#shoplocal, #buylocal, #supportsmallbiz, #familyowned, #smallbusinesssaturday, #smallbusinessweek, #smallbusinesslove, #smallbusinesstips, #smallbusinessowner, #handmade, #handcrafted, #etsyshop
How to…
Take the hashtag created by the sneaker company, Allbirds. Rather than using generic hashtags on every post, they use #weareallbirds, and happy customers use it as well to share their new kicks!
Image source
Table of contents
What is a hashtag?
Tips for creating a branded hashtag on Instagram:
- TikTok
Why use Instagram hashtags?
#carmechaniclife…not shown in the image due to the hiding trick mentioned above
- Expand your reach. Hashtags make your Instagram posts, Reels, and Stories discoverable by users in their regular Instagram meanderings, giving you multiple avenues for exposure to a larger audience.
- Increase engagement. Instagram posts that use hashtags gain a 12.6% increase in engagement compared to those without. Another source says 29%.
- Build your following. Because hashtags help you to get discovered by niche audiences, they help you to get more Instagram followers—quality followers that have the potential to become customers.
- Strengthen your brand: Between branded hashtags that encourage user-generated content and just flat-out funny hashtags that serve only aesthetic purposes, hashtags play a role in expressing your brand voice and even building trust.
But don’t force it. If your post doesn’t need 30 hashtags, don’t go searching for them. Remember, your goal is not to show up in every search, it’s to show up in the right searches.
How to add hashtags on Instagram
How to use hashtags on Instagram
1. Treat them like keywords
Popular hashtags aren’t going to help you to stand out, but they can’t hurt in giving you some exposure. Plus, they’re a good “seed” hashtag that you can modify for relevancy.
- Broad, low intent: #landscaping, #backyard
- Less broad, medium intent: #landscapinghouston, #residentiallandscape
- Specific, high intent: #landscapingserviceshouston
Run an Instagram giveaway asking entrants to take a picture, tag your business, and use a specific hashtag. Not only does it make it easier for you to track entries, but it can help you populate your branded hashtag with awesome content.
2. Save a default list
Adding a hashtag on Instagram is literally as easy as putting the pound symbol in front of a word or phrase! Here are a few side notes:
Type hashtag ideas into the Instagram search bar and see what auto-fills. Easy peasy.
3. Create your own hashtag campaigns
There are tons of Instagram hashtag generators out there—like All Hashtag and Sistrix—that will generate relevant hashtags and give you some data on what hashtags are popular.
Hashtags are the keywords of Instagram SEO. You’ll want to use a mix of high-volume hashtags to help you gain broad exposure, as well as lower-volume but higher-intent hashtags to attract potential followers and customers. Hashtag research tools (which we’ll cover below) can help with this, but it’s also intuitive. For example:
But remember. Relevancy is critical. Remove hashtags from your list where it doesn’t apply. If someone is exploring a hashtag and your super irrelevant post pops up, it’ll make your brand look unreputable, untrustworthy, and/or desperate.
4. Create an evergreen branded hashtag for UGC
Instagram hashtags 101
Some of the best Instagram marketing campaigns are hashtag-based. Take the unforgettable #IceBucketChallenge. The marketing team for the ALS Association was able to raise awareness with this hashtag campaign, but they also raised a substantial amount of money (5 million to be exact!). Think about how you can do something similar by getting your followers to WANT to use your hashtag, which will help spread brand awareness about your business to other Instagrammers.
- Make it unique. Be specific and include your brand name
- Make it easy to remember. If a hashtag is too long and complicated like #wordstreammakesadvertisingeasy, your followers won’t remember or use it.
- Check it. Always search the hashtag to make sure it’s not already being used, or worse, used for something inappropriate or insensitive.
5. Use hashtags for giveaways
Hashtag ideas & examples
8. Follow hashtags
We actually have an entire post on hashtags for every day of the week, but here’s a super-distilled version:
- Your own branded hashtags: To stay on top of engagement and monitor your reputation. Users may not always tag your business in the same post where they use your hashtag.
- Your competitors’ hashtags: To keep tabs on them.
- Industry hashtags: To stay on top of news and trends in your niche.
Remember, the best way to use these hashtags is for inspiration—not for hashtag stuffing.
How to find hashtags on Instagram
#thursdaythoughts
Hashtag research tools
#stigmafree, #mentalhealthadvocate, #mentalhealthawareness, #anxietyisreal, #endthestigma, #selfcare, #acceptyourself, #gowithin, #mindsetshift, #selfacceptance, #youareworthy, #healthyboundaries, #itsokaytonotbeokay
Instagram search
#bethechangeyouwanttosee
Check your competitors
Instagram hashtag analytics
Hashtags are a powerful tool to promote your Instagram account for free. Here are some ways to use hashtags on Instagram.
1. Instagram Insights
While other social media platforms support hashtags, Twitter and Instagram are really the ones where hashtagging is the most important. Here are some of the many benefits of using Instagram hashtags.
- Compare your most used Instagram hashtags to the ones that get the most engagement.
- See how branded hashtags perform relative to broader hashtags.
- Use their tagging feature to build campaign-specific hashtag reports.
The most popular Instagram hashtags of all time
Read on to learn how to harness the power of Instagram hashtags to grow your following, engage your audience, and build your brand.
- #love (1.835B)
- #instagood (1.150B)
- #fashion (812.7M)
- #photooftheday (797.3M)
- #beautiful (661.0M)
- #art (649.9M)
- #photography (583.1M)
- #happy (578.8M)
- #picoftheday (570.8M)
- #cute (569.1M)
- #follow (560.9M)
- #tbt (536.4M)
- #followme (528.5M)
- #nature525.7M
- #like4like (515.6M)
- #travel (497.3M)
- #instagram (482.6M)
- #style (472.3M)
- #repost (471.4M) (How to repost on Instagram here!)
- #summer (454.2M)
Daily Instagram hashtags
It’s time to talk reporting. You can’t know if your hashtags are improving your social media marketing without the numbers. Luckily, you have lots of tools at your disposal. Here are exactly three.
- Monday: #mindfulmonday, #mondaymood, #mondayquotes
- Tuesday: #tooltiptuesday, #traveltuesday, #tuesdaytrivia
- Wednesday: #waybackwednesday, #wellnesswednesday, #woodworkingwednesday
- Thursday: #throwbackthursday, #thankfulthursday, #thursdaythought
- Friday: #fearlessfriday, #flashbackfriday, #featurefriday
- Saturday: #saturdaysweat, #saturdayselfie, #saturdaysale
- Sunday: #sundayfunday, #spotlightsunday, #sundaysweets
There are all kinds of hashtags to use on Instagram:
Image source
Instagram hashtags for growth
There are a few hashtags you should follow on Instagram.
- Real estate: #newlisting, #openhouse, #mortgagetips, #townhouse
- Education: #highered, #virtuallearning, #alumni, #go[schoolname]
- Automotive: #carsforsale, #cardealership, #collisionrepair, #tirerotation
- Healthcare: #getyourcheckup, #telehealth, #cancerawareness, #hearthealth
Instagram allows you to use up to 30 hashtags, and while historically we’ve been advised to use around 10, new data from Later shows that 20-30 hashtags is actually the way to go (for Feed posts). Here’s what they recommend:
Mental health hashtags
Way back in August of 2007, while you were singing along to Umbrella (ella…ella) on the radio, a product designer named Chris Messina proposed to Twitter the idea of “using #(pound) for groups.”
Diversity & inclusion hashtags
Keep an eye on your competitors and industry influencers. If you’re not sure what tags would be worth using, just take a look at what others are using successfully in your industry, That will give you a good starting point from which to mold your own strategy.
To follow a hashtag, simply search that hashtag and select the “follow” button in search results.
Small business Instagram hashtags
The best Instagram hashtags to use for growth are those that are specific to your niche. You can then modify them to include your location or even business name. Steph has you covered with over 300 more industry-specific hashtags to use in your posts, but here’s a taste:
To use hashtags in your Instagram content in a meaningful and effective way, you need to do your research. So where to start? Here are a few ideas…
Motivating hashtags
While you shouldn’t repeat hashtags in the same post, you can (and should) repeat hashtags that work in different posts. Keep a note handy so you can easily copy and paste them into your posts.
Twitter’s response? It was too nerdy and would never catch on.
Start using hashtags on Instagram
First up is Instagram’s analytics. You can access this on mobile if you have an Instagram business account. You can also view an individual post’s hashtag performance by tapping “View insights” under that post.
