Benjamin Thomas If you want more people to see your Instagram posts and increase your follower count in 2023, you need to use hashtags.
Yet, you need to utilise hashtags on Instagram with some consideration if you want to see any results. Your Instagram account might be punished by Instagram’s algorithms if you’re not careful and wind up spamming potential followers.
This article will teach you all you need to know about Instagram hashtags, from their purpose and function to where to look for them and how to utilise them successfully as part of your campaign on social media.
Hashtags on Instagram: what are they?
You can recognise a hashtag by the pound symbol (#) that precedes the word or phrase it identifies: #InstagramHashtags. With hashtags, users may better categorise their posts and increase their chances of being discovered.
Hashtags become active hyperlinks when used on Instagram (or any other social media network). If you click on a hashtag or look for a specific hashtag, you’ll be sent to a page displaying all the material that has been tagged with that hashtag.
You may follow hashtags to find information that interests you on Instagram, in addition to adding them to your own posts. The usage of hashtags is another fantastic strategy for exposing your material to individuals who are interested in your particular niche, product, or service.
How can you benefit from utilising Instagram’s hashtags?
One of the easiest strategies to get a larger Instagram following is to include pertinent hashtags in all of your content types, including posts, Stories, and Reels. Including a hashtag in your message will make it visible on the page dedicated to that particular hashtag. Even if they don’t follow you, those who follow or search for that hashtag will see your post.
Hashtags are not only useful for being discovered, but also for creating communities, launching campaigns, locating user-generated content (UGC), and doing audience research.
So, you need a well-thought-out Instagram hashtag strategy. You’ll miss out on a lot of potential brand engagement and customer conversions if you don’t have one.
Common Instagram Hashtag Categories
You need to be aware of the many hashtag options while developing your Instagram hashtag strategy.
The nine Instagram hashtag categories are as follows:
Hashtags describing your product or service, such as #skincare or #restaurant, are known as product hashtags.
To further define your place in your field, use niche hashtags like #naturalskincare or #seafoodrestaurant.
Hashtags for certain events or times of year, such as #winternights or #nationalpizzaday or #nationalsiblingday.
Hashtags associated with a specific field or group can be used to track for and join like-minded Instagram users. Dogs of Instagram and Parisian decor designers are two such examples.
Every seven days of the week have their own unique hashtags. Such examples are #mondayblues, #throwbackthursday, and #sundayfunday. Choose from this list of today’s most popular hashtags to increase your online visibility.
Whether you use a geotag on Instagram or not, you should still consider using a location-specific hashtag, such as #bostonclothingstore or #texasbeer, to help your post gain exposure.
Hashtags containing acronyms The most widely used acronym hashtag is undoubtedly #TBT, which stands for “Throwback Thursday” (throwback Thursdays). Get ready with me (#GRWM), yolo (#YOLO), and out with the old, in with the new (#OOTD) are just a few examples of other popular hashtags (outfit of the day).
Phrase-level relevant hashtags: a combination of product-level, community-level, and niche-level hashtags. Tags like #iamwriting and #hewhosculpts are used by Instagram users to strike up more personal conversations with their followers.
The #hootsuite hashtag is an example of a branded hashtag, which are hashtags used by companies in their posts. A bit farther down the post, we’ll talk about those.
Instagram Hashtag Quantity
Instagram posts may have up to 30 hashtags, while Stories can have 10. More than that, and your remark or caption won’t be published.
You can use as many hashtags as Instagram will let you, but that doesn’t mean you should. There is no one “correct” amount of employees for any given company or job. Most professionals feel that using 11 hashtags is optimal for generating buzz. One study found that the average Instagram post includes three hashtags. Furthermore, the Instagram-owned @creators account recommended last year that users use between three and five hashtags each post.
Instagram: How to make your hashtags invisible?
You might not want to clumsily finish your well crafted Instagram caption with a bunch of hashtags. There are, thankfully, simple methods to conceal your hashtags.
Such examples are as follows:
In a comment
Just as normal, you should compose your Instagram description minus the hashtags.
A comment section will appear below your post after it has been published; tap on the speech bubble symbol to access it. Paste or type in the hashtags you wish to use, then hit the Publish button.
Hashtags are hidden from mobile users until they tap the “See all comments” button. Nonetheless, your remark will remain in the top spot on computers. For this reason, this strategy is preferable when aiming for Instagram users on mobile devices.
Inside the caption
It’s not the only place you can conceal hashtags; the Instagram caption itself may do the trick.
Don’t forget to hit Enter or Return after you’re done writing your caption. Press 123 to display an Enter or Return button if you don’t see one. Use a period, a dash, or a bullet as a punctuation mark, and then press Enter once more.
Do this at least thrice to make sure it works.
After three lines, Instagram automatically conceals captions, so your hashtags won’t be visible until your followers tap More. Even if they do, the users won’t be distracted because your hashtags will be shown in a different font colour than the rest of your description.