Visibility. Reach. Being discovered online. These are all things that business owners want for their business on social media. But being active on social media isn’t enough; enlisting many different strategies to help bring this into fruition is vital to success.
One of these strategies is using hashtags.
“Hashtags? Is this still a thing? Even in 2023??”
Yes I know, hashtags can be annoying if they’re not used in the appropriate time or place. And you can’t just slap on any old hashtag to a post and expect social media stardom. But they are still important for increasing the chances of visibility and discoverability – mainly on Twitter, TikTok and Instagram. I’m going to talk just about Instagram here!
One way to measure success with hashtags is to see if your post ends up in the Explore feed or ends up in the ‘top posts’ gallery for any particular hashtag.
I should note that it’s not just the hashtag that counts towards getting in the Explore feed or getting your post in ‘Top posts’ gallery. Recency, engagement numbers and image quality are also vital for success.
For now, here’s a few tips you can utilize to help make the most of hashtags on Instagram, ultimately increasing the reach of the post (i.e. getting in front of more eyeballs!).
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The number of hashtags
You can add up to 30 hashtags in Instagram posts. Research says that the optimum number of hashtags for engagement is around 11. You can go with however many you want, just make sure they are relevant and appropriate to your topic/business. Whether it’s best to put the hashtags in the caption or the first comment has been a topic of contention for years – I say do whatever you prefer! (my personal preference is the caption).
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Use niche-specific hashtags
Use hashtags relevant to your niche. What is being used in your industry, what ones are your competitors using? What seems to be working for them? For example, as a social media manager in New Zealand, I would use a mix of popular ones in my industry (e.g. #socialmediamarketing and #socialmediamanager) and smaller, more niche-specific ones to my industry and location (e.g. #socialmedianz and #newzealandbusiness).
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Do some research
Use free tools to find hashtags you may not have thought of before – I like using this one. And see what Instagram suggests for you when you search for a particular hashtag. Finally, research what sorts of hashtags your target audience may be following or using to find businesses like yours.
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What’s trending?
Jumping on a viral trend can be a great way to increase your content’s engagement and reach. So see if there is a trending hashtag, or one that is relevant to a particular day of the year (e.g #NationalWineDay). How can you incorporate this into a piece of content that is relevant to both your business and that particular trend?