Because hashtags—a combination of letters, numbers, and emoji preceded by the symbol e. NoFilter, WorldCup —categorize content and make it more discoverable. Anyone who clicks on a hashtag or searches for it will see a page with all the posts tagged with it. This guide will teach you how to use hashtags to attract new followers, get more likes, and increase engagement. If you need help with Instagram beyond the hashtag, you can find all our. Table of contents Bonus: Download a free guide to discover which hashtags to use to boost traffic and target customers on social media. And then learn how you can use Hootsuite to measure results. The feature is designed to teach what content a particular user likes. When you create a post, only use hashtags that make sense. If you tag a post with wanderlust, for example, your content must be something globetrotters will want to comment on, like, and share. By tracking this data you can begin to figure out which hashtags are most effective for improving reach. You can use hashtags on Instagram Stories Hashtag pages have an Instagram Story icon in the top left corner. There are two ways to add hashtags to your Stories. The first method is by using the hashtag sticker and changing the text. Or you can simply use the text tool and the symbol to type out the hashtag the same way you would on a photo or video post. You can add up to 10 hashtags on a Story, but take care not to clutter your content. You can shrink your hashtags or even hide them behind an emoji, sticker, or GIF. How to find the best Instagram hashtags for your brand The hashtags you want to use will depend on what space your business operates in. There are a ton of hashtags that are popular with jet-setters: , , , and —to name a few. Tag your posts with any number of these and you will likely get a few extra likes. But if you really want to increase engagement and gain quality followers, include more specific hashtags. How do you find out which hashtags your audience is already following? Here are a few tips to help you answer that question. Bonus: Download a free guide to discover which hashtags to use to boost traffic and target customers on social media. And then learn how you can use Hootsuite to measure results. Use hashtags that influential people in your industry are using These people are already well-established with your audience, so why not learn from the best? Instagram will give you a list of all the hashtags with that keyword, as well as a number of posts that are tagged with it. This is a great way to find relevant hashtags that might be a bit more niche. And that means an even more targeted audience with less content to compete with. Do you see a trend of other common hashtags that could be included in future posts? When it comes to choosing Instagram hashtags, the golden rule is: use only hashtags that are relevant to your brand, industry, and audience. But your company is not going to attract those hashtag followers if you attach it to a photo of your boring boardroom. Again, if you tag your photos with popular, but unrelated hashtags, you might be flagged as a spammer. Use the right amount of hashtags According to , posts with nine hashtags receive the most engagement. Again, they must be relevant to the content. These people will not engage with your brand. The content of your posts must inform what and how many hashtags you use. Use specific or niche hashtags The more specific the hashtag, the more targeted your audience will be. And a targeted audience means a higher chance of quality engagement. But make sure your picture is actually of a Volkswagen van. We list some of the most popular hashtags at the end of this article with tips on how to use them responsibly. When you combine two or three words together, does it spell out something else? Before using any hashtag, be sure to browse through the hashtag page to ensure the associated content is appropriate. Save hashtags for future use If you often use the same hashtags for every post, you can save them in a note to save time. Note: use this trick sparingly. Remember, every hashtag you put on a post must fit with the content and should not be too repetitive. Again, you can also add hashtags post-publishing by tapping the speech bubble under the photo and typing the hashtags in as a comment. It could be as simple as your business name, tagline, or name of one of your products. The latter was created for a campaign to encourage customers to share travel photos featuring Herschel products. Now tagged in millions of posts, it is often cited as one of the most popular travel hashtags on Instagram. A post shared by herschelsupply on Jun 10, 2018 at 7:06pm PDT Like Herschel, you can create a brand hashtag for a specific campaign or to simply showcase your company culture, products, or services. It will also organize all the posts that are tagged with it on a hashtag page. Or you can use branded hashtags to simply promote your company—the people, wins, and culture. At Hootsuite, we use for that purpose. A post shared by hootsuite on Jun 6, 2018 at 1:43pm PDT 10. Keep your brand hashtags short and easy to remember That way your fans and customers can easily remember it. These animated icons are eye-catching and, because they can stand in for entire words, will keep your hashtags short. Bonus: Download a free guide to discover which hashtags to use to boost traffic and target customers on social media. And then learn how you can use Hootsuite to measure results. Popular Instagram hashtags No matter how popular they may be, you should avoid hashtags that shamelessly solicit likes and followers— followme, like4like, follow4follow, tagsforlikes, etc. Using these will attract bots, spammers, and others users who have no intention of engaging with you in any meaningful way. They also show your followers that your brand is okay with engaging in spammy behaviour. Tagged in over 428 million posts, TBT Throwback Thursday is one of the most used hashtags on Instagram and. If your brand has a past, use TBT to share it. If your brand is newer, you can use the hashtag to dig into the history of your products or industry. Typically posts are not of people, but scenery. So if your brand is celebrating a big win, then you could post a photo of a fireworks display. For more, check out our. Want more daily hashtags for contest inspiration? Make it a part of your user-generated content strategy. To learn how, check out our. Hopefully the winner will share their prize and promote your brand with their audience. There are of course popular Instagram hashtags specific to each industry. Real estate, for example, has: , , , and. To surface the ones that are relevant to your business, refer back to our tips on how to find the right hashtags. Okay, so, the key takeaway: Be thoughtful about how and which hashtags you use. What value are you offering? Why will they be compelled to engage with your post? Save time managing your Instagram presence using Hootsuite. From a single dashboard you can schedule and publish photos directly to Instagram, engage the audience, measure performance, and run all your other social media profiles. Try it free today.
