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How does hashtag work on instagram


Ultimate Guide [+101 hashtags for 2022]

What are Instagram hashtags?

Top Instagram hashtags

Types of popular Instagram hashtags

Instagram Hashtag FAQs

7 tips for how to use hashtags on Instagram

Instagram hashtags can make or break your Instagram marketing strategy. Use them correctly and you’ll get your posts seen by more people likely to be interested in your products or brand.

But use the wrong and you can actually do damage, from annoying potential followers to getting penalized by Instagram’s algorithm.

To use hashtags for Instagram effectively, you need to understand exactly how they work, and put some thought into a strategy.

You’re in the right place to do just that. Watch our video below, or read on!

Bonus: Download a free checklist that reveals the exact steps a fitness influencer used to grow from 0 to 600,000+ followers on Instagram with no budget and no expensive gear.

What are Instagram hashtags?

A hashtag is a combination of letters, numbers, and/or emoji preceded by the # symbol (e.g. #NoFilter). They are used to categorize content and make it more discoverable.

Hashtags are clickable. Anyone who clicks on an Instagram hashtag or conducts an Instagram hashtag search will see a page showing all the posts tagged with that hashtag.

Why use Instagram hashtags?

Hashtags are an important way to expand your Instagram audience and get more reach. When you use a hashtag, your post will appear on the page for that hashtag. If you use a hashtag on your Story, it could be included in the relevant hashtag Story, which also appears on the hashtag page.

People can also choose to follow hashtags, which means they could see your hashtagged post in their feed even if they don’t follow you (yet).

Instagram hashtags can be a great way of building community online so people are motivated to engage with your brand. For example, as the way people work out suddenly changed in 2020, Nike Los Angeles used the #playinside hashtag to feature local people getting active in their homes.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Nike LA (@nikela)

All that being said, times they are a changin’. We recently ran an experiment looking specifically at the effectiveness of Instagram SEO vs Hashtags in 2022. And the results, well let’s just say they were eye-opening.

Check out the article or watch the video below to see what we found:

Top Instagram hashtags

These are the top 50 hashtags on Instagram:

  1. #love (1.835B)
  2. #instagood (1.150B)
  3. #fashion (812.7M)
  4. #photooftheday (797.3M)
  5. #beautiful (661.0M)
  6. #art (649.9M)
  7. #photography (583.1M)
  8. #happy (578.8M)
  9. #picoftheday (570.8M)
  10. #cute (569.1M)
  11. #follow (560.9M)
  12. #tbt (536.4M)
  13. #followme (528.5M)
  14. #nature (525.7M)
  15. #like4like (515.6M)
  16. #travel (497.3M)
  17. #instagram (482.6M)
  18. #style (472.3M)
  19. #repost (471.4M)
  20. #summer454.2M
  21. #instadaily (444.0M)
  22. #selfie (422.6M)
  23. #me (420.3M)
  24. #friends (396.7M)
  25. #fitness (395.8M)
  26. #girl (393. 8M)
  27. #food (391.9M)
  28. #fun (385.6M)
  29. #beauty (382.8M)
  30. #instalike (374.6M)
  31. #smile (364.5M)
  32. #family (357.7M)
  33. #photo (334.6M)
  34. #life (334.5M)
  35. #likeforlike (328.2M)
  36. #music (316.1M)
  37. #ootd (308.2M)
  38. #follow4follow (290.6M)
  39. #makeup (285.3M)
  40. #amazing (277.5M)
  41. #igers (276.5M)
  42. #nofilter (268.9M)
  43. #dog (264.0M)
  44. #model (254.7M)
  45. #sunset (249.8M)
  46. #beach (246.8M)
  47. #instamood (238.1M)
  48. #foodporn (229.4M)
  49. #motivation (229.1M)
  50. #followforfollow (227.9M)

Popular B2B Hashtags

  1. #business (101M)
  2. #entrepreneur (93M)
  3. #success (82M)
  4. #onlineshop (70M)
  5. #smallbusiness (104M)
  6. #marketing (69M)
  7. #branding (38M)
  8. #marketingdigital (39M)
  9. #innovation (14M)
  10. #ecommerce (12M)
  11. #retail (8. 2M)
  12. #onlinemarketing (8M)
  13. #contentmarketing (6.5M)
  14. #marketingtips (6.2M)
  15. #marketingstrategy (6M)
  16. #marketingstrategy (6M)
  17. #startups (5.3M) 
  18. #management (5.1M)
  19. #businesstips (5.1M)
  20. #software (5M)
  21. #B2B (2.6M)
  22. #instagramforbusiness (1.4M)
  23. #b2bmarketing (528k)
  24. #eventmarketing (408k)
  25. #b2bsales (125k)

Popular B2C Hashtags

  1. #training (133M)
  2. #smallbusiness (104M)
  3. #business (101M)
  4. #sale (95M)
  5. #onlineshopping (85M)
  6. #marketing (69M) 
  7. #marketingdigital (39M)
  8. #promo (35M) 
  9. #socialmedia (32M) 
  10. #digitalmarketing  (25M)
  11. #startup (24M)
  12. #socialmediamarketing (19. 7M) 
  13. #sales (19M) 
  14. #advertising (15M) 
  15. #ecommerce (12.3M) 
  16. #networking (12.1M)
  17. #onlinebusiness (11.4M) 
  18. #onlinemarketing (8M) 
  19. #smallbiz (7M) 
  20. #company (7.9M) 
  21. #startuplife (5.6M) 
  22. #contentmarketing (6.5M) 
  23. #socialmediatips (3.2M)
  24. #marketplace (2.5M)
  25. #b2c (350k)
  26. #b2cmarketing (185k)

Keep in mind that the most popular Instagram hashtags are not necessarily the most effective.

A large number of posts may mean lots of people follow that hashtag, but it also means there’s a ton of content on it and your posts might get lost. Instagram suggests using a combination of popular and niche hashtags to reach different audiences, from broad to specific.

Types of popular Instagram hashtags

Instagram breaks hashtags down into nine distinct types:

Product or service hashtags

These are basic keywords to describe your product or service, like #handbag or #divebar

Niche hashtags

These get a little more specific, showing where you fit in the context of your industry, like #travelblogger or #foodblogger

Industry Instagram community hashtags

Communities exist on Instagram, and these hashtags help you find and join them. Think #gardenersofinstagram or #craftersofinstgram

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Special event or seasonal hashtags

These can refer to real holidays or seasons, like #summerdays, or they can be used for all those National [Thing] Day holidays, like #nationalicecreamday or #nationalnailpolishday

Location hashtags

Even if you geo-tag your Instagram post, it can still be a good idea to include a hashtag that refers to your location, like #vancouvercraftbeer or #londoneats

Daily hashtags

Every day has plenty of its own hashtags, from #MondayBlues right through to #SundayFunday. We created a whole list of daily hashtags for you to choose from if you’re looking for an easy source of hashtags to add to your posts.

Relevant phrase hashtags

These hashtags combine elements of product hashtags, niche hashtags, and community hashtags. Basically, they’re phrases people use on Instagram to connect to existing communities in a slightly insider way, like #amwriting or #shewhowanders

Acronym hashtags

Perhaps the best-known acronym hashtag is #TBT for Throwback Thursday. Other popular acronym hashtags include #OOTD for outfit of the day, #FBF for flashback Friday, and #YOLO for you only live once.

Emoji hashtags

These hashtags can include emojis on their own, like #????, or words or phrases with emojis attached, like #sunglasses????.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Cartems Donuts (@cartemsdonuts)

Branded hashtags are another great option for businesses on Instagram. We’ll get into more details on those later in this post.

Instagram Hashtag FAQs

How many hashtags to use on Instagram

How to hide hashtags on Instagram

How to find trending hashtags on Instagram

How to search multiple hashtags on Instagram

How to find the best Instagram hashtags for YOUR brand

How many hashtags to use on Instagram

You can include up to 30 hashtags on a regular post, and up to 10 hashtags on a Story. If you try to include more, your comment or caption won’t post.

That said, just because you can use that many hashtags for Instagram doesn’t mean you should. There’s no right number of hashtags for every business, or even for every post by the same business.

The consensus is that about 11 hashtags is a good number to start with. But the most common number of hashtags to use on Instagram is between 3 and 5.

You’ll need to do some testing to determine what works best for your particular business.

How to hide hashtags on Instagram

When you’ve spent time crafting a great Instagram caption, you may not want to end your post with a prominent collection of hashtags. Fortunately, there are a couple of easy ways to make your hashtags less visible.

How to hide Instagram hashtags in a comment:
  1. Write your caption as usual but don’t include any hashtags.
  2. Once your post is published, simply click the speech bubble icon under your post to leave a comment.
  3. Write out or paste the hashtags you want to include in the comment box and tap Post.
  4. On mobile, your hashtags won’t be visible unless a user taps View all comments. However, on desktop, your comment will remain in the top position, so this trick works better if you’re targeting a mobile audience.


Source: VW on Instagram

How to hide Instagram hashtags in the caption

You can also use hashtags within the caption itself without them being super-visible.

  1. At the bottom of your caption, tap Return or Enter. If you don’t see a Return or Enter button, tap 123 to bring it up.
  2. Enter a punctuation mark (try a period, bullet, or dash), then hit Return again.
  3. Repeat steps 2 to 4 at least three times.
  4. Instagram hides captions after three lines, so your hashtags won’t be viewable unless your followers tap … more. Even then, your hashtags will be visually separated from your caption so they don’t distract from your copy.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Rocky Mountain Soap Company (@rockymountainsoapco)

How to hide hashtags on Instagram Stories

You can hide hashtags on Instagram Stories, too. One option is simply to minimize the appearance of your hashtags by pinching and shrinking them to make them quite small. You can also tap the hashtag sticker to change it from a white background to a semi-transparent one.

If you want to hide your hashtags entirely, you can paste an emoji, sticker, or GIF overtop to obscure them.


Source: Christina Newberry

How to find trending hashtags on Instagram

Unlike Twitter, Instagram doesn’t publicize a list of trending hashtags. However, if you search for a hashtag on Instagram, you’ll see how many posts use that hashtag. You’ll also see a list of other popular Instagram hashtags using similar words, with post counts included too.


Source: Instagram

To search for a hashtag on desktop, enter the hashtag including the # symbol into the search box. On mobile, enter your search term in the search box, then tap Tags.

If you’re paying attention to your Instagram feed, you’ll learn to quickly spot trending hashtags as they emerge. Don’t be too quick to jump on a trend, though. Only post using a trending hashtag if it really makes sense for your business, and for the specific content in your post.

How to search multiple hashtags on Instagram

The easiest way to search multiple hashtags on Instagram is to set up search streams in a social listening tool like Hootsuite to track the hashtags you’re interested in so you can see all the relevant content on one screen without having to conduct each one as an individual Instagram hashtag search.


Source: Hootsuite

Instagram business profiles can conduct up to 30 unique hashtag searches in any given seven-day period.

We wrote a full post about the benefits of social listening if you want to dig deeper into how this works.

Bonus: Download a free checklist that reveals the exact steps a fitness influencer used to grow from 0 to 600,000+ followers on Instagram with no budget and no expensive gear.

Get the free guide right now!

How to find the best Instagram hashtags for YOUR brand

Here’s the truth. You could upload your photo to one of the many Instagram hashtag generators out there and get a bunch of free suggestions for hashtags. But, these suggestions aren’t going to be as strategic and effective as doing the research yourself.

Here’s some tips to try for coming up with Instagram hashtags that will actually drive reach and engagement.

Check out the competition

You don’t necessarily want to model your competition’s strategy too closely, but taking a look at the hashtags they use can give you some good clues about what’s working for others in your industry.

Maybe you’ll discover new hashtags to add to your repertoire. Or you could decide you don’t want to compete for the same eyeballs, in which case you can search for alternative hashtags to use.

See what hashtags your audience is already using

After all, if your audience is already using a certain hashtag, then other people just like them are probably using it too. Finding these existing Instagram communities is a great way to expand your audience and reach the people who are most likely to be interested in your business.

Keep an eye on your top followers and see what hashtags they’re using. Instagram’s search tool can give you some additional information about which hashtags the people you follow care about. When you conduct an Instagram hashtag search, the search tool will show you if anyone you follow also follows that hashtag. (Note that this only works on mobile, not on desktop.)


Source: Instagram

Use Instagram’s Related Hashtags feature

On any hashtag page, right above the “Top” and “Recent” tabs, you’ll find a list of related hashtags that you can scroll through by swiping left.


Source: Instagram

This is a great way to find relevant hashtags that might be a bit more niche than the big keyword-based hashtags you originally searched for. That means a more targeted audience with less content to compete with. These can be some of the best hashtags for Instagram brands wanting to connect with passionate communities.

Create a branded hashtag

The best hashtag for your brand may be one you create yourself. A branded hashtag is simply a tag that you create to promote your own brand or campaign.

You can then let your audience know about your hashtag by including it in your Instagram bio and highlighting it in your captions and Instagram Stories. You could also consider running a contest with a branded hashtag to popularize the hashtag while also collecting user-generated content.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by lululemon (@lululemon)


Source: Lululemon on Instagram

Make sure to follow your branded hashtag, both within the Instagram app and using a stream in your social media dashboard, so you can monitor how it’s being used. Look for opportunities to reshare great content or connect with influential members of your audience.

To follow a hashtag within Instagram, simply tap it, then tap the blue Follow button on the hashtag page.


Source: Instagram

Use Hootsuite’s hashtag generator

Coming up with the right hashtags for every. single. post. is a lot of work.

Enter: Hootsuite’s hashtag generator.

Whenever you’re creating a post in Composer, Hootsuite’s AI technology will recommend a custom set of hashtags based on your draft — the tool analyzes both your caption and the images you’ve uploaded to suggest the most relevant tags.

To use Hootsuite’s hashtag generator, follow these steps:

  1. Head to Composer and start drafting your post. Add your caption and (optionally) upload an image.
  2. Click the hashtag symbol below the text editor.

  1. The AI will generate a set of hashtags based on your input. Check the boxes next to the hashtags you want to use and click the Add hashtags button.

That’s it!

The hashtags you selected will be added to your post. You can go ahead and publish it or schedule it for later.

7 tips for how to use hashtags on Instagram

1. Use Insights to see which tags work best

If you’ve made the switch to an Instagram business profile, you have access to post insights that tell you how many impressions you received from hashtags.

1. Select the post you want data on and tap View Insights below the post on the left.

2. Swipe up to see all the insights for that post, including the number of impressions from hashtags.

This data helps you figure out which hashtags are most effective for improving reach.

2. Include hashtags on Instagram Stories

Hashtag pages have an Instagram Story icon in the top left corner. Click on it and you’ll see a collection of Stories posts tagged with the hashtag from people with public profiles.


Source: Instagram

There are two ways to add hashtags to your Stories. The first method is to use the hashtag sticker.


Source: Instagram

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.

3. Avoid banned hashtags and spammy hashtags

When inappropriate content becomes associated with a hashtag, Instagram might ban that hashtag.

This doesn’t mean that you can’t use it at all. Instead, it means that if you click on the tag, you will only see top posts. You won’t see recent posts, and there won’t be any Stories associated with the hashtag.

Here’s what it looks like when you run into a banned hashtag:


Source: Instagram

The only way to know if a hashtag is banned is to check it before you use it. This is a good practice to put in place every time you add a new hashtag to your repertoire. Using banned hashtags can cause a drop in engagement, as your use of legitimate hashtags might also become less effective because you could be dropped in the algorithm.

Even if they’re not banned, you should avoid hashtags that shamelessly solicit likes and followers. Examples include #followme, #like4like, #follow4follow, #tagsforlikes, and so on.

Using these will attract bots, spammers, and other Instagram 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. And that’s not a good look.

4. Understand how hashtag pages work

Hashtag pages are a great way to expose your content to a new audience, especially if you can get featured in the Top section.

Hashtag pages show off all the content associated with a specific hashtag. If someone searches for a post and yours is the most recent with that hashtag, it will be the first thing they see in the Recent section.

Of course, it’s much easier to stay at the top of the Recent section for a less-popular or really niche hashtag.

Keep in mind that the Recent section is sorted based on when each post was originally shared. If you add hashtags later, either through a comment or by editing the caption, this won’t bump your post up for recency.

5. Don’t use irrelevant or repetitive hashtags

It might be tempting to simply copy and paste the same long list of hashtags on every post, but don’t do it. Instagram’s community guidelines clearly state that “posting repetitive comments or content” is not okay. If you use the same hashtags for every post, your content will be penalized by the algorithm.

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.

It’s not about getting seen by a lot of people, it’s about getting seen by the right people. That’s how hashtags lead to higher engagement and more followers. Pick and choose the right keywords for each post individually.

6. Make sure that hashtag means what you think it means

Hashtags are often a string of words stuck together. That can create some problems when it’s not clear where one word ends and the next begins.

One of the worst examples of this was the #susanalbumparty fiasco from way back in 2012. It was a launch celebration hashtag for Susan Boyle’s new album. But read it slowly and you might pick up some words in the middle that clearly make the hashtag a bit… problematic.

Amazon played with this kind of hashtag mistake to promote Top Gear. This was done on purpose, but it would be an easy mistake to combine a possessive “s” and the word “hit” by accident.

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A post shared by Mathew chronic (@clarkson_and_memes)

Brands sometimes also are too keen to hop onto a trending hashtag without fully understanding the context. When the context is challenging, this can create a PR disaster for the brand.

And sometimes a brand just doesn’t check to see if a hashtag is already in use before creating a whole campaign. Burger King was guilty of this back in 2013, when they used the hashtag #WTFF to mean “What The French Fry.”

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by #WTFF (@wtff2013)

Since you already know what WTF stands for, you can probably guess why this was a problem.

7. Save hashtags for future use

If you often use the same hashtags, you can save them in a note to reduce time typing them in over and over.

Wait, didn’t we just tell you not to use the same hashtags on every post? It’s true—you should not overuse the same set of hashtags. That said, it is still really useful to have a list of hashtags relevant to the various kinds of content you post. You could even create separate lists of hashtags relevant to the different types of posts you create.

Just create a list of hashtags in your notes app, ready to add to your posts.

You can then pick and choose a few hashtags to use each time, rather than having to remember the hashtags or search for new ones for each post. This also gives you the time to check out what kind of content is already being posted for these hashtags, so you don’t make one of the mistakes mentioned above.

Just remember that every one of the Instagram hashtags you use on a post must fit with the content and should not be too repetitive. Don’t copy and paste your whole saved list onto every post.

Manage your entire Instagram presence and save time with Hootsuite. Schedule posts and Stories, find the best hashtags, easily engage the audience, measure performance, and more. Try it free today.

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2022’s Best Instagram Hashtags: The Ultimate Guide

Instagram Tips & Resources

By Amanda Demeku

•

Updated on June 15, 2022

•

10 minute read

Ready to reach new audiences with Instagram hashtags? #LetsGrow!

Published November 18, 2021

​​Instagram hashtags are still one of the most effective ways to get more eyes (and engagement!) on your Instagram posts in 2022.

But how do you use hashtags for Instagram? How do you find the best hashtags for your Instagram account? Which hashtags are trending right now? And should they go in your caption or in the comments?

We’re answering these questions, and more, in our ultimate guide to Instagram hashtags.

How Do Instagram Hashtags Work?

Instagram hashtags are fundamentally a way to label and categorize your content. They then help Instagram serve your posts to relevant users.

In their most simple function, the hashtags you use fuel the search results on the Instagram Explore page:

But it doesn’t end there. Hashtags are also used as a reference for the Instagram algorithm, so it can categorize your content and suggest it to users it thinks will have a high interest.

So… Do Hashtags Still Work on Instagram in 2022?

Hashtags have always been the heart of much debate, especially following Instagram’s recent recommendation to only use between 3-5 hashtags (more on that later). 

As Instagram slowly pivots towards semantic keyword search, it opens up a new world of possibilities in content discoverability – indicating that the words in your captions or the topics in your videos will become searchable too. 

However, despite these major advancements, hashtags do still work on Instagram. Paired with a strong content strategy, they can help yield impressive results.

Ready to get the full download on Instagram hashtags? Check out our YouTube video guide now: 

The Top 50 Most Popular Instagram Hashtags in 2022

Using ultra-popular hashtags isn’t always the best strategy for getting more engagement on your posts and stories, as they’re less likely to be seen. 

That said, it’s helpful to know what’s trending on the app, so here’s an up-to-date list of the top 50 hashtags for Instagram based on usage over the last month:

  1. #love

  2. #interiordesign

  3. #design

  4. #fashion

  5. #instagood

  6. #style

  7. #inspiration

  8. #art

  9. #travel

  10. #summer

  11. #realestate

  12. #foodie

  13. #homedecor

  14. #smallbusiness

  15. #shoplocal

  16. #motivation

  17. #wellness

  18. #health

  19. #lifestyle

  20. #beauty

  21. #food

  22. #home

  23. #selfcare

  24. #photography

  25. #fitness

  26. #nature

  27. #handmade

  28. #ootd

  29. #photooftheday

  30. #skincare

  31. #architecture

  32. #selflove

  33. #shopsmall

  34. #luxury

  35. #supportlocal

  36. #instafood

  37. #beautiful

  38. #mentalhealth

  39. #mindset

  40. #business

  41. #vegan

  42. #linkinbio

  43. #healthy

  44. #family

  45. #interior

  46. #entrepreneur

  47. #interiors

  48. #delicious

  49. #explore

  50. #realtor

*Updated June 2022. Data based on usage within the Later app.

In need of some #Inspiration? Check out Later’s Hashtag Suggestion feature. Discover the best hashtags for your account in seconds!

How Many Instagram Hashtags Should You Use On Your Posts?

As we’ve mentioned, Instagram recently advised that creators should use between 3-5 hashtags on their posts, despite allowing up to 30 per post.

This goes against everything we've previously heard about how hashtags work on Instagram, but based on their new focus on keywords and SEO, it does (kind of) make sense.  

Instagram is introducing more “suggested” content feeds – like the Instagram Reels tab, for example. But in order to provide suggested content that truly is a “good match,” Instagram needs to be able to accurately categorize it. The theory? Fewer hashtags = more reliable self categorization.      

To test this theory, Later looked at 18M+ Instagram feed posts – comparing the number of hashtags used per post with average reach rates.  

As you can see, using more hashtags = better results. Reach rate increases by 11% (from 24% to 35%) as the number of hashtags grows from one to 30. 

To put that in perspective, for an account with 20K followers, that’s an additional 2.2K accounts reached per post. 

We even looked at whether this trend had changed compared to 2020, but the results were fairly consistent. 

So, how many hashtags should you use on Instagram? For now, using more hashtags is still the best strategy for increasing your reach and engagement on Instagram feed posts. However, as Instagram introduces more “suggested” content feeds, focusing on fewer, hyper-relevant hashtags could be a tactic worth testing.

#TalkDataToMe: Read Later’s full data report now to discover the optimal number of hashtags for reach and engagement.

What Are the Different Types of Instagram Hashtags?

Before selecting hashtags for your posts, it’s a good idea to consider the different types of hashtags you can include.   

This will help make sure you’re covering all the bases with your hashtag strategy.

There are five main types of hashtags to consider: 

  • Location-based hashtags, like #BryantPark or #LowerEastSide

  • Branded hashtags for campaigns or events, like #Later or #LaterCon 

  • Industry hashtags that describe your niche, like #SocialMediaManagers or #WeddingPlanners

  • Community-focused hashtags to bring your community together, like #VanLifeLiving or #IAmASweatyBetty

  • Descriptive hashtags which describe the content of your actual post, like #WoodwickCandles or #SheaButterProducts 

There’s no secret formula for how many of each of these hashtags you should include, but keeping the different categories in mind can provide valuable inspiration and help guide your strategy.

What Are the Benefits of Using Hashtags on Instagram

Using relevant, targeted hashtags on your posts and stories is one of the best ways to get discovered by new audiences on Instagram.  

Using the “right” hashtags can put you in front of your target audience, even if they haven’t connected with you before.

This can translate into more engagement, more followers, and more customers for your brand or business! 

But that’s not all. Hashtags also have plenty of uses beyond improving your discoverability. You can use them for community-building, sourcing user-generated content (UGC), running campaigns, researching your audience, and more.

That’s why it’s so important to have a clear and well-crafted hashtag strategy — without one, you could be missing out on opportunities to optimize your account and drive engagement.

For example, check out Later’s Instagram post announcing our latest Linkin.bio customization:

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Later: Visual Social Marketing (@latermedia)

We use hyper-relevant hashtags like #linkinbio, ​​#smallbiztools, and #linkinbiotool in the caption so that users can easily discover our content if they’re on the lookout for a link in bio tool, like Later's Linkin. bio. 

Tl;dr: Hashtags help people find your content — increasing the likelihood of likes, comments, shares, and saves!

How to Find Trending Instagram Hashtags for Your Content Strategy


Later’s data report shows that adding 20-30 hashtags to your Instagram posts is the best way to increase your reach and engagement rates. 

But how do you find this many relevant hashtags for every post? Here are 3 different tactics you can use:

Tactic #1: Use a Hashtag Suggestion Tool like Later

Later’s Instagram hashtag tool, Hashtag Suggestions, is an easy way to find hashtags based on the content of your post and similar hashtags in your industry.

To use it, type a hashtag into the tool’s search bar, hit “Suggest,” and it’ll immediately generate new hashtags, sorted by relevance:

Sign up for a Later account to find the perfect hashtags for your Instagram strategy – in just a few seconds! 

Tactic #2: Conduct Research on the Instagram Explore Page

The Instagram Explore page is a great source of inspiration for your Instagram hashtag strategy.  

For the best results, search for keywords that are relevant to your brand or content and check out the “Top” results. 

These posts are clearly performing well with the Instagram algorithm, so take note of the different hashtags being used and whether they could work for your content.

Tactic #3: Check Instagram Hashtag Volume Using Instagram’s Tag Search Tool

When it comes to finding the best hashtags, post volume is a really important metric.

If a hashtag has already been used on millions of posts, the chances are your post will be drowned out amongst the masses.

On the other hand, if a hashtag only has a few hundred posts, it's likely that no one is searching for it on the Instagram Explore page. For a safe middle-ground, aim for hashtags with between 10K-200K posts. 

To check a hashtag's post volume, head to Instagram's tag search tool on the Explore Page.

This is a great way to vet your hashtags, and can also provide valuable inspiration. For example, you might discover a more niche hashtag that starts with the same keyword, but has a much healthier volume of posts.

Should You Use Hashtags on Instagram in the Caption or Comment Section?

Instagram has confirmed that hashtags are effective in both your post caption and the comments section – so it’s totally up to you where you want to share them. 

It is worth considering timeliness though. If you’re manually posting hashtags in the comments section, you’ll want to do this as soon as your post is published. 

TIP: If you use Later’s Instagram Scheduler, you can schedule a First Comment to go live at the same time as your post.

This is a great way to keep your caption aesthetic clean, while still benefiting from all the added exposure benefits of a good hashtag strategy.

Later’s First Comment tool lets you schedule a comment to go live at exactly the same time as your post – available on all paid plans.  

How Hashtags Can Be Used to Increase Likes On Instagram

With the right Instagram hashtag strategy you won’t just reach more people — but the right people for your brand or business.

Read: people who are likely to engage with your content.

Using 20-30 relevant hashtags will help your posts show up in more search results on the app, increasing the likelihood of likes and comments.

Take Sweaty Betty, an empowering workout brand whose target market are women with a passion for fitness. 

The account uses the search-led hashtag, #GlobalRunningDay to generate likes and a branded hashtag, #iamasweatybetty to champion a sense of community and togetherness: 

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Later: Visual Social Marketing (@latermedia)

Boasting over 2. 5K likes (and a pretty chatty comments section!), these niche hashtags are perfect for growing a community of like-minded runner aficionados and encouraging users to tap that heart!

Being intentional and using hashtags that your target audience is actively searching for will increase your exposure and like count. It’s a win-win.

How to Save Time With Your Instagram Hashtag Strategy 

Finding 20-30 fresh hashtags for every post you share is extremely time-consuming – but there are ways to make the process more efficient.

One way is to curate lists of 20-30 hashtags that align with your main content themes, which you can quickly adjust and add to each post.

With Later’s free Instagram Scheduler, you can create “Saved Captions” that contain your curated lists of hashtags.  

You can quickly add them to a post caption (and edit them) in two taps!

How to Build an Effective Instagram Hashtag Strategy With Analytics

The best way to build your hashtag strategy?

Building from a solid foundation. Once you've found the hashtags you want to use, it's important to start testing them and digging into your analytics.

Analyzing the performance of your hashtags is the best way to monitor the success of your experiments, and will allow you to fine tune your strategy over time.  

With Later's Hashtag Analytics tools, you can track key insights about your hashtags – including a breakdown of which are driving the most likes, comments, saves, and reach on your Instagram posts.

It automatically compares the hashtags you use with post performance over time – giving you an overview of what’s working, and what’s not, for your account. 

Hashtags are a powerful way to reach new audiences and grow your account, but it takes time and effort to see big results. 

Whether you use 10 or 30, a consistent hashtag strategy is still one of the most effective routes for growth on Instagram.

#LetsGrow!

Ready to take your hashtag strategy to the next level? Check out Later’s Instagram hashtag tool, Hashtag Suggestions, to help streamline your workflow now! 

About the Author

Amanda Demeku

Amanda is a Content Marketer at Later based in Toronto. When she’s not busy writing you can catch her playing tennis or sipping all the pop-culture tea. Say hi on Instagram — @amandademeku

Plan, schedule, and automatically publish your social media posts with Later.

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why you need them and how to benefit from them

Hashtags: why you need them

and how to benefit from them

Hashtags are convenient for searching and structuring information. So, they can be successfully used to promote content and develop commercial pages. What benefits they can bring to you and how to use them properly, and not turn them into annoying sheets under the posts, we understand in this article.

Let's tell:
What are hashtags What do hashtags give on Instagram
How to use hashtags correctly
How to collect relevant hashtags on the topic
How to cluster the collected hashtags
How to develop your own hashtags
How to check hashtags for adequacy
How to choose and put hashtags for posts
Why hashtags do not work
9000

What is the hashtags
,000

Hashtag — label for marking publications in social networks.
For example: #content, #content_marketing, #content agency.

Adding a # sign turns a word or phrase into a link. Clicking on it will display all posts tagged with the same hashtag. This principle works in the same way in different social networks, but above all, hashtags are an Instagram tool.

In other social networks, it is used only to structure information by topic in order to make it easier for readers to navigate the page. But the use of hashtags on Instagram opens up vast horizons for attracting an audience and increasing brand awareness.

What Instagram hashtags give you:

Your target audience sees you
People search for the information they need by hashtags. If the hashtags in the posts are chosen correctly, they will lead to you more people interested in your topic. As a result, the coverage of publications is growing. And if your content is really good, then the number of subscribers.

Journalists find you more often
Journalists often search social networks for experts for articles. Hashtags are one way that allows them to find a specialist in a particular field. Properly choosing hashtags, you can get into the field of view of specialized media.

You understand the interests of the audience
People who use hashtags and subscribe to them on your topics are your live target audience. Study their pages, interests, behavior in social networks and use this knowledge to create content.

You structure the content
Use hashtags as rubricators. This way you organize the information and make it easier for readers to find it. And it will be easier for you to keep the ratio of different types of content.

How to use hashtags correctly

A sheet of dozens of keywords that come to mind at the time of publication will not do you any good. Working with hashtags is a kind of strategy.

It is necessary

  • to collect current tags from existing ones;
  • cluster depending on the frequency and your rubricator;
  • create your own unique hashtags;
  • correctly mix tags from different categories.

How to collect relevant hashtags on the topic

Think like the target audience

Put yourself in the shoes of the target audience and think about what queries their representatives can use in Instagram search. Enter these words into the search and get a whole list of similar hashtags and frequency for each of them.

Instagram search can find similar tags.

Explore

By clicking on a particular tag, you will get a selection of all posts where it is used. Explore the set of hashtags under each of these posts, select all that relate to your topic, and through the search, see their frequency.

Study the pages of the authors of these posts. Pay attention to what other hashtags they use and what they follow.

Look at your competitors

Research the hashtags your direct and indirect competitors are using. See how they mix labels with different frequencies.

Study the experience of opinion leaders in your topic

See what hashtags they and their active followers use.

Use automated tools

Services such as Instatag.ru, Stapico.ru, etc. help you find popular hashtags without a long search.

How to cluster collected hashtags

Once you figure out how to search for hashtags, you can quickly collect a collection of several sheets in length. For comfortable work, the labels need to be sorted.

Group by frequency

Divide the collected tags by

  • high frequency - more than 100 thousand times;
  • medium frequency - 10-100 thousand times;
  • low-frequency - up to 10 thousand times.

Do not ignore tags that are only used a few thousand times. Learn who uses them and how. Perhaps you will discover a new audience segment.

Group by topic

If you have a category for the page or plan to use one, sort the tags according to the category or topic you are going to cover.

If there is no rubricator yet, relying on hashtags, it will be easier to form it.

Here is a fragment of a table where hashtags are sorted by category and frequency. In the future, it will definitely come in handy - you can quickly select keywords for each post.

An example of a table with hashtags grouped by post frequency and topics.

How to develop your own hashtags

Unique hashtags for a brand or event help you stand out and build your own audience.

A brand hashtag can be the same as a company or product name. You can make a hashtag a slogan if it is short, well perceived and easy to remember. These tags will help visitors navigate your profile better, and in the future they will work to promote and increase brand awareness.

Your own hashtag will not be the frequency champion. But it will help to gather an audience around the page. And it will be easier for people to follow your posts.

An event hashtag helps draw attention to an event. Encourage guests to use your branded hashtag. For example, at the annual fitness convention Profit Convention, an instaprinter is used. It prints photos posted on Instagram with the hashtag #profitstory. Participants receive printed photos, and organizers receive new fans, mentions and a popular hashtag.

Fitness convention attendees shared photos tagged #profitstory . As a result, this tag has gathered an impressive collection of images. It is interesting for the guests, it is useful for the organizers.

How to check hashtags for relevance

A few words without spaces can form unpredictable combinations that you can't see at first glance. Do you remember the sensational #fabulousbali?

Words without spaces can form unpredictable combinations .

If your plans do not include attracting an audience with the help of hype, say all newly created phrases out loud and test them on other people.

  • Make sure that the chosen combination of words is harmonious.
  • Check if the meaning is distorted when using abbreviations of the slogan, if there are any negative stable associations with the hashtag.
  • The hashtag should not be too long — the shorter, the easier it is to read. Try reading quickly: #supertastylargeandinchargetexastoasttwohandwichmadewithdelicious-onehundredpercentwhitemeathandbreadedchickentendersandyourchoice-ofclassicorspicypapasauceeitherwayyoucantgowrongwowthatsoundsgoodyouneed-totryoneitsonlyavailableforalimitedtimeImgoingtohavetogogetonemyselfareyoustill-readingthisseeyouatAandW

But such a hashtag was actually used.

How to select and put hashtags for posts

There is a great temptation to use only popular tags. But then the publication runs the risk of being lost among a million similar ones. A competent approach is to combine high-frequency (most often universal words) and low-frequency (highly specialized). Let there be one or two popular tags per publication. Strive for the golden mean. It is important that the selected hashtags are relevant to the topic, otherwise the post may be complained about.

In the example, two high-frequency hashtags are #lifehack and #smm, the rest are low-frequency.

Combine hashtags with different frequencies for greater impact.

Instagram allows you to include up to thirty hashtags in a post, up to ten in Stories. This does not mean that you should post the maximum number of tags each time. Remember that the keywords must match the content of the post.

Where to write hashtags is a matter of your taste. They can be placed at the beginning, middle, end of the publication. Readers are more loyal to the last option, especially if there are a lot of tags. One or two hashtags can be placed at the beginning of the publication or used natively in the post. "Excess" tags can be published under the publication. Now you understand why hashtags are sometimes written in comments - to use a lot of keywords and get more traffic without annoying readers.

Why hashtags don't work

Want to understand why hashtags don't work? Check for keyword errors:

  • post too much;
  • go overboard with popular;
  • spam irrelevant;
  • use the same ones in every post;
  • do not promote.

If everything is OK with this, but the question "Why don't hashtags work?" up to date, write to technical support.

Using hashtags, rely on the interests of the target audience, do not forget about logic and use intuition. Experiment and be sure to analyze the results - which hashtags or their combinations worked best. So you get the most out of this tool.

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2017

website looks like this: “This is when you type in the phrase “buy Syzran wallpaper” and my website is at the very top.”

Experienced professionals understand that now the conversation has turned to SEO promotion. And you won’t believe it, but Instagram also has a kind of SEO, using which you can attract subscribers to your account. And that's... Instagram hashtags.

What it is and why

If you are an active Instagram user, you have seen a large list of blue words written through the bars (written as #) at the end of user posts.

Clicking on any of them will take you to a page dedicated to this word with a list of publications in which it is mentioned. Those are the hashtags.

By the way, I highly recommend our article. There we told everything in detail what we needed and how we appeared.

Related:
What is a hashtag and what does a business need it for

But let's get back specifically to how hashtags work on Instagram. So let's go.

Hashtags

In short, hashtags on Instagram are a special thematic tag that groups the content of different users into one group. That is, in fact - keywords, thanks to which you can find publications on Instagram that suit you.

Important. Next, you will learn a super-method for selecting the most popular hashtags on Instagram, but first we will learn the basics so that logical relationships form in our heads.

Why do we need

The correct use of hashtags will help attract people who are interested in this topic to your page, that is, in fact, your future customers. All that remains is to sell them your product / service correctly. But this is a topic for another article.

1. Rules for adding hashtags

It seems like you don't need a lot of brains to write hashtags on Instagram. You take the words that fit the meaning and write in a row. But if you want to get the maximum, then you should still know the basic rules of how to put hashtags on Instagram correctly.

  1. Write hashtags in Cyrillic and Latin. But remember, when using English words, you begin to compete with the whole world, and not just in Russia;
  2. A hashtag does not necessarily represent a word. It can also be a phrase. For example, the phrase “favorite Instagram” can be written as #favoriteinstagram or #favorite_instagram. From this follows the third rule...
  3. You cannot use spaces or special characters. Hashtags can only be separated by an underscore (_). And in rare cases, using numbers and emoji;
  4. Write a series of hashtags separated by spaces. This looks more aesthetically pleasing and is perceived by Instagram not as spam;
  5. The maximum number of hashtags in one post is 30. If you write a lot of hashtags, the trick will fail and Instagram will either cut them or simply post posts without text at all.

Chip. Where to put them? You can write hashtags in Instagram comments, more precisely, in the first comment, and not just in the post.

They will also be ranked. The quantity is the same - no more than 30 pieces. Below I will tell you how you can use it for your own purposes.

2. Types of hashtags

Remember I wrote that hashtags are keywords? The most interesting thing is that they, like keywords in contextual advertising and SEO, are distributed by frequency.

True, Instagram does not allow you to view the frequency of a particular hashtag. But it is possible to see how many publications are issued by hashtag separately. This is how they share:

  1. High-frequency - from 100 thousand publications;
  2. Medium frequency - from 10 to 100 thousand publications;
  3. Low-frequency - from 500 to 10 thousand publications;
  4. Rare - up to 500 publications.

To make it more clear: here is an example of a high-frequency, that is, a very popular (read hackneyed) hashtag:

High-frequency hashtags
3. Types of hashtags

And to complete the lecture part, I will also tell you that hashtags are divided not only into types according to the frequency of their mention, but also into the types of their use:

  1. Spam hashtags (e.g. followme) . Used to collect likes or followers. They give little effect. Use them sparingly and carefully;
  2. Geo-hashtags. Hashtags mentioning the city/region/country. If you have a local business, be sure to use them;
  3. Content hashtags. They are relevant to the content of the post. Mandatory to use, as they will bring targeted visitors;
  4. Trendy. Used to increase account activity. However, you need to use trends close to the business;
  5. Branded. Required hashtags by which your buyers can recognize your posts. In fact, this is your signature on Instagram;
  6. Rubricators. Used to navigate within your account. And also for promotions, contests, sweepstakes and more.

Important. Do not use ready-made lists of the best hashtags. They tacitly refer to the type of “Spam hashtags”, since there are almost no living or adequate people according to them.

What hashtags to choose

Ideally, your key task, if we are talking about the right approach to doing business on Instagram, is to assemble the semantic core of your future business profile along with the content plan for Instagram. Optimally, it should be 100-150 hashtags, close to what you do and what you will advertise on Instagram.

As advertising

And right away. If you want to collect only popular hashtags in the hope of always being on top, then I can upset you. This will not give the desired effect, since either bots or people who themselves want to sell something “scam” them.

Therefore, when forming the semantic core, be smarter and collect an equal number of high-frequency, mid-frequency and other types of hashtags.

This way you will increase your chances of attracting customers, not fake pages.

SEARCH SERVICE

How to find hashtags? This can be done in three popular ways (bypassing spam lists of the best hashtags): manually, by “withdrawing” them from competitors, using special programs and services. I still recommend using a service where everything is already thought out and there is analytics - Instatag.

Its beauty is that the hashtags are sorted by direction and there are even special classifiers like “hashtags for likes”. All you need is to go to the service and select the hashtags that you need.

Instatag

Do not forget to carefully study our article. There we have collected the best services to promote your Instagram account!

Related:
Instagram promotion services: the best to be in the top

COMMON ERRORS

Instagram is one of the few social networks where hashtags play a significant role.

And that's why experienced marketers, advertisers, and people of related professions are so actively using them and teaching how to do hashtags on Instagram correctly.

But either they themselves do not fully understand Instagram algorithms, or people do not attach any importance to this, when using hashtags they make a lot of mistakes. Which negatively affect the promotion of their pages:

  1. Lots of hashtags. Often, business accounts post a lot of hashtags in the hope that it will attract traffic. But unfortunately, the more hashtags, the more you turn the system against yourself, signaling that you are a spammer;
  2. Many popular hashtags. Another error. It is better to post hashtags like #stretch ceilings_vologda than just #stretch ceilings. The number of likes will be less, but there will be more customers;
  3. The same hashtags. This is a powerful signal to Instagram that you are a spammer. The punishment can be very severe. In each post, change your hashtags, and release some without them at all;
  4. Closed page. Very often people try to write hashtags on a closed page. This is a completely useless exercise, since hashtags on closed pages are not ranked by Instagram.

By the way, there can be 2 types of punishment for incorrect use of hashtags: complete deletion of the account (the worst) and “shadow ban”, this is when you see your publication, but the subscribers do not.

Related:
Shadow ban: signs + how to get out

In general, punishments are extremely rare, but I was obliged to warn.

Different approaches

If we are talking about the classic hashtag scheme that most users use, then it's just to write a list of all the words that come to mind and are more or less relevant to the posted publication.

This certainly has an effect, and little by little traffic will be attracted. But there are smarter approaches to put them more efficiently that I recommend using.

Life hack. Optimize your customer interactions on Instagram with MyBotan. The chatbot will automatically respond to messages, save data about the client and his requests. And you can not only choose a ready-made answer template, but also create your own. Agree this will facilitate the work in the social network? Click and test for 3 days for free -> MyBotan

1. Improved version

First, you prepare hashtags for each post in the amount of no more than 20. The ideal number is about 10. And at the end of the post, highlight them in a separate block from the text. Readers will perceive this more loyally for the perception of the main text.

Improved version

2. Native version

In the text of the post itself, you need to place several hashtags (preferably 2-4), scattering them along the entire length.

The remaining 7-10 hashtags, you post in the first comment. So we kill 2 birds with one stone: it all looks beautiful and users go inside the post to look at the comment.

Native variant

3. Bomb variant

The main task of hashtags is to attract traffic to the site and help the publication to reach the TOP or up the user feeds.

Therefore, you can use the following trick, which is called the “like bomb”. In the post itself, you publish 30 hashtags, in the first comment, 30 more.

At the start, this will give a small but increase in likes. In addition, do not forget that you need to “give impetus”, that is, boost likes and comments with the help of special services, for example, TmSmm, Instaplus.pro.

Two moments. After a couple of days, don't forget to remove most of these hashtags, leaving only low frequency ones. Otherwise, Instagram will impose restrictions on you as a spammer. The second point - do not repeat such a thing often. Otherwise... you know the punishment.

Bomb version

Briefly about the main thing

That's all. To be honest, I gave away almost everything I knew.

Hashtags are a good way to attract customers if they are used correctly, and not mindlessly stamped, attracting people who work through mass liking.

All that is required of you now is to apply all the knowledge gained in your Instagram account. And then, do not stop and constantly work on updating them, because today you are doing well, and tomorrow your competitor is also doing well, and the overall effect is not the same.

Learn more