How to use hashtags to your advantage when posting on Instagram

Is using hashtags on Instagram over-rated and are they to your advantage when posting on Instagram?  Almost everyone that is asked this question would say, ‘yes, of course’.  But do you fully understand exactly how to correctly use hashtags when posting on Instagram?

First of all, let’s understand why hashtags are used on Instagram in the first place.   The most important point of using hashtags is to increase traffic and gain exposure on Instagram, which with the increased competition is quite a difficult objective to achieve.  With this in mind, using hashtags in your Instagram posts is crucial to their success and for you to grow your audience.

To make the most of the hashtags you use when posting on Instagram taking a social media course will add a lot of value to your posts.  You’ll learn how to use the most important hashtags that are relevant to your business to increase your number of followers.

Benefits of using the correct hashtags on Instagram

Although the use of hashtags in your Instagram posts may seem like a trivial topic, it’s important to know that hashtags do have the power to promote your posts on Instagram, so they should be a priority.

Hashtags are also a wizard at helping your content to be found and this is why the bigger brands continue to include hashtags in their posts.

How to use the correct hashtags to your advantage when posting on Instagram

We know why hashtags are so important when posting on Instagram, but do you know the correct way you ought to be using them?  A lot of people, including digital marketers, think that if they casually throw in a few hashtags, they’ve got it covered.  They couldn’t be more wrong.   There are a few tried and tested techniques and strategies that will increase your exposure when adding hashtags to your post.

The most common techniques are to use hashtags in the caption and first comment for your image or to ‘only’ use hashtags in your first comment or image caption.

Let’s take a closer look at how to use hashtags to your advantage on Instagram.

• Do some research – Be sure to check out the hashtags used by your competition and so a little research on what hashtags actually make sense for your business. Use hashtags that relate to your target audience.
• Make the right choice – Be selective when choosing your hashtags. Make sure they are relative and fit not only your business but your industry.
• Brand your hashtags – It’s important to create your own hashtag which is a great way to promote your own brand on Instagram. Be creative but also keep in mind that they should be simple and relative.
• Make use of tools – Did you know there are a variety of different tools available online to help you figure out the best hashtags to use for your brand.
• Remember to generalise – Common words such as #happiness or #love are among the most popular hashtags of 2019. This means a few hashtags that are considered general are a good idea to use in your posts too.

How many hashtags are enough?

The debate surrounding how many hashtags are enough to use in a single post continues.  Instagram has a limit of 30 hashtags that you may include in a single post, however, using too many hashtags can run the risk of looking ‘spammy’ or may resemble keyword stuffing which must be avoided at all times in digital marketing.

Some experts recommend using all 30 hashtags in a single post; however, others say that isn’t the best option.  In fact, recent studies show that less is more when it comes to the number of hashtags used in your Instagram posts.

With this debate ongoing, the best approach to take is to discover what works for you and find the right number of hashtags that gives you the results you want

Conclusion

Overall learning how to use hashtags to your advantage when posting on Instagram can dramatically boost your brand, grow your number of followers, increase visibility and grow revenue on this popular social media platform.

Remember to track and monitor the performance of your chosen hashtags and eliminate the ones that aren’t working for your brand.

Get in touch with the Digital School of Marketing

If you want to learn more regarding social media marketing and how this can benefit your business then you need to do our Social Media Marketing Course. For more information, please follow this link.