Best Practices for Using Hashtags in Your Instagram Marketing

Hashtags are an important part of most social media platforms, and using them to your advantage can help you make the most of your Instagram marketing. But how should you be using hashtags on Instagram? Keep the following best practices in mind.

Understand Why You Should Use Instagram Hashtags

Before exploring the best practices for using hashtags on Instagram, let’s discuss why you should put in the effort to use them.

Simply put, hashtags expand your reach. When someone searches for a hashtag, all the content with that hashtag appears. If that includes your post or story, then they are more likely to stumble across your content. People also have the ability to follow hashtags, making your content accessible to a wider audience.

Hashtags can also be a great way to build an online community. You can also use them to encourage customers to share user-generated content or engage with your brand.

1. Consider Hiding the Hashtags

Perhaps you want the benefits of including hashtags on your Instagram posts or in your stories but don’t want them cluttering up your carefully-crafted caption. The good news is that you can hide them. They won’t be visible in the caption, but your content will still show up in a hashtag search.

The best way to do this is to write your caption without the hashtags. You can then comment on your post with the hashtags. They will only show up on mobile if someone clicks on “View all comments.” On desktop, it will be the top comment, so it will still be visible without ruining your caption.

You may also hide your hashtags by adding a few empty spaces between your standard caption and your hashtags. Instagram cuts off captions longer than three lines, making them visible only when “… more” is tapped. So, your hashtags are effectively hidden unless someone clicks to see the full caption.

Just shrink the size of your hashtags on stories, so they are practically invisible. You can also hide them under an emoji, GIF, or sticker.

2. Choose Simple Hashtags

When choosing the hashtag to create or use, focus on those that are simple. Avoid using hashtags that are too long or hard to spell, as these will make it very hard for people to use and unlikely to be searched.

3. Make Them Unique

While hashtags should be simple, they should also be unique, especially if you want to use them to promote something brand-related. A good example of this is when KitKat used the hashtag #HaveABreak. It was easy to remember and clearly related to the brand.

4. Choose Hashtags Relevant to Your Audience

Another crucial facet of choosing your hashtags is relevance, especially to your target audience. If your audience enjoys indoor hobbies, you may not want to use an outdoor-oriented hashtag. Of course, a major foundation for a hashtag strategy is to first identify and analyze who your target market is, which your marketing team will likely be doing anyway.

5. Participate in Trending Hashtags

Trending hashtags are currently popular, so they have a higher search volume. Of course, the trade-off is that they will also have more content. The best way to offset this is to create posts that stand out. Despite this challenge, it’s still smart to harness the power of these trending hashtags because of their popularity.

The key is not to appear overly pushy and unnatural. Instead, only include trending hashtags if you can genuinely add something to the conversation. If you don’t add value, the best-case scenario would be your post going unnoticed. In the worst case, people may see it and feel that your brand is out of touch, trying to profit from current events.

Look at Brands and Influencers for Inspiration

Not sure what hashtags are trending in your industry? Look at posts by competitors and influencers.

It’s also worth noting that when you enter a hashtag into your caption, Instagram lets you know how many posts have the hashtag. That feature can help you determine how popular a given hashtag is.

6. Always Search a Hashtag First

Whether you are participating in a trending hashtag or want to create a new one to use, always do a quick search for it before anything else. This will ensure that you don’t accidentally choose a hashtag with negative connotations or accidentally promote another brand. It will also help you use the hashtag properly.

Remember that using a hashtag incorrectly may not deliver any results since your content may not be relevant to the people who search for the hashtag.

7. Consider a Hashtag Research Tool

If you are struggling to figure out which hashtags to use in your Instagram marketing, use a third-party tool. There are various tools available to help you come up with hashtag ideas or give you data on those you are already considering.

8. Don’t Go Overboard With Hashtags

A crucial rule of thumb in using hashtags is to avoid going overboard. It can be tempting to use numerous hashtags, as this will increase the searches that your brand shows up for. But when you use too many hashtags, people won’t remember them anyway, and they may perceive you as going overboard.

While Instagram technically lets you include up to 30 hashtags in a post, it’s best to stick to nine hashtags or less. Ideally, three to five should suffice.

9. Use a Combination of Hashtag Types

Try to include various types of hashtags in your overall Instagram marketing strategy. For reference, these are the types of hashtags you can use:

• Product or service (ex: #HandBag)
• Niche (ex: #FoodBlogger)
• Industry community (ex: #CraftersOfInstagram)
• Seasonal or event (ex: #NationalIceCreamDay)
• Location (ex: #LondonEats)
• Daily (ex: #SundayFunday)
• Acronym (ex: #TBT)
• Relevant phrase (ex: #AmWriting)
• Emojis (ex: #[sunglasses emoji])

10. Don’t Forget to Track Performance

Like all facets of digital marketing, it’s important to track the performance of your hashtags to confirm that your strategy is working properly. Instagram itself has some built-in analytics. There are also third-party tools available. These will enable you to assess how to best move forward with your hashtag strategies.

Conclusion: Do Your Research When Choosing Hashtags

From researching what hashtags your audience uses to checking out the content posted with a given hashtag, research is crucial to a successful hashtag strategy. Proper research and knowledge on how to use hashtags will help you attract more followers and engagement, boosting your brand recognition.