Hashtags are like traffic signs directing people to your Instagram profile. With the right keywords, you can get your content in front of relevant users who are craving the exact posts you’re sharing!
Trying to expand your audience? Want to increase the engagement and reach of your posts? Using the best hashtags can help you do just that on Instagram.
Hashtags are an important part of your marketing strategy to ensure your posts are getting the attention they deserve! Whether you are trying to boost the visibility of your brand to a wider audience or simply find your niche on Instagram, we know it can be daunting to find the right hashtags for each post.
With so many conflicting resources out there, it’s easy to find yourself getting tripped up over. How many hashtags should you use? How do you know which hashtags are working? Should you place hashtags in the caption or first comment?
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Hashtags are like traffic signs directing people to your Instagram profile. With the right keywords, you can get your content in front of relevant users who are craving the exact posts you’re sharing!
Trying to expand your audience? Want to increase the engagement and reach of your posts? Using the best hashtags can help you do just that on Instagram.
Hashtags are an important part of your marketing strategy to ensure your posts are getting the attention they deserve! Whether you are trying to boost the visibility of your brand to a wider audience or simply find your niche on Instagram, we know it can be daunting to find the right hashtags for each post.
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It can be difficult to know where to put your hashtags. In your caption, or as the first comments? There’s really no right way of adding comments. At the end of the day, it’s your feed and your choice!
By putting hashtags in your first comment it keeps the image caption clean and clear and allows the first caption full of hashtags to disappear after a few comments on your image.
However we know some people like to keep everything together in the caption as they feel it adds to the overall conversation, and others like to keep their Instagram caption clean by adding all 30 into the first comment.
Even though you’re allowed to use up to 30 hashtags per post, some users feel uncomfortable having them all on display, and some even like to delete them after a few days when their work is no longer trending in that hashtag.
To make things easier, you can use Plann to autopost your hashtags into the first comment.
Figuring out how to find Instagram hashtags to use is one of the biggest pain points and where many users get tripped up. How many hashtags should you be using? And how do you know which are the right ones to use, to get you discovered by your ideal audience.
Never fear, we’re here to help you navigate the maze of hashtags so you can select just the right ones to get your content seen by just the right people.
Hashtags are a bit of a Goldilocks situation. You don’t want to use ones that are too big, or too small — but rather, a mix of small-to-medium competition ones that are just right. If you’re using hashtags that are too popular (think, hundreds of thousands of mentions), you risk your content being swallowed up in a sea of posts and nobody seeing it. But, if you are using hashtags that are so niche and specific that it only has a handful of mentions, it’s unlikely anyone will be searching for it.
To figure out the number of photos posted on a specific hashtag, simply type the word you’d like to use as a hashtag into the search bar on Instagram. Then check the number under the hashtag, as shown in the photo below. This number tells you how many photos using this hashtag are floating around Instagram right now.
Not all hashtags are created equal. When you’re looking at hashtags to put in your own collections/hashtag sets, pay attention to how many mentions they currently have. If you use hashtags that are too popular (think, over 500,000 posts, you risk your posts being swallowed up into the abyss).
But on the other hand, if you use ones that are too niche or specific (say, only a few hundred posts) it’s likely nobody will be searching for it! Mid-size hashtags — say, around 10,000-50,000 tend to be the sweet spot for landing your content in the coveted ‘top posts. That said, don’t be afraid to also throw smaller or location-based hashtags into the mix if they’re super relevant to your content.
To attract people who are really interested in your posts, we recommend that you find Instagram hashtags that have under 500,000 posts on them (unless you have a bigger following or a REALLY engaged audience, then definitely try working with bigger hashtags). And don’t be shy of including some that are 20,000 or under — these can really be the sweet spot for super-engaged users.
Another reason to find Instagram hashtags sitting in the mid-range and smaller hashtags is visibility. When someone does a search on Instagram, the most popular photos sit in the ‘Top Posts’ section. The rest of the photos reside in chronological order in ‘Most Recent.’
Why you should avoid spammy hashtags
The big culprits that attract spammers are hashtags such as #instagood, #happy, #love and #followme to name a few. These hashtags should be avoided if you don’t want to be spammed to death with a whole lot of smiley faces or “follow me for free followers” comments.
You can easily recognise the hashtags to avoid as they will have well over 100,000,000 posts on them. Checking how many photos have been posted on a specific hashtag not only helps you weed out the spammy ones, but also allows you to find those smaller to mid-range hashtags which will help you stand out.
We know that Instagram has recently changed its advice around hashtags and recommends sticking to five or so tailored hashtags per post. However, we also know that your content won’t be penalized for using the full 30 hashtags and we want to help you reach as many people as possible on social media.
Our tip? Use all 30 to gain maximum visibility on your Instagram content! Because hashtags increase visibility on your posts, ensuring your content is discoverable to your target audience is the key to boosting your reach and engagement (and getting your brand in front of relevant users).
Changing up your hashtags
The Instagram algorithm finds it easier to categorize what type of account you are (and recommend you to others) if you’re regularly using recognizable hashtags … but you don’t want to use the same 30 hashtags over and over again! Not only is the Instagram algorithm said to look unfavorably on this, it also means you’re likely always attracting the same people.
It’s important to keep things fresh and regularly mix up your hashtags. The best way to do this? Hashtag sets!
In Plann, you can create smaller collections of hashtags, that you can easily pick and choose from every time you post to hit your total of 30. We recommend using around 5-10 hashtags per set, in alignment with your strategy themes (which you can set in Plann’s ‘strategy’ section.)
By saving target hashtag sets saved in Plann according to your content “strategies” or content pillars you easily copy and paste into your captions with the click of a button. Easy peasy!
So, how do you go about actually finding hashtags to use in your Instagram posts? The best place to start is to actually think about what type of content your target audience is likely to be searching for.
Say you sell products for cats, and your demographic is cat owners and cat lovers. A great place to start is the #cats — this might be a little too high-competition. So, you’d want to find related hashtags associated with that one.
The way you do this is by heading to your Instagram feed, and typing ‘cats’ into your search bar. This will bring up a dropdown menu of other similar hashtags related to that search term, as well as how many posts they’ve been used in.
Another hashtag research strategy is to check out the Instagram accounts of other people in your industry, to see what hashtags they’re using and repurpose some of them for your own use.
Hashtags from feature accounts
Another type of hashtag to look out for is one started by someone else who curates photos and re-posts them on their Instagram page. The way this works is that you add their specific hashtag to your photo, and if the account likes your photo, they will repost it along with a link to your Instagram page.
These sorts of Instagram accounts usually have a huge following, so getting featured by them is kind of a big deal that opens you up to a whole new audience. An example is using the Huffington Post weddings hashtag #HuffPostIDo on wedding photos.
Do you want more people to see your stories, Instagram profile and all the hard work you put in? OH YASS you do, that is the whole point, right? Try using hashtags to increase visibility of your video content.
Instagram Stories
There are several ways of adding hashtags to your stories. Just like with posts, they can be added strategically to double-down on your niche, for context, build branding, create a community or they can be used to support a brand or partnership e.g. #PlannPartner
The easiest way to add hashtags to Stories is to add the hashtags sticker. Your guide to every story sticker.
How to Add Invisible Hashtags to Your Instagram Story
When you have uploaded your story and added your hashtag, go back in and simply tap the pen. We love this pen since it can match the text to any color visible in the photo.
Drag the pen across the screen (to the background of the text) until the hashtag matches the background. TA-DA, no one can see your invisible hashtags! (they still work wonders!)
Remember though, that even if you add hashtags to your stories they won’t always show up on the hashtag page (think of the volume!). The Instagram algorithm is selective, so always make sure that your Story content is engaging and good quality before adding hashtags.
Instagram Reels
Just like when you’re posting an image or a video to your grid, make sure you’re adding hashtags to your Reels captions when you post your Reels and ensure you tailor these hashtags to the topic of your video. Don’t forget that adding hashtags to Reels can also help Instagram’s algorithm better categorize your content on the Explore page, basically so they know when to show your Reels and to who = higher engagement and better reach.
Unlike TikTok, there are no “trending hashtags” that allow you to see all the Reels in one place. Currently, only one Reel appears per hashtag search page, and one for every screen full of posts on the Explore page.
Experiment with different tags to see what works best for you (and what doesn’t.)
You can now choose from over 300+ hashtag sets and thousands of individual hashtags in Plann. These hashtags are researched by professional marketers who know what they’re doing, so you’ll never have to spend hours doing your own hashtag research again.
Forget switching between Instagram and Plann, stalking your competitors’ and peers’ posts, or paying for subscriptions to hashtag apps that don’t help – we’ve got you!
You’ll find everything you need to speed up your hashtag game, ensuring it’s even easier for you to post more often without having to worry if you’ve got the right tags, all within Plann.
Remember! The aim of hashtags is to increase your discoverability, so think about what your audience may be looking for and tell them what your content is about. Hashtags aren’t necessarily used to label exactly what is in your post, but rather to get yourself in front of what your target audience might be searching for on Instagram.
Simply adding tons of hashtags to your content won’t automatically improve its reach. Your content must be valuable and engaging and send the algorithm all the right signals! The algorithm must see that people are liking it, commenting on it, sharing it, and spending time consuming your content.
Login to Plann now, or try Plann for free for 7-days to experience this hashtag magic for yourself!
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