Tips for Using Hashtags on Instagram

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The infamous hashtag (#), which sprung into popularity in the Twitterverse, has crossed boundaries and is now a staple of numerous social media platforms. This little symbol has sparked major popularity, but it also is becoming a necessity for gaining followers, with both individuals and companies alike.
Honing in on an increasing market, advertisers have jumped at the chance to get their content trending on Instagram, one of the most popular social media sites with huge growth potential. Instagram hashtags are going to be an integral part of a brand’s social selling focus moving forward, due to the platform’s visual and aesthetic focus. With this being said, it is a good idea to address the proper usage of the hashtag on this particular medium before marketers make the wrong moves.
 

Here are some tips for using hashtags on Instagram

 

Tip 1: Tag Yourself

The most important tip is to make sure that your brand is tagged in the post. If your company does not already have a hashtag, simply create one and make sure you use it every time you upload your images. This might sound obvious, but you would be surprised how many people forget to do this.
Creating and utilizing your hashtag gives a direct link back to your brand’s Instagram feed from whatever other page someone may have found it on. It would be kind of pointless to put something out there without your name on it, especially since not everything that you post is going to necessarily have your logo or brand image in it.
 

Tip 2: Do Not Be Vague

Be as specific as possible when adding hashtags to an image. Of course, a broad or generic one will land your post into a larger feed, but users are going to have to sift through things that probably are not even closely related to your brand.
Instead, target your market with something specific so that your image gets into a pool of a relevant and smaller feed. If a user is searching for something, they will be thinking narrowly and not be looking for a broad list of irrelevant results.
Additionally, adding your location can be useful if it is not apparent from the image. If your brand or service is only operating in a certain region or town, let people know! If you are a larger corporation with a global marketplace, then having a location hashtag is not necessary.
 

Tip 3: Do Your Research

Check out what the competition is up to. Search for brands that have a similar offering and see if the hashtags they are using are garnering any worthy attention. If so, add it to your post as long as it is relevant. This goes hand in hand with being specific, so don’t use something that isn’t going to be beneficial.
Be aware of trending topics or breaking news, as well. It is important to be up to date on current events and trending topics on the internet, because hashtags related to these tend to go viral. You will have a larger potential audience, but again, you need to make the post itself relate to whatever is trending or happening. You can even create a strategy based on holidays or sporting events, which you can plan out ahead of time, giving you more time to quickly generate trend-driven posts.
 

Putting These Tips Into Action

Widely recognized brands are not the only ones who can benefit from using Instagram hashtags in order to promote themselves. Small businesses can create a local following for themselves if they follow these tips, potentially bringing in more customers for their business.
For instance, let’s say that your company wants to sell more used construction equipment. Once you have a cool image of the equipment that you want to post, you can begin adding hashtags. First you get your brand in there with a #blanchardmachinery, or whatever your business name is. Add a location if needed, such as #newholland or #charlestonsc. Lastly, be specific and do your research so you can reach the right audience. Hashtags like #equipmentshopping and #farmingequipment would work great for this particular example.
It doesn’t matter if you operate a clothing boutique, own a bookstore or are a worldwide conglomerate, appropriate hashtags on Instagram will bring in followers who are actually interested in what you have to offer. These additions to a promotional post, or even just a humorous photo, will only increase the value of the original image, leading to possibly more business in the future.

 Image source

 Are there any particular Instagram hashtags that you use more often?

 
See also: Tips for Writing the Best Instagram Captions