments by adding them.
It’s rather advised that you use hashtags that are more niche-related and will provide you with an engaging audience significant to your brand.
The next question becomes knowing where to find these hashtags, and we’ve compiled five ways you can find the best and appropriate hashtags for your Instagram accounts. Interested? Let’s take a look.
Use Hashtag Suggestions Apps
If you need help deciding the right hashtags to use unique to your industry or brand, then you might need to check out some online apps that offer you this feature.
There are several hashtag suggestion apps online, and they work by helping you find trending hashtags related to your posts; this is done based on the kind of hashtags you’ve previously used and the kind of post. These apps present you with many options, and you simply need to pick out the ones you like or add them all and make your posts.
Study Your Audience
Everyone has a target audience; it would help if you studied your target audience to give you an idea of what they’re interested in. Simply throwing in popular hashtags doesn’t necessarily mean it would get to your audience.
Find the hashtag your preferred audience is using and ensure that you make use of hashtags with keywords your audience is actively searching for. Make sure your content fits in with the hashtag used, or you might lose the audience who will simply scroll past your Instagram posts.
Check Out the Competition
One way to know the best hashtag for your account is to check out what’s working for other brands or people in your network. Chances are there’s someone out there posting content similar to what you also are. If their product is similar to yours and the target audience is the same.
Review their contents and research the strategy they are using. Focus on the posts that performed really well, and then note down the hashtags that they used that apply to your posts and your brand. You can use these hashtags in your future post to see if it also works for you.
Learn from Industry Leaders
Every Industry has people who are doing well in that area. If you have an influence who has the same target audience you’re trying to break into, you should follow them. Research these industry leaders and get inspired by their post.
They are usually the best people to learn from because they are already grounded in the industry and are successfully reaching your target audience. They are the best in the market and are therefore the best people to learn for.
Include Similar Hashtags
Another way to find the best hashtags for your Instagram account is to find hashtags that are similar to yours. You can research trends that are similar to your posts and include them to grow your community. When you include your hashtag when writing a caption, Instagram presents you with top hashtags related to yours.
You can include them as they are a way to reach and engage with your communities. You can also check out posts that use hashtags related to yours and see if there’s a hashtag they’re using that’s been successful for them. You can note down these hashtags and then include them in future posts you intend to make.
How Do You Optimize Your Instagram Hashtag For Your Account
After you find the right hashtag for your account, you need to optimize the hashtag to ensure that it reaches the right audience to reach the right people.
Knowing what works isn’t enough; you also need to figure out how to make it work. Below are some tips on optimizing hashtags for your Instagram account to successfully reach your target audience and successfully grow your Instagram engagement rate.
Evaluate the Hashtag Analytics
One way to optimize your Instagram hashtag is to check out Instagram’s analytic tool to figure out what’s not working and hashtags that you can repeat in the future.
Note that the result will be limited, but apps that offer hashtags you can use for your posts usually offer insight into hashtags working and are more probably to drive comments or like to your post.
Instagram hashtag analytic tools show you the performance of your hashtags so you can cut out what’s not working for you and replace them with something better.
Aim for Top Results in a Hashtag-Related Search
If you search out a hashtag on Instagram, some posts are tagged top posts and are usually leading the results. If you want your posts to get discovered by a large audience, your best chances lie in getting to the top of the list.
This is because when people search out a hashtag, they usually check out the top posts and only check out other posts if they can’t find what they’re looking for.
Getting in the top posts works like getting a feature on the Instagram Explore Page; it could make your post go viral in little time.
How do you effectively get in the top post? You need to increase your engagement. The more engagement your post gets and the faster it happens, the quicker it gets to the top position.
Top posts are usually featured within seconds of it being uploaded. This means if you get a lot of engagement on your post in a short period, the Instagram algorithm interprets it as your post being quality and moves it to the |’top post’ category for searches.
Add Your Branded Hashtag To Your Bio
One way to optimize your hashtag if it is a branded hashtag is to add it to your Instagram bio. Instagram updates allow clickable hashtags to be added to bios. This is a great way to convert bio visits to website visits. This feature makes the Instagram bio even more functional because now you can promote your Instagram account.
You can also highlight your brand hashtags and also promote campaigns on your Instagram bio. All you have to do is add the # symbol before a word on your bio, and anyone can click it. This action will automatically redirect the visitor to your hashtag and every post made with the hashtag.
Place the Hashtags in the Comment Section
Using your hashtag in your comment section works well to place your comments in front of the right audience, but sometimes using many hashtags in your comment section can make the post look unorganized and make you seem spammy. To make your post look organized, you can simply paste the hashtags in the comment section.
This allows your caption remains the star of the posts while you can still get all the engagement you need with the hashtags you want in the comment section.
Include Hashtags in Instagram Stories
Most people are not made aware of this, but You can also use hashtags in Instagram stories. It is also a great and effective way for your story to be discovered by a larger audience.
Just like top posts work, when people search out a hashtag on the social media platform, they can see tagged stories. If the hashtag is a popular one, they are presented with a collection of stories tagged with the hashtag.
Guess whose story will be among the results? Yours! Users are allowed to add up to 10 hashtags to their story, and they can add a hashtag sticker to the mix. You can make them very small, so they don’t interfere with your story but ensure they’re not too small that the Instagram algorithm doesn’t pick up on it.
Avoid Banned Hashtags
It is important to avoid hashtags that have been banned by Instagram. These hashtags are completely useless if you’re looking for exposure on the social media platform. These hashtags have been disabled or flagged by Instagram because they encroach on community guidelines.
Make sure you check to confirm that the hashtag you’re using isn’t on the banned list. Simple hashtags that seem similar are usually getting banned, so double check before you notice your posts are not getting engaged.
How Many Hashtags is Acceptable on Instagram
The maximum amount of hashtags allowed on Instagram is thirty. The best practice for businesses is to make use of all 30 hashtags to be able to reach a wide audience. Stories are only allowed to use 10 hashtags.
Any attempt to post more than the set limit will result in your post being used. Remember that if it’s a personal account, there is no need to use so many hashtags. There is no ideal number of Instagram hashtags to use per post on Instagram, simply find out what works for you and stick to it.
FAQs
Do hashtags increase followers
Yes, there’s a high chance of getting more followers with the right hashtag. If the right people come across your post, they are more likely to like the post, and it will get you increased engagement and followers.
How do I tell if a hashtag is working
One way to tell if a hashtag is working is to check other posts that use the hashtag and how much engagement it got. You can also try out popular hashtags or create a branded hashtag for your business.
How do I tell a banned hashtag?
To find out if a hashtag has been banned, enter it into the search bar. If results don’t pop up for the hashtag, it means it has been banned.
How do you know how many times a hashtag has been used?
You can check the analysis tab for information about a hashtag. When entering captions, Instagram also provides you with information about how many posts currently use the hashtag.
Conclusion
Finding the best hashtags for your account is quite easy if you follow the tips and tricks mentioned in this post. You also need to know your target audience to know what kind of hashtags to use.
If you’re a brand, then a branded hashtag is the best option for you. Check out Instagram hashtags that have below 500,000 posts to make it easier for your post to be found.
The whole point of hashtags is for visibility, and these tips will help you find the best hashtag for your account to get you in front of your target audience.