How to use instagram hashtags for maximum exposure

How to Use Instagram Hashtags for Exposure (8 Powerful Ways)

Instagram is at the top of the social media food chain, and every IG ninja knows that hashtags are the real deal.

Hashtags can make or break your exposure on Instagram; they are that powerful. If you want to stop being invisible on Instagram, you must learn how to use Instagram hashtags properly – and to be honest, it’s not that hard.

All you need to do is learn the basics, add a little bit of creativity, and voila! You will start seeing the growth you crave.

Unfortunately, many don’t know how to leverage hashtags for better exposure– they just sprinkle random or popular hashtags at posts and pray it triggers engagements. But sadly, it doesn’t work like that.

Every Tom, Dick, and Harry would have millions of likes and comments on every post if it did.

This naivety is why new brands find it challenging to establish a presence on Instagram and struggle to stay afloat in the pool of competition.

Many questions surround the use of hashtags on Instagram, but don’t worry; this article will answer those questions.

Why are hashtags so important anyway? Aren’t they just words?

Hashtags are words preceded with the # sign, but they are a whole lot more. If they weren’t vital, no one would bother about them, and they’d be lost in the horde of social media elements.

Here are some of the reasons why hashtags are vital in promoting your Instagram account.

Exposure Exposure Exposure

Hashtags literally bring your content into the limelight.

Let’s assume the hashtag #dresslikeaqueen is trending in the fashion world, with dozens of designer fashion brands like Louis Vuitton, Fendy, and Chanel using it to promote their designs.

Of course, millions of customers will search for that particular hashtag to check out what it’s all about.

Now imagine adding that exact hashtag to one of your posts. That translates to millions of people potentially discovering your content. Isn’t that just amazing?

They boost audience interactions.

The mere fact that Instagram users consciously search and click on hashtags should tell you that they rate hashtags a lot. And when they do find attractive posts with hashtags, they tend to comment and interact with them.

Sometimes, brands create custom hashtags for their products and feature clients that use such hashtags on their pages. Using such hashtags, you may find yourself in a pool of interactions, especially if your posts are of top-tier quality.

Hashtags may help you discover the latest industry trends

The world is a highly dynamic place, with new trends popping up every now and then. It can be pretty difficult to keep up with these trends – well, only if you don’t know how to utilize hashtags.

All you have to do is check the buzzing hashtags, and who knows, you just might discover your next big break.

For instance, if you check the dropshipping hashtag on Instagram, you will quickly realize that it’s an evergreen trend. The hashtag alone has amassed over 1.5 million posts. So if you have a post related to dropshipping, you surely want to include the hashtag.

How Do I Utilize Hashtags to Promote my Content?

Now that you understand the prowess of hashtags, the next line of action is to apply them. But before that, there’s a lot to learn- including knowing where to use your hashtags.

Places where you can use hashtags on Instagram

Instagram Feeds

This is your main profile page, and everything you post here stays there basically forever – except you delete them. Here, you can use up to 30 targeted hashtags in the caption or comment section.

This means that millions of people can locate your page via 30 different hashtags for every Instagram post you make. Please do your research, pick the best of the bunch (preferably between 10 and 15), and use them.

Instagram Stories

Instagram Stories is a feature that allows users to post content that vanishes after 24 hours. These posts will be visible to your followers and some people you follow, but to boost your chances of exposure, you can add hashtags to the mix.

Here, you can use only three hashtags in a text box and one as a sticker. Using hashtags on stories will significantly boost your views – which means exposure for your content/brand.

IGTV

IGTV is an autonomous video app developed by Instagram to allow users to post longer videos (up to 10 minutes for regular accounts and 1 hour for large or verified accounts).

People often use this feature to share exclusive content, broadcast main events and shows, deliver tutorial videos, or publish episodes of content relating to their brand – and so can you.

IGTV allows up to 30 hashtags per video – a massive opportunity to showcase your content or brand to the world.

How Do I Find the Best Hashtags in my Niche?

It would be out of place and quite unprofessional to use an energy drink hashtag in a clothing brand post. Avoid doing this at all costs. There are way better hashtags to use. All you need to do is find them.

Check out posts from other brands in your industry.

One of the best ways to discover traffic-generating hashtags is to take a look at the posts of your competitors and superiors in the industry.

Some may see this as lazy and unethical, but please – it’s not like they invented all those hashtags.

It is perfectly fine for you to take a cover from their books – in this case, hashtags from their posts – and use it in yours.

If those hashtags generate engagements for your competitors and superiors, you can expect that they will have the same effect on your posts.

Research the hashtags industry influencers are using.

Like Elon Musk to Cryptocurrency, Coles Sprouse to fashion, and Soccerbible to football, every industry has influencers or leading figures that drive discussions and create trends.

They often create or use hashtags that everyone interested in that niche responds to, and this is why you must find out what hashtags these top Instagram influencers are currently using.

You can do this by searching for a generic word like football in the search tab – you will find a boatload of posts using that particular word as hashtags.

Scroll through and locate the prominent accounts, then check the other hashtags they use. And just like that, you can find the hashtags that will push your content to possible stardom.

Pro tip: Ensure that the hashtags from these sources don’t have multiple interpretations that may confuse your target audience.

Brainstorm

Never underestimate the power of brainstorming, especially when it comes to stuff relating to your niche.

You’re the expert, and your journey in the industry must have exposed you to some knowledge. Use this knowledge to generate simple but effective hashtags that will drive engagements.

Pro tip: Search Instagram and other social media platforms to check if your hashtags have been used before.

If they haven’t been used, that means they are new, and you may have to modify them – especially if your brand is just rising in the ranks. Only established brands have a higher chance of success when it comes to inventing new hashtags.

Lastly, you can take advantage of Instagram hashtag generators like Hashtagsforlikes, Kicksta, and Ingramer.

Recommended Instagram Hashtag Tool: HashtagFox

8 Ways to Use your Instagram Hashtags for More Exposure

Learning how to use Instagram hashtags for more exposure is vital to your Instagram growth; these tips should help.

1. Complement your Insta Stories with hashtags

Yes, this has been mentioned before, but I am reiterating it to highlight just how vital it is.

Many brands fail to utilize the vast potential that comes with using hashtags in Instagram stories. They basically boost your exposure and push your content to more people.

Major brands like Nike, Fendy, Hublot – and the likes have perfectly mastered the art of using hashtags in Insta Stories – so should you.

2. Encourage your followers to use your hashtags

Sometimes, all it takes to get people to do something is to tell them. You can apply this logic by explicitly asking your followers and prospective audience to use a hashtag or a set of hashtags in their posts.

Think of it as a friendly call to action. You can throw in little incentives like mercs or shout-outs on our page. And you definitely should use power words to entice them further.

This will encourage existing followers to use your hashtags a lot more, thereby driving exposure for your content.

3. Stay away from Banned Hashtags.

Hashtags are incredible and all, but some of them are bad news. Hashtags get banned after multiple reports of bot spamming, abuse, association with inappropriate content, and basically anything that goes against the Instagram rules.

Posts with such hashtags become invisible to the Instagram community – they are hidden from the mainstream Instagram Feeds – and no one wants that because it would look like your post doesn’t even exist.

Plus, using too many banned hashtags concurrently may cause Instagram to flag or shadowban your account. In some cases, you may permanently lose the account. There’s no official list of banned hashtags, but know that there are probably thousands of them.

Banned hashtags are why you must research your hashtags properly before using them in your posts. To check if a hashtag has been flagged, head to the Explore tab, type in the hashtag in context and click on search.

If it is a banned hashtag, you will see this message above the posts, “Recent posts for this hashtag are hidden because some posts may not follow Instagram’s Community Guidelines.”

If you’ve noticed a dip in your engagements, you might be using at least one banned hashtag repeatedly. Edit such posts, find the banned hashtag and delete it.

This is a hashtag trick that many don’t know about. Posting your hashtags in the comment section rather than the caption makes your post look less bulky and unattractive.

It allows readers to focus on your post and caption instead of a horde of hashtags.

5. Leverage Trending Hashtags

Hashtags and trends are like bread and jam – they combine perfectly to give a satisfying outcome. Sometimes, hashtags may act as trends.

Almost every activity or movement on social media today comes with a hashtag – think of them as channels to exposure, especially when they start to garner attention on the internet space.

Leveraging trending hashtags is not a cakewalk, but it isn’t exactly rocket science – all you have to do is find the trending hashtags on the pages of leading figures in your niche and use them in your posts – that’s all.

A trending hashtag is your ride to exposure – one you cannot afford to miss. But just like a boat won’t take you to space, not every trending hashtag will take you to exposure.

You must choose hashtags that represent your niche, brand, or goals, or else your content will end up on the screens of audiences that can’t relate to it.

6. Avoid Using Repetitive Hashtags

Laziness gets even the best of us, and you may find yourself using the same old hashtags on every post. In simple terms, this is wrong – at least according to Instagram’s community guidelines.

The rules clearly state that posting repetitive content or comments, which may include hashtags, is wrong.

And you must do well to avoid being culpable. If you do this, the algorithm may flag your account as a spam station and therefore restrict the publicity of your content.

Repetition is a typical Instagram hashtag mistake, but now you know better. Always try to use new and relevant hashtags on all your posts – it makes your content unique and in sync.

7. Hashtags should always match your Instagram Posts

This point is a close cousin to the last one – and you will do well to stick to both. There’s hardly any one-size-fits-all when it comes to hashtags. So, always create unique and specific hashtags for your posts.

Repeating the same hashtags will not only alert the algorithm of possible spamming activity, but sometimes, such hashtags do not relate to the post in any way.

Imagine posting French fries but using hashtags like #burgerislife #pretzelsarethebomb, and #pizzalover – there’s absolutely no correlation.

Yes, your content may pop up in the timeline of IG users searching for content on those hashtags, but when they do find your posts, they may be disappointed and most likely will not engage it.

When it comes to hashtags, it is never about exposure to a lot of people. It is about exposure to the right audience, and using relevant hashtags on your posts makes sure of that.

Another thing worth doing is creating posts that awe readers, then add powerful hashtags to them. This way, you can have viral content. Because according to a stat, content that awe readers have a 34% chance of going viral. Adding hashtags to this type of content will increase the likelihood of making them viral.

8. Create Hashtags for your Business

Have you thought about branding your business with a custom hashtag? If you haven’t, then you definitely should.

Yes, it might be challenging to get a large audience to notice it first, but in combination with other generic hashtags, your audience will start to see a correlation. And before you know it, your custom hashtag is a symbol of your business.

Your brand hashtag should be catchy, relatively short, and must also relate to your business.

You can always add a little bit of humor, sarcasm, or fun elements that social media users love to feed on. Before you know it, everyone will be wondering, “Who came up with this hashtag?”

Conclusion

Instagram is an online jungle and knowing how to use Instagram hashtags makes you an apex predator.

Deploying the ideal hashtags will keep your content and page visible to millions of followers and prospective customers – all you have to do is understand the basics and avoid making mistakes that may affect your account.

Using Instagram hashtags the right way could lead to more Instagram likes, comments, followers, and improve the overall engagements. It is a way of optimizing your Instagram marketing similar to choosing the best time to post on Instagram for maximum engagement but much more powerful as you can see from this article.

Author Bio

This guest post was written by Olusola David. Olusola is the founder and CEO of Torchbankz.com, an eCommerce entrepreneur and blogger with keen interest in eCommerce. After starting his online business journey with Dropshipping, he now shares his trial and error experience of many years with new aspiring entrepreneurs. He writes about eCommerce, from starting a Shopify dropshipping store to building a sales funnel for your business.

Hero photo by Jan Baborák on Unsplash

How To Use Instagram Hashtags FAQs

How do you use hashtags effectively?

Here are the ways to use hashtags effectively:

1. Use hashtags in your Instagram stories
2. Encourage your followers to use your hashtags
3. Make sure the hashtags you are using are not banned
4. Use hashtags in your first comment
5. Always use trending hashtags
6. Avoid repetitive hashtags
7. Create hashtag specific for your business

What is a hashtag and how do you use it?

Hashtags are relevant words or keywords that are preceded with # sign. They are used to categorize all posts using the same hashtags. In this way, user will be able to easily find content relevant to the hashtag. On Instagram, hashtags are usually placed below the caption of the photo/video although it can be included anywhere on the post.

Do Instagram hashtags actually work?

Yes, Instagram hashtags do work! They help in getting more exposure, engagement, and visitors to your content. In fact, a study shows that a post that uses at least one hashtag gets 12.6% more engagement than a post without a hashtag. This only shows that it’s worth it using hashtags on your Instagram posts. So if you are looking to grow your account or business, do not forget to use hashtags!

How do you use hashtags to get more followers on Instagram?

Hashtags are there to help increase your account’s presence on Instagram. You can get more followers on Instagram by using hashtags so your post will rank high for the hashtag keywords you used. If you use specific niche hashtags, you will increase your chance of finding your target audience. The key is to use relevant hashtags to your niche, not generic ones.

How do I know if a hashtag is working?

The best way to measure a hashtag’s effectiveness is by using Instagram hashtag analytics tools. It is quite hard to track it just by the Instagram app as it can only give you a shallow report of how many people are using the hashtag, and others. But with hashtag analytics tools, you will get to understand the performance of each hashtag you are using. In this way, you will know which is the best performing hashtag through comprehensive analysis and engagement rate.

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:

#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)
#nature (525.7M)
#like4like (515.6M)
#travel (497.3M)
#instagram (482.6M)
#style (472. 3M)
#repost (471.4M)
#summer454.2M
#instadaily (444.0M)
#selfie (422.6M)
#me (420.3M)
#friends (396.7M)
#fitness (395.8M)
#girl (393.8M)
#food (391.9M)
#fun (385.6M)
#beauty (382.8M)
#instalike (374.6M)
#smile (364.5M)
#family (357.7M)
#photo (334.6M)
#life (334.5M)
#likeforlike (328.2M)
#music (316.1M)
#ootd (308.2M)
#follow4follow (290.6M)
#makeup (285.3M)
#amazing (277.5M)
#igers (276.5M)
#nofilter (268.9M)
#dog (264.0M)
#model (254.7M)
#sunset (249.8M)
#beach (246.8M)
#instamood (238.1M)
#foodporn (229.4M)
#motivation (229.1M)
#followforfollow (227.9M)

Popular B2B Hashtags

#business (101M)
#entrepreneur (93M)
#success (82M)
#onlineshop (70M)
#smallbusiness (104M)
#marketing (69M)
#branding (38M)
#marketingdigital (39M)
#innovation (14M)
#ecommerce (12M)
#retail (8. 2M)
#onlinemarketing (8M)
#contentmarketing (6.5M)
#marketingtips (6.2M)
#marketingstrategy (6M)
#marketingstrategy (6M)
#startups (5.3M)
#management (5.1M)
#businesstips (5.1M)
#software (5M)
#B2B (2.6M)
#instagramforbusiness (1.4M)
#b2bmarketing (528k)
#eventmarketing (408k)
#b2bsales (125k)

Popular B2C Hashtags

#training (133M)
#smallbusiness (104M)
#business (101M)
#sale (95M)
#onlineshopping (85M)
#marketing (69M)
#marketingdigital (39M)
#promo (35M)
#socialmedia (32M)
#digitalmarketing (25M)
#startup (24M)
#socialmediamarketing (19. 7M)
#sales (19M)
#advertising (15M)
#ecommerce (12.3M)
#networking (12.1M)
#onlinebusiness (11.4M)
#onlinemarketing (8M)
#smallbiz (7M)
#company (7.9M)
#startuplife (5.6M)
#contentmarketing (6.5M)
#socialmediatips (3.2M)
#marketplace (2.5M)
#b2c (350k)
#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

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:

Write your caption as usual but don’t include any hashtags.
Once your post is published, simply click the speech bubble icon under your post to leave a comment.
Write out or paste the hashtags you want to include in the comment box and tap Post.
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.

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.
Enter a punctuation mark (try a period, bullet, or dash), then hit Return again.
Repeat steps 2 to 4 at least three times.
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.

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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.

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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

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.”

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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.

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in a post or in the first comment? — Social networks on vc.ru

When it comes to the best place to place hashtags on Instagram (in a post or comment), the opinions of SMM experts differ.

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To debunk hashtag myths, Socialinsider partnered with Quuu to analyze 649,895 posts from 6,784 business accounts with varying follower counts. The research report contains useful information for choosing the location of hashtags, their number and design, depending on the size of the accounts and the purpose of the post.

1. Most brands use hashtags in the text of the post

There is a perception that putting hashtags in the first comment makes a post neater and more engaging, while having hashtags in the post itself can look spammy. It seems that not all brands think so.

87.7% of brands use hashtags in profile text, compared to only 12. 3% in comments.

Among all analyzed posts in 9In 3.8% of cases, hashtags were placed in the text, in 6.2% - in the first comment.

2. Reach and number of impressions are higher when hashtags are placed in the text of the post

Posting hashtags in a post gets more impressions, regardless of account size. However, a detailed analysis reveals clear differences between accounts with up to 100,000 followers and more than 100,000.

How to use hashtags for maximum reach

The use of hashtags in the text of the post gives more coverage for posts of small and medium profiles. However, for accounts with more than 100 thousand followers, the situation is different: the average reach of posts with hashtags in the text is lower (14.8%) than for posts with hashtags in the first comment (16.9%).

Jenn Herman, social media strategist, notes: “It makes no significant difference to the algorithm where exactly you place your hashtags. The exception is the most frequent hashtags like #love. Using such a hashtag in a comment can lead to a drop in reach.”

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How to use hashtags to increase impressions

If the main goal is to make the post visible to the maximum number of users, while engagement is not important, impressions will be the key metric. In this case, hashtags should be placed in the body of the post, regardless of the size of the profile.

Unlike small and medium-sized accounts, the average number of impressions of a post of large Instagram accounts (more than 100 thousand followers) practically does not depend on the location of the hashtags.

Naturally, the result also depends on the number of hashtags.

3. Brands love extremes: if not 7, then 30 hashtags at once

Experts regularly try to determine the ideal number of hashtags in an Instagram post.

Some people think that the optimal number is up to 7, others - up to 11, others are sure that it is worth using all 30 hashtags (maximum on Instagram). And someone simply advises brands to “find your magic number.”

Socialinsider and Quuu experts also recommend doing your own experiments. Read more about this in the Instagram hashtag guide.

The recommendations below are based on how the analyzed brands use hashtags.

Among the brands that place hashtags in the text of the post, two extremes can be distinguished: either there are 7 hashtags, or their number is close to 30

These extremes are clearly visible on the graph:

Things are different with hashtags in the first comment - in most cases there are only two of them:

However, is this the best option?

Alex Khan, Social Media Coach: “I think A/B testing is always a must. In my experience, there is no difference in where hashtags are placed. Since Instagram changes its algorithms regularly, it's much more important to constantly test what works best for you, use a variety of hashtags, and experiment with new ones."

4. Engagement depends on the number of followers, placement and number of hashtags

At first glance, it may seem that the placement of hashtags has little to no effect on user engagement rates.

A closer look reveals that engagement is affected by both the placement of hashtags and the number of followers.

So, where to place hashtags and how many should there be?

By segmenting profiles by number of followers and looking at each group individually, you can get a general idea of which posts are most successful.

Below are recommendations on the number and placement of hashtags for accounts with different numbers of followers (peak values are taken into account).