Have you ever wondered how some Instagram influencers consistently get loads of engagement while your posts seem to get lost in the depths of the internet, never to be found again? Some of the influencers buy likes on Instagram, For example, Leoboost agency offers this way to reach a wider audience easily. However, there are also other things that they do, such as using optimal hashtags, that gets their posts to soar to the top of the trending page and stay there.
Indeed, hashtags can be a huge deciding factor in whether or not your posts are gathering the level of attention you need. It is hence prudent to know how to take advantage of them for a successful Instagram strategy.
Let us explore in detail what hashtags are and how they can help you make your way to the timelines of a large number of people.
What is an Instagram hashtag?
Hashtags are a great way for Instagram influencers to gain more traffic to their posts. Hashtags, which are a sequence of letters, numbers, and/or emoji that follow the # symbol, are used mainly to make content more discoverable by categorizing it. Clicking on a hashtag leads the user to a page with all the posts that have been tagged with the hashtag.
Further, hashtags can be placed in your Instagram Stories, which will make your story appear on the hashtag page. Interestingly, hashtags are quite customizable; your hashtag can be a bunch of emojis, letters, your location, or even relevant phrases and acronyms.
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Examples include prominent ones, such as #OOTD for outfit of the day, #FBF for flashback Friday, etc. or even unique ones like #sunglasses???? Hashtags, like #handbag or #hamburger, are also used by companies to describe their product and ensure their posts appear when people search those words.
While you can add up to 30 hashtags for an Instagram post, your stories can have only 10 hashtags. Influencers agree that the best number of hashtags to have would be around 11, but the most common number of hashtags you can find on a post is between 1 to 3.
Finding trending hashtags on Instagram
If you are working on a desktop, you can find trending hashtags by entering the hashtag along with the # symbol into the search box. If you are using a mobile device, you can find related trending hashtags by entering your search term in the search box and tapping Tags.
Several of the recent trending hashtags are:
#fitness
#love
#art
#picoftheday
#instagood
#repost
How to find the best Instagram hashtags for your brand?
This step involves quite a bit of research. One of the most efficient strategies to find the best hashtag is creating one yourself for the sake of your brand. Ensure that you promote it in your bio and captions. An effective way to popularize your branded hashtag is holding a contest with your hashtag attached to it.
To get more inspiration, you can also leverage Instagram’s related hashtag feature. You can find related hashtags that people search for under the follow button on the hashtag page you are visiting. Apart from this, keep an eye on your competition and also be aware of what your most engaged audience members care about, tracking these details proactively.
Now that you are clear on the basics, let us get right into the top secrets employed by successful influencers in the Instagram world who have their hashtag game on point.
Top Tricks from Influencers
Use Instagram Insights to see which hashtags perform the best
To improve your reach, you need to first find your best-performing hashtags. You can do this by clicking on the post you want and go to the ‘View Insights’ option below the post on the left. Once you swipe up, you’ll see the impact your hashtags have had.
Add hashtags to your Instagram stories
Including a hashtag in your Instagram Story can go a long way in helping you reach the popular pages that people are flocking to. You can add a hashtag using the sticker option or by means of the # symbol.
Do away with irrelevant or repetitive hashtags
Using hashtags the right way means keeping them relevant to your post and avoiding spamming users, which is a violation of Instagram’s policy. It may be tempting to copy-paste the same set of hashtags for all your content, but doing that will get you punished by the Instagram algorithm.
Have a clear understanding of how hashtag pages work
Making your way to the top of a hashtag page can be a great way to get a lot of new traffic to your profile. Getting your post to this place involves knowing your audience well and figuring out what hashtags they will likely search for.
Avoid blocked or inappropriate hashtags
When a hashtag is deemed inappropriate and banned by Instagram, users can see top posts but not recent ones or the stories for that hashtag. Making sure the hashtag you use isn’t associated with unsavory things would be a prudent move on your part. It is worth noting that using inappropriate hashtags may get the algorithm to punish you, resulting in lower engagement rates even when you are using the right hashtag later on. The top influencers also advise against using spammy hashtags, such as #follow4follow, #followme, etc.
Bottom-line
Now that you know how to select the best hashtags and how to use them to get the best results on Instagram, you are well on your way to becoming a top influencer! Just remember to keep your hashtags relevant and avoid overusing them. Instagram’s algorithms will take care of the rest and propel you to the top of the results, getting you the engagement and business you desire.
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