Arta Balode

Getting noticed on Instagram feels nice if you’re posting just for fun. But if you’re using Instagram to promote your business, double-taps take on a new meaning. With 1.16 billion Instagram accounts fighting for attention, it’s becoming more challenging to get into the spotlight. So what can you do to get noticed? There are plenty of ways to boost your Instagram presence, and using Instagram hashtags is one of them. If used properly, hashtags will get more attention and engagement for the content you post. To help you create a winning hashtag strategy, I’ve created this guide with quick tips, tricks, and templates. I'll also share my personal experience on how I grew my following. At the end of this guide, I’ve also included a list of 500+ popular Instagram hashtags you can copy-paste to your posts and get discovered by a new audience on Instagram! 500 hashtags How do hashtags work? Hashtags organize content by topic and help Instagram recognize what your post is about. A quick look at how hashtags came into being—in 2007, Twitter users complained they were seeing too much content. In an attempt to solve this, American blogger and product consultant Chris Messina suggested: Source Although Twitter allegedly responded with "these things are for nerds", a series of events saw the first widespread use of hashtags to allow users to easily track updates. By the end of the 00s, hashtags were put to use in most social media platforms including Instagram, Facebook, Reddit, and YouTube. But why do brands use hashtags so avidly? Hashtags serve as a filter for the enormous amount of content posted on the platform every day, and this filter helps users to find relevant and interesting posts. Let’s take a look at how the content gets sorted. How does the Instagram algorithm work? As we’ve already established, hashtags group together content on a specific topic. To better understand why use hashtags on Instagram, let's zoom in on the mechanics for a bit, starting with the algorithm. The Instagram algorithm is a set of rules that decides what content users see on the app. Whenever you open your Instagram feed, the content that’s displayed is a combination of all of your Instagram behaviors. More specifically, there are 6 factors that influence the Instagram algorithm: Interest—If a user actively interacts with an account, Instagram will bump up the posts from this account. Relationship—the Instagram algorithm will prioritize the posts by people or brands the user engages with the most. Posting time—Instagram wants to serve its users fresh content so it takes note of how long ago a post was published. Frequency—Instagram checks how often the user opens the app. For frequent scrollers, the feed will be more chronological, while for casual visitors the feed will be curated according to what the system thinks they’ll like the most. Following—If the user is following many accounts, Instagram has a lot of content to choose from and won’t show all the posts in the feed. Usage—The more time a user spends on the app, the better Instagram gets at finding content based on the user's preferences. All these factors are at play in your visibility on a hashtags page. The higher your post appears, the better, as it will be more discoverable by people who don’t follow you yet.To follow a hashtag on Instagram, go to the Explore page (the little magnifying glass icon), section Tags, enter the hashtag you’re interested in, and hit Follow. You’ll start seeing top posts with this hashtag on your feed. Instagram profile comparison. FeaturePersonalCreatorBusinessCan be set to PrivatePublish Instagram posts through push notificationsAccess Instagram Insights for analyticsSearch for and collect media by hashtagsCollect media from Instagram posts you’re tagged or mentioned inManage Instagram comments with ConversationsSee your Best Times to PostTag people and add locationsAdd a First Comment when scheduling Auto Publish postsAuto Publish Instagram Stories or Multi-Photo postsGet a Contact buttonPromote posts as adsFiltered Inbox for Direct MessagesAdd links to Instagram Stories (if your account is verified or has 10,000+ followers) If you’re an online store owner, here’s one more reason to create a Business Account—the in-app Shopping feature. Connect your account to a Facebook catalog, and start tagging products in your photos and stories. If a user clicks on the product on the picture, they’ll be automatically directed to your Facebook shop for more details. It’s all about experiments and analyzing your account performance, and the Business Account helps you do that. Be active, interact with other Instagram accounts, drive as much action as you can with Instagram pods or DM groups, and monitor overall account performance. How to use hashtags on Instagram and get higher engagement. There are four ways you can use hashtags on Instagram—in Instagram posts, Instagram Stories, on IGTV, and in Reels. I’ve prepared hashtag usage suggestions for each of these formats. Instagram posts. Add up to 30 hashtags. Tag up to 20 accounts to increase your chances of being featured on other pages. Add Instagram alt text to your images to rank on Google results. Mark up to 5 products per post (for Instagram Business Account owners with Shopping enabled) Tip: To outsmart Instagram’s algorithm and get a better reach, try to get as many likes and comments as you can within the first hour of posting. One of the ways to do that is by joining a niche pod—an Instagram group with like-minded users interested in each other’s content and mutual support. The group members like and comment posts on Instagram right after they’re published, which helps boost engagement, increase visibility, and attract new followers. Keep in mind there are plenty of pod groups that focus on fake engagement without being actually interested in the content, and this kind of inauthentic activity is against Instagram community guidelines. So look for like-minded users and be genuine about the content you promote. Finding a niche pod is a high impact and high effort activity that involves a lot of research. To get you started, look into Facebook, Telegram, Instagram DM groups, and Reddit subgroups. Instagram Stories. Add up to 10 hashtags. Mention up to 10 accounts in one story. Include a location, poll, question, countdown, quiz, donation sticker, or GIF. Tag 1 product (available for Business Accounts with Shopping enabled) Brands can use Instagram Stories to: Educate Inspire Share behind-the-scenes of running a business or event Demonstrate products or services. Run polls. Organize Q&A sessions Share feedback from customers. Show the people behind your business—you’ll soon notice that the more stories you add, the more engagement you get. IGTV. Add up to 30 hashtags. Add clickable links in a caption. Add a cover photo and share IGTV videos to the Instagram feed. The IGTV videos have to be at least 1 minute long, up to 15 minutes long if uploaded from a mobile device, and up to 60 minutes long if uploaded from the web. Instagram Reels. Add up to 30 hashtags. Tag up to 30 products or a product collection. Share your Instagram Reel video to your Instagram Feed. In August 2020, Instagram rolled out a new feature—Reels. An Instagram reel is a 15- or 30-second video with audio from Instagram’s music library or original audio, and augmented reality (AR) effects. If you have a public account, your reel can get discovered by a global audience. When you share reels featuring certain songs, hashtags, or effects, your reel may also appear on dedicated pages when someone clicks on that song, hashtag, or effect. You can add hashtags once your reel is ready. How to find the best Instagram hashtags for your business. Thousands of hashtags are used every day, and using the most popular tags won’t make your posts any more discoverable because your content will disappear among the other posts. So, how to choose Instagram hashtags? To scout the best hashtags for business, focus on trending hashtags related to your account, business, and target audience. Be careful using pop culture references. It’ll help you reach like-minded Instagrammers, but you may risk losing your brand identity among hashtags that overshadow your presence. How to research hashtags: Browse Instagram accounts similar to yours. Take note of what industry-specific hashtags they use Look for hashtags that are more likely to be searched by Instagram communities of your niche. Here’s an example on how to go about creating hashtags for your account. Let’s say your name is John, you run a barbershop in Toronto, and you’ve started creating a community around your brand which is all about embracing natural beauty and rocking grey hair. But how to reflect that in your Instagram account? Here are the 5 basic types of hashtags and templates on how to build them. Branded hashtags Examples: #[your brand name]#TheBarberOfToronto. Branded hashtags must be unique to your account or business. Come up with a hashtag that’s simple enough for your followers to recognize, memorize, and use—it can be your name, brand name, slogan, or the focal concept of your Instagram account. Industry hashtags. Examples: #barbers. #barbershop. #haircut. Out of all the hashtags used on Instagram, industry hashtags have the highest competition. There are millions of people who use them daily, so only include industry hashtags that are the most relevant to your brand. Community hashtags. Examples: #barberfan. #torontogrooming. #hairaddict. Community hashtags connect smaller groups of like-minded users. The use of these hashtags makes you discoverable by topic, niche, location, etc. and there’s a higher possibility to gain followers organically and grow your own community. Content hashtags. Examples: #beardgrooming. #howtofadehair. #trendinghaircut. Try to think like your customer and find out what they would search for. Content hashtags help you engage with your target audience...

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