Instagram Hashtags: How to Use Them Effectively

Instagram is one of the most widely used social media platforms around the globe. However, in this fast-changing world, it is hard to be successful on Instagram. In order to make your content visible to a wider audience, Instagram allows you to use hashtags.

Let’s take a look at how you can use hashtags in your content and increase your reach, visibility, and engagement.

What Are Instagram Hashtags?

A hashtag is basically a word or phrase that we Instagram users use with the symbol of #. It contains a clickable link in it. When you click on a certain hashtag, it will take you to a whole list of posts that use the same hashtag.

Hashtags are generally used to discover your content on posts that share the same interests as you. It will also help you reach a wider audience. If you are a food blogger, then using #FoodLove or #FoodPhotography helps you reach relevant audiences.

Why Are Hashtags Important?

Hashtags offer significant benefits to your Instagram. Some of them include:

1.     Increased Visibility

Hashtags mainly help in improving the visibility of your content to a wider audience. For instance, if anyone searches for a certain hashtag you are using in your feed, They get to see your content even if they have not followed you.

2.     Targeted Reach

If you use specific types of hashtags related to your niche, you can target the whole community. For instance, if your Instagram content revolves around fitness coaching and mentoring, using #HomeWorkouts or #FitnessGoals helps you attract an audience who is actually interested in fitness.

3.     Boost Engagement

When you post your content with relevant hashtags, it targets people who would be interested in seeing your content. This leads to higher comments, likes, and shares.

4.     Build Community

Hashtags help you connect with like-minded people on Instagram. This results in trending discussions and meaningful connections.

5.     Enhance Brand Awareness

Moreover, you can create a specific hashtag for your brand, such as #NikeRunning. Whenever someone uses your brand hashtag in their content, it will enhance your brand visibility.

How to Choose the Right Hashtags?

Every hashtag is made for specific use and for specific content. Therefore, you have to select the right hashtag for your post in order to gain success.

1. Understand Your Niche

If you are new in the hashtag field, it’s best to research hashtags for your first niche first. For instance, if you are a food influencer, #FoodLife or #FoodPhotography would be more appropriate for your content than simple hashtags.

2. Analyze Competitors

Check the profile of your competitors and see which types of hashtags they are using in their posts. This helps you understand which works in your niche and which does not.

3. Balance Popularity and Specificity

If you use only popular Hashtags like #Travel in your content, it might bury your content under millions of other users’ posts. So, it’s better to use a mix of hashtags, including highly popular, moderately popular, and niche-relevant hashtags.

4. Experiment with Trending Hashtags

Look for trendy hashtags but make sure the trendy hashtags belong to your niche. These hashtags do increase your chances to appear in the search feed. But if they aren’t relevant to your niche, it makes your post spam.

5. Use Hashtag Tools

Finding the right hashtag can be a hectic process. Most of the time, people can’t seem to find the right tag. Here comes hashtag tools like ALL Hashtag or Hashtagify to help you understand the famous hashtags of your niche. You can also use the Instagram search bar to get relevant hashtags.

Types of Hashtags to Use

There are different types of Hashtags. If you want to improve your chances of choosing the right hashtags, learn about their types.

1. Industry-Specific Hashtags

These hashtags basically cater to a certain audience that specifically belongs to your niche. For instance, #TechTips, #BeautyBlogger, #FitnessMotivation

2. Audience-Specific Hashtags

Hashtags that target specific communities or demography, like #MomsWhoBlog, #SoloTravelers

3. Content-Specific Hashtags

They describe what type of content you have in your posts. Such as #HealthyRecipes, #YogaPoses

4. Branded Hashtags

This type of hashtag is made to promote your brand, product, or campaign. For example: #JustDoIt, #AdobeCreative

5. Trending Hashtags

Trending hashtags represent the latest trend of the time such as, #MondayMotivation, #ThrowbackThursday

6. Event-Related Hashtags

Hashtags related to events, such as #WorldCup2024 #MetGala, come in this category.

Advanced Hashtag Strategies

1. Hashtag Sets

Suppose you post travel content. Now, you must have already saved hashtags for sub-travel content. For instance, a set of hashtags for cities, mountains, and beaches.

2. Hashtags in Stories

Not many people know this, but adding hashtags to your Stories actually increases your chances of visibility.

3. Follow Hashtags

Follow your niche-related hashtags on Instagram. This ensures you stay updated with the trending topics and content.

4. Collaborate With Influencers

Partner with famous influencers and encourage them to use your brand hashtags in their content. This will help reach a wider audience.

5. Use Hashtags in Reels

Reels on Instagram already have a high discovery rate. But with the help of hashtags, it becomes even more visible to others.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

1.     Using Too Many Hashtags

Instagram allows you to use 30 hashtags in one post. However, stuffing your post with too many hashtags makes it look spammy.

2.     Ignoring Relevance

Users just randomly use hashtags that are not even relevant to their posts. This actually lowers their chances of being visible.

3.     Overusing Popular Hashtags

Suppose you think that overusing popular hashtags increases your post’s visibility. Then it’s not because it mostly gets buried under millions of posts.

4.     Not Updating Hashtags

Using the same hashtags for ages can be difficult to surpass. Trends change, and so do the hashtags. If you do not update your hashtags strategy over time, your account might be outdated.

5.     Neglecting Analytics

If you do not regularly check the performance of your hashtags, you will never be able to understand which hashtags are good and which are not.

Best Practices for Using Instagram Hashtags

1. Determine the Right Number of Hashtags

Although you have 30 hashtags capacity to use, you do not have to use it all. Search your niche and content-relevant hashtags, and only use 5-11 hashtags in your posts. It most likely increases your engagement.

2. Place Hashtags Strategically

You can add hashtags in your post caption. But if you want to keep your caption clean, then post hashtags in the comments, as it will also make your post discoverable.

3. Create Branded Hashtags

Create a unique hashtag that represents your brand. So whenever users use your brand or services in their content, they can use your hashtags.

4. Use Location-Based Hashtags

Whether you are a business or blogger, if you want to target an audience in your region, use demographic hashtags. For instance, #NYCFoodie or #LondonFashion.

5. Avoid Banned or Irrelevant Hashtags

Make sure the hashtags you use must follow the community guidelines of Instagram. If you use irrelevant or banned hashtags on your post, Instagram will shadowban your account.

6. Diversify Your Hashtags

Bring diversity and uniqueness to your hashtags. For instance, if you keep using the same hashtags from the first post to the last, it will show you as a robot. Fresh and new strategies will keep you alive in the Instagram algorithm.

7. Monitor and Adjust

Analyze your hashtags on a daily basis to check which of them are getting more engagement. The Insight feature of Instagram is a useful tool to check these statistics.

8. Engage With Hashtags

Try to interact and engage with hashtags properly. Show engagement under posts with similar hashtags to boost the organic reach and build a community.

Conclusion

The use of appropriate and creative hashtags demands creativity and research. Hashtags are an ideal tool for categorizing different niches. They are an essential tool for personal branding and building your own community with organic reach. Strategically curated hashtags are capable of elevating your Instagram account to its full potential.

Whether you are a personal brand, a startup, or an influencer, these tips and tricks can help you elevate your account with hashtags. With continuous experiments and consistency, your account can flourish in no time.

FAQs About Instagram Hashtags

1. How many hashtags should I use in an Instagram post?

To increase the reach and engagement on your Instagram posts,  you can ideally use 5-10 hashtags that are relevant and unique.

2. Can I use the same hashtags on every post?

Using the same hashtags for multiple posts is not recommended. Instagram can mark your account as spam and reduce its visibility. Try to use different and unique hashtags relevant to your topic.

3. What are banned hashtags, and how do I avoid them?

These are a few hashtags restricted by Instagram due to violation of community guidelines or any misuse. Your account can lose visibility and reach if you use those restricted hashtags. To avoid them, try to search and check the current status of hashtags and then use them.