While Twitter may be credited with creating social media hashtags, Instagram has helped to put them on the map. Now, marketers have something else to learn – how to create an effective hashtag strategy for their Instagram account that produces results.
Today, hashtags on Instagram help to categorize your content and make it easy to find by site users. However, they do more than that. Hashtags are an effective way to generate more followers, increase engagement, improve brand awareness, and expand reach.
From a listicle for the best hashtags for self-portraits to using the right hashtag in your next post, some tips to create the most effective hashtags can be found here.
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Focus on What Your Research Tells You
Researching various hashtags before you use them is essential. The more targeted and relevant the hashtags are, the more you will increase your chances and ability to reach an audience that is interested in your content.
Based on your individual goals, there are several research options to find the right hashtags. Some of the most effective techniques include:
- Researching relevant topics
- Researching your target audience
- Researching industry leaders
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Use Hashtags the Right Way
There is a lot of research on how many hashtags you should use in every post to increase engagement.
Depending on your research, the number of hashtags you should use ranges from five to 30, which is the max.
Some experienced marketers swear by using the max number of hashtags – with 30 per post – but more recent research has shown that using 11 hashtags per post is ideal for boosting engagement via Instagram.
The key to success with hashtags on Instagram is using them strategically, regardless of how many you decide to use.
Hiding Hashtags
If you want to make sure your readers remain focused on well-written captions, be sure to downplay your hashtags on Instagram. If your tags are visible in your post, it may appear cluttered, out of place, or spammy.
There are two methods you can use to hide hashtags.
In the Captions
After you have ended your caption with a period, hit “enter” or “return.” Make sure there is no space after the final period. Enter one type of punctuation – a bullet, dash, or period – then hit “enter” or “return” again and repeat this four times. Enter your hashtags on the final line.
This is effective because Instagram will hide captions after three lines. Your viewers will have to tap the “more” option or look at the comments made on your post.
In the Comments
To use hashtags in the comments, there are several steps to take.
- Post the content as usual and leave hashtags out of the caption
- After the post is published, click the speech bubble beneath the post to leave a comment
- Put your hashtags in the “add a comment…” box and then hit “post.”
- After your post gets more comments, the hashtags can be seen unless a person selects “view all comments.”
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Create Geographical Tags
Research has proven that posts with a tagged location have 79% more engagement than those with no geographical tag. With Instagram Stories, location tags work the same as a conventional hashtag. This is something to remember and use when you are creating your content.
If you want to spread your name and persona on Instagram, using the tips and information here to create the right hashtags and use them the right way will pay off. Be sure to keep the information here in mind to achieve the best results and enjoy the additional traffic and visibility you receive.
