Hashtags are an important part of any social media marketing strategy. Hashtags help users discover your posts, which can help increase your reach and engagement.
This is especially true on Instagram, where 70% of hashtags used on the platform are branded. Using the right hashtags will expose your post to a more targeted audience, which can help you grow a following on Instagram and get more traffic to your website.
So what’s the best way to use Instagram hashtags? We’ll discuss a few strategies in this article:
Takeaways |
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1. Instagram hashtags can significantly enhance your website traffic. |
2. Research and choose hashtags relevant to your content and target audience. |
3. Balance between popular and niche-specific hashtags for optimal reach. |
4. Utilize trending and evergreen hashtags to maximize engagement. |
5. Branded hashtags can help create a community and boost user-generated content. |
6. Strategic hashtag use increases the discoverability of your posts, driving organic traffic. |
7. Avoid overusing hashtags to prevent your content from appearing spammy. |
8. Leverage the power of hashtags to expand your brand’s online visibility and reach. |
9. Monitor hashtag performance and adjust your strategy accordingly. |
10. Experiment with different combinations of hashtags to identify what works best for your content. |
Check The Trend
When you’re looking for the best hashtags to use, you want to check out what’s popular. You can do that by looking at what people are searching for on Instagram, or by monitoring the most popular hashtags.
I recommend using a tool like Hashtags For Your Posts so you can see both of these things all in one place. The app lets you search by keyword and analyze which hashtags have the highest engagement rates (how many likes and comments they get).
In addition to this, it also shows you data on who is using those hashtags most often and if they’re relevant to your niche or industry!
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Hashtags Should Be Relevant
With so many different types of businesses on Instagram, it can be hard to know what to use as a hashtag. However, there are some basic rules you can follow when creating your own.
The first rule is that the hashtags should be relevant to the content. In other words, if your post is about dogs and cats getting along and you’re using #dogluver as a hashtag, then it’s going to seem like an odd fit!
The second rule also relates to relevance: use hashtags that are relevant to your audience.
If you have an audience of people who love cars and motorcycles and don’t care much about fashion or cooking (or whatever), then adding #foodie or #fashionista might not be the best option for getting them engaged with your brand on Instagram!
Finally, keep in mind that these days all brands have multiple audiences – so picking one set of hashtags that works for everything isn’t always possible (or even desirable). Use what works best for each part of your business separately but try not reactively rely on just one type
Use Hashtags That Are Popular But Not Too Popular
You may have heard the saying that you should only use hashtags that are “popular but not too popular.” What does this mean?
- Using a hashtag that is too popular can make it hard for other people to find your content, for the following reasons:
- People using those hashtags might not want to see your posts in their feed.
- Those hashtags are used by so many people that they get buried at the bottom of search results and no one sees them anymore.
- If you post a photo or video with a hashtag like #Coffee, chances are good that there are going to be hundreds or thousands of other photos and videos with the same hashtag! How will anyone find yours?
To stand out from all the noise, you need some unique keywords that aren’t being used by everyone else!
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Consider Location
If you’re a local business, use relevant hashtags for your location. If you have a coffee shop in California and want to get more people in the area to come to your store, you might use the hashtag #localcoffee or something similar.
This will bring traffic from folks within driving distance of your location.
It also helps if you know what hashtags are popular in your country (not necessarily yours), region, and city.
For example, if I was trying to reach someone who visits New York City often but lives in Chicago (like me), I would probably only use hashtags like #Manhattan or #BrooklynBridge rather than #NYC because those are more specific than just using “New York” as a hashtag.
Don’t Use Banned Hashtags
These are things like the name of your competitor, a phrase that is offensive or abusive, and any hashtag that contains a company name. You want to stay away from these because Instagram could remove your post if they see it.
Don’t Use Irrelevant Hashtags
You must be using relevant hashtags for your business so people can find you easily when searching for something specific on Instagram.
Be sure to choose words that directly relate to what you sell so people can find exactly what they’re looking for when they search through the app’s search bar or look at the posts in their feed!
Don’t overuse hashtags–limit them to 30 per post and add them as comments for best results!
Be Specific
If you want people to find your content, it’s important to be specific. Hashtags should describe your product or service in detail and they should be relevant to your niche. If you’re a photographer, use hashtags like #photography or #photooftheday.
If you’re trying to promote an event or location, then use hashtags like #concerts and #musicfestival. This way other users will know that this post is related to what they are searching for!
Also, remember that the more popular/shortest hashtag will have much more exposure than any other hashtag with similar meaning.
(e.g., if two different concerts are happening at two different venues in town on Friday night: one at The Paramount Theater downtown Seattle Center with headliners Foo Fighters; another at Gorge Amphitheater south of Snoqualmie Pass headlined by EDM duo Chainsmokers).
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Be Unique In Your Branding
The best Instagram hashtags are the ones that are unique to you. You can choose to use your brand name as a hashtag or create a unique slogan that is specific to your business and its products.
If you’re selling customizable products, it may be better for you to use the hashtag #customizedproducts rather than just tagging each product individually (e.g., #iphonecase).
If you want people who are interested in buying customized items from other businesses to see what types of things they can get made into, then tagging them with “#customerservice” will help them find what they’re looking for!
Use Punctuation And Numbers To Differentiate You From The Rest
You can differentiate yourself from the rest of your competitors by adding punctuation to your hashtags. For example, if you’re trying to promote a new product or service, use #newproduct and then add a dollar sign (#newproduct$) for an added boost.
Punctuation can also be used in combination with numbers to make your hashtag stand out from other users who are using similar hashtags.
For instance, if you have a business focused on providing healthy eating tips and recipes that cost less than $5 per serving like lettuce tacos!
You could add both an exclamation point at the end of your phrase (referring back to how excited people get when they think about getting cheap food) as well as two periods after the dollar sign ($5).
Use A Combination Of Hashtags
Use a combination of hashtags. It’s important to use multiple hashtags, because the more you use, the higher chance you have of appearing in search results.
Use relevant hashtags. You need to make sure that all of your Instagram posts are relevant to what your website offers, so make sure that any relevant hashtags are also going along with this theme.
For example: if you’re selling books on how to write poetry on Instagram, don’t use a hashtag like #food or #travel those aren’t related at all!
Use popular but not too popular hashtags. If there are too many people using one particular hashtag for its niche (for example: if there were 50 million posts on #cats).
Then it would be hard for yours to get noticed by anyone outside of that niche unless they were specifically looking for cats (which happens sometimes).
This means that when choosing which ones are good enough quality (but still easy enough) we should keep in mind how many people might see them instead of just seeing how many did see them before making any decisions about whether or not they’ll work well enough with our strategy here today!
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Be Descriptive And Precise
The first thing you should do is use hashtags that are both descriptive and precise. The second is to use hashtags that are neither descriptive nor precise.
If you want to get traffic from Instagram, you need to be as descriptive as possible in your posts. So don’t just post photos of your dog with the hashtag #dogsofinstagram; instead, post them with tags like #corgi or #pembrokecorgi or even #pembrokecorgiforlife. You get the idea!
The same goes for your website: make sure it’s clear what kind of content you have on there before posting a link to it on Instagram (which will appear in users’ feeds).
Use hashtags such as “This is my website” or “I own this website” so people know exactly who owns the account they’re following and then go ahead and post links back towards whatever site/content was mentioned earlier.”
Capitalize Words In Hashtags To Make Them More Readable
You might be wondering if capitalizing hashtags is really necessary. After all, Instagram’s suggestions for hashtags all appear as lower-case letters.
You’re right: you don’t have to capitalize your Instagram hashtags, but doing so can make your content more searchable and increase your reach. Here are some guidelines:
Capitalize the first letter of every word in your hashtag. This will ensure that a reader sees the beginning of each word (and not just an amorphous collection of letters), making it easier to read and understand what you’ve written
Capitalize only the first letter of each word except for one or two at the end. If you do this right, people will be able to follow along easily while also being intrigued by words they might not have otherwise seen
Create A Mix Of Niche And General Hashtags
When you’re creating an Instagram hashtag strategy, it’s important to think about both the general and the niche.
General hashtags are more likely to get you a wider reach than niche ones because they’re searchable by anyone who uses them. For example, #travel is a general hashtag that people use all over Instagram.
This means that if you post something with this hashtag attached, your post will be visible in some way to everyone who follows that topic on Instagram.
However, since there’s such a wide audience using this particular topic, it’ll be harder for your post to rise in their feeds unless you have a really strong caption or great photos!
On the other hand, niche hashtags are helpful if you want more targeted traffic from those who have already indicated an interest in what you’re selling or promoting. For example:
Create Branded Hashtags
Unique hashtags: Hashtags that are easily recognized by hundreds of thousands of people are great for a lot of reasons. But if you’re just starting with Instagram, it’s better to create unique hashtags that will help you build your brand and get more followers on social media.
Easy to remember: The best-branded hashtags make sense to people who aren’t familiar with them yet. They can be remembered easily because they make sense or have meaning for the audience you’re targeting (e.g., #veganburger).
Easy to spell: The worst thing that could happen is having someone try and use your branded hashtag only to find out there was some mistake in how it was spelled!
This is why all branded hashtags must be spelled correctly (e.g., #veganburger vs vegan burger) so that users can easily find what they’re looking for when searching through Instagram posts using those specific keywords (e.g., vegan food review).
Easy to read: When creating a new hashtag, make sure all letters are capitalized (unless part of the name is not capitalized) and space between words should be even throughout (examples include VeganBurger or VeganBurger).
If possible, try using dashes instead of spaces so all letters fall on corresponding lines this makes it easier for users viewing their feed on mobile devices where space may be limited; however, this format isn’t available across all platforms yet so stick with whatever works best!
Add 2 Or 3 Hashtags To Your Bio And Change Them Up Weekly Or Monthly
Since they’re the only tags you can use on your bio, hashtags in the Instagram bio are crucial. By using relevant and popular hashtags to describe your business, you’ll attract more followers who are interested in what you offer.
As an example, if your business is a clothing shop that sells men’s clothes, try using hashtags like #menswear or #mensstyle. If your clothing store specializes in casual wear for women, try something like #womenstyle or #ladiesfashion.
If your store sells both men’s and women’s clothing from different brands (for example, JCPenney has separate pages for each gender), try using both of those terms as well as an exclusive term for this particular brand like “JCPenney” or “JCPCollection”
Make sure the hashtags you choose aren’t too popular and get lost in the crowd of other accounts promoting similar products/services or competing businesses within the same industry niche (like fashion).
Mix up how often you use them across all platforms (such as Facebook Messenger).
For example every Monday post one photo with two social media posts that include two different sets of three hashtags each.
But never post more than four times per week on Instagram due to spamming limits imposed by Instagram against users who post too much content at once.
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Use Only One Hashtag Per Word Series
Now that you know what hashtags to use, it’s time to learn how to use them. One of the most important things you need to know is how many hashtags are too many.
Using too many hashtags is a common mistake people make on Instagram but it doesn’t have to be! You want your posts to get noticed by as many people as possible, so don’t hold back when it comes to using hashtags.
They are an essential part of any social media strategy and can help drive traffic directly back into your website or blog.
The key here is knowing which ones will bring the most value when used together in sequence with each other (as opposed to just throwing any old word at the end). To help illustrate this point further, here are some examples:
Conclusion
We know that finding the right hashtags for your business can be a challenge, but doing it well can have great rewards. The key is to make it work for you you need to use those that are specific to your brand while also managing them effectively.
To do so, we recommend using an Instagram hashtag generator like Brand24. Instagram tags are important because they help you reach your target audience and potentially gain more followers for free!
Further Reading
The Ultimate Guide to Instagram Hashtags Short Description: Dive into the ultimate guide that explores the world of Instagram hashtags, uncovering strategies to boost engagement and traffic for your content.
Mastering the Art of Instagram Hashtags Short Description: Learn the art of mastering Instagram hashtags with this comprehensive guide, revealing tips and tactics to maximize your reach and drive website traffic.
A Comprehensive Guide to Using Instagram Hashtags Short Description: Explore a comprehensive guide to using Instagram hashtags effectively, understanding how to leverage them to enhance your brand visibility and website traffic.
FAQs
How do I choose the best Instagram hashtags for my posts?
Choosing the right hashtags involves understanding your target audience and the keywords relevant to your content. Research popular hashtags in your niche and evaluate their engagement to select the most effective ones.
Can I use too many hashtags in my Instagram posts?
While Instagram allows up to 30 hashtags per post, it’s essential to maintain a balance. Overusing hashtags can make your content appear spammy. Aim for a mix of popular and niche-specific hashtags for optimal results.
Should I use trending hashtags or stick to evergreen ones?
Both trending and evergreen hashtags have their advantages. Trending hashtags can give your content a short-term boost in visibility, while evergreen hashtags provide consistent long-term engagement. A mix of both can be effective.
How can Instagram hashtags drive traffic to my website?
By using relevant and strategic hashtags, you can increase the discoverability of your posts. When users search for or click on hashtags, they can find your content, driving organic traffic to your profile and ultimately to your website.
Can I create my own branded hashtags for my business?
Absolutely. Branded hashtags can help you build a community around your brand and encourage user-generated content. Create unique, memorable hashtags that reflect your brand identity and encourage followers to use them.
Costantine Edward is a digital marketing expert, freelance writer, and entrepreneur who helps people attain financial freedom. I’ve been working in marketing since I was 18 years old and have managed to build a successful career doing what I love.