What are Hashtags?
Hashtags for Instagram and other social channels are words or phrases that follow the “#” symbol with no spaces. Hashtags are used to search for topics on social media. For example, #besthashtags or #socialmediamarketing. They can represent your topics and interests related to your post. They can also be customized to fit your brand, like #acmebooksales or #attractionunlimited.
Hashtags for Instagram: What is the Big Deal?
On Instagram, as well as other social channels, using the best hashtags will increase your post’s audience. For example, if you use the hashtag #reiki, you will likely get reiki fans to your post. This increases the reach of your post organically. On Instagram, using the best hashtags will greatly improve the chances to grow your account and increase the outreach of your brand.
Generating Hashtags
Generating hashtags for Instagram, or any social channel can be done with the Hashtagify app. It will generate a lot of hashtags related to any word you choose. For example, upon entering “lightworker” Hashtagify generates #love, #dreamer, #spiritual, #angelic, #psychic, #spirituality, #quotes, and #starseed.
Shortcut to Finding Great Hashtags
One quick way to find great hashtags for Instagram is to look at successful posts by influencers in your field. Make a list of the different hashtags used in these posts.
Next Steps
When using hashtags for Instagram, you want to know their frequency of occurrence. You can do this by searching for the word on Instagram. Instagram will give you a list of words and accounts containing the word. Click on the exact word and it will take you to a page that tells you its occurrence. For example, “lightworker” has 5.2 million posts. If you use this hashtag, your post will get lost in the crowd. “Lightworkersunite” is a better bet with 194,000 posts. “Lightworkersof2021” has less than 100 posts, indicating people are not likely going to search for it.
Mix ‘em Up
The best practice in using hashtags for Instagram is to mix them up according to the occurrence. The sweet spot is an occurrence between 60,000 and 100,000 posts. Also, mix in both those with a higher occurrence and lower occurrence.
Use 30 hashtags on Instagram. That is how many are allowed. There is no disadvantage to using 30. Plus, using 30 gives your post that many more chances of being found.
Mix up the sets of hashtags you use as well. For ease, create several hashtag lists that you can copy and paste. Or use a social media scheduler like CloudCampaign which will store your hashtag lists.
Which Hashtags are Working for You?
After you have been using hashtags, you can track how well they are doing with the Smarthash app. It will show you which hashtags are working for you and those that are hot. Be sure to include some of these in all your hashtag lists.
Summary
Hashtags for Instagram are essential to expanding your reach organically. Generate lists of hashtags using the Hashtagify app and/or by researching highly successful posts in your field. Then research on Instagram each hashtag’s occurrence. Mix up those more frequent with those less frequent. Mix up the hashtags themselves as well. Use different lists of hashtags. Check the success of your hashtags with the Smarthash app. Keep your lists in a social scheduler like CloudCampaign. (Attraction Unlimited Marketing is an affiliate partner of Cloud Campaign.)
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