In today’s social media wave, marching at the forefront we have Instagram that is home to content and content creators of all kinds. From small-scale to large-scale businesses, singers to dancers are all trying to make it big while riding on all those popular Instagram trends. And if you are even a bit familiar with Instagram, you must know that if you reach the right audience on Instagram, there is nothing stopping you then from taking that big leap in your career. And how exactly do you reach this target audience? The answer is through social media marketing.
Marketing your content/products on social media can simply be about hopping on all those trends but it’s not about just that. It’s about incorporating all those elements that could enhance the visibility of your brand and one such element that we are going to talk about today is Hashtags. You must all be familiar with, heard about, or used hashtags but do you know exactly what they are, how they work, and how they should be used? To help you make the best out of hashtags, from our online marketing experts, here’s a guide on how to use hashtags on Instagram in an effective fashion. So, sit tight while we take you through it all.
What are hashtags and why are they so important?
A hashtag is created when you used the hash(#) symbol before any given word. For instance #reels, #onlinemarketing #instagram, and so on. Using a hashtag basically, you tag a post into a specific category so that it is discoverable to people who are interested in that particular category. If you use #travel for a travel-related post of yours, it will potentially reach all the travel or nature enthusiasts out there. Also, when someone searches for this hashtag, your post might pop up. And this is exactly how hashtags enhance the reach of your content or brand. And therefore today, any social media marketing strategy is incomplete without the use of Hashtags. It’s basically a free way of marketing your content on social media and why would anyone not want to make the best out of it.
How To Find Relevant Hashtags For Your Instagram Posts?
1. Always be on the lookout for trending hashtags
When it comes to hashtags, there are these trending ones that in an instant could make your brand visible to a larger audience. So, make sure that you always incorporate these trending hashtags into all your posts. To find which exactly these trending hashtags are you can go to the explore page on Instagram and have a look at the hashtags that people have used. You can then filter them according to your service, product, or content and use them for all your posts.
2. Keep a track of your competitors’ posts
The easiest way to get your hand at the trending hashtags and know which hashtags are exactly working, you just need to go to your competitor’s page and see the hashtags for those posts of theirs that have become viral. These hashtags will not only be relevant to your content but will most effectively work in favor of your brand too.
3. Engage with a hashtag finder tool
When it comes to social media marketing, there are several tools that assist you in the same. This you must already know. But did you know that there is something called hashtag finder tools that help you find the trending hashtags and exactly see how popular they are? Yes, you heard it right. There are indeed such tools and they make finding the right hashtags easier than ever. Some such effective tools are Hashtagify, Flick, HashtagForLikes, etc.
4. Analyze what’s been working for your posts
It’s true what they say that you always learn the best from your own failures and success. And when it comes to hashtags, this does hold true. While analyzing your competitor’s posts does work, what also works is having a look at your own previous posts and seeing for yourself which hashtags worked for you and which didn’t. The ones which worked, you can reuse them and the ones which didn’t you can ditch them completely.
Things To Remember When Using Instagram Hashtags
1. Use not all, but only relevant hashtags
While hashtags play a big role in promoting your brand and are an effective tool for online marketing, if not used in the right manner can negatively impact your visibility on Instagram. Did you know that you can get shadowbanned on Instagram? So, basically, when you go against any community guidelines of Instagram, they can shadowban your content and limit your reach and visibility. And using hundreds of irrelevant hashtags on a single post does come under this category. So, make sure you do it right but not overdo it and use only a maximum of 30 relevant hashtags as that is the limit set by Instagram.
2. Don’t mindlessly follow trends
Through your hashtags what you intend to do is reach your target audience and how will you do it if you are not using hashtags which are relevant to your brand. While we all wish to make use of all the Instagram trends, an effective social media marketing strategy is following only those trends or hashtags that align with your brand voice. For instance, a hashtag like #mountains might be trending today but in case you are an eCommerce page, that hashtag doesn’t have any value for you and will not do anything for your page. In that case, hashtags become just an unnecessary addition to your page.
3. Position your hashtags well
While hashtags work like wonders, placing 30 hashtags in your captions does seem like unwanted clutter. But to make your social media marketing strategy work well, you need to include them well. So, in that case, what do you do? You position them in a way these hashtags are there but not just that visible. And how do you do that?
– Don’t just use hashtags but use them along with a good caption. That way attention will be directed to it and not to the hashtags.
– You can choose to leave the caption and include your hashtags in the comments.
– Use the Instagram dots method and hide your captions effectively. What you do is through a series of periods, you separate your captions and hashtags so that your captions go under the “more” section. You can use five lines of periods, one per line, and make use of this method.
4. Create your own unique brand hashtag
Your online marketing for your brand is incomplete without creating a brand hashtag of your own. This hashtag will then become the easiest way for your followers or the people invested in your brand to find you. And every time someone uses this hashtag in their stories or posts, the reach of your brand increases. You must have seen those giveaways and competitions on Instagram that ask the participants to use their brand hashtags to enter the event. And now you know why they do that.
So, this is all that you need to know about making effective use of hashtags as part of your social media marketing strategies. In case you are still not able to achieve the desired results, you can contact our online marketing team at Make My Website and they would be happy to guide you through and help achieve the best results.
