Guide to Instagram Hashtags – Reach Your Target Audience

A hashtag is an effective way to get more engagement for your post on Instagram.

A post with at least one hashtag gets approx. 12.6% more engagement than usual. So, it’s worth creating a hashtag strategy for your business if you want to expand your business.

This article will help you understand the Instagram Hashtags for your business to get more engagement and increase your customers or followers.

Read one more article about how to do keyword research for organic traffic

1. Importance of using Instagram Hashtags

In the last many years, Instagram announced many unique features, tools, and innovative IGTV video channels.

But the one thing that gathers everyone’s attention – Instagram Hashtags.

Using Hashtags on your post and stories is the best way to reach a new audience. And this will help you get more engagement on your post which led to an increase in your sales for your business.

How do Instagram Hashtags work?

Like other social media platforms, Instagram hashtags work by adding a phrase to post and it becomes clickable. Any phrase work as a hashtag as long as you put the # in front of it.

The hashtag helps in the discovery of the post.

For example, a travel blogger might post an image of their India visit vacation, and then use the hashtags #visitindia, #vacation, and #travel when you upload an image to Instagram.

By using these hashtags, the image will automatically be cataloged, So, other users can easily find your post and you can reach the right audience.

Instagram also has hashtags stickers for the stories. Which lets you add hashtags to your stories. When the user clicks on that, they will redirect to the hashtag’s feed.

In last year, Instagram announced many hashtag features, with new capabilities and for better tracking. Below are some highlights :

i. Track Instagram Hashtag Success with Post Insights –

If you are finding a reason to switch your profile to an Instagram business, this is it!

With Instagram hashtags, now you can check how effectively your hashtag works by analyzing the impression on your post. Which helps you to get a better idea about you have chosen the right hashtag or not.

To access the data, open a post and click the “View Insights” below the post.

Swipe up and you will get a page of data for that post, including post likes, comment, shares, profile visits, follows, reach, and impressions from home and hashtags.

ii. Follow Hashtags on Instagram –

Now you can “follow” hashtags on Instagram. That means you can stay well updated on different topics and your interests.

It works exactly like a user profile. When you find the hashtag, just open the page and tap on following.

This is the best opportunity for a business. You can regularly appear in a follower’s feed.

iii. Add Clickable Hashtags to Your Instagram Bio –

You can now add clickable hashtags to your Instagram bio. Now your bio looks more functional – you can use hashtags for everything from announcing an Instagram campaign to promoting your brand and highlighting your content.

You have to just add “#” before any word in your bio and it will automatically become a clickable link that redirects visitors to that hashtag.

iv. Add Hashtags to Your Instagram Stories –

Instagram gave another way to get your post discovered by adding hashtags to your Instagram stories. You can add hashtags either by typing with a text tool up to 10 or using a hashtag sticker.

The Best thing about this feature is your story becomes searchable when you add hashtags.

2. The Different Types of Instagram Hashtags

There is a different type of hashtags – understanding which hashtags to use is an important part of developing an effective strategy to maximize reach and engagement.

i. Branded Hashtags –

A branded hashtag is a unique hashtag for your business. It can be your company name, tag line, or a phrase that represent your brand identity. It is used to build brand awareness or to encourage your followers to share user-generated content on their timelines. This is the real asset to get new audiences or expand your getting followers.

ii. Community Hashtags –

Community hashtags are used more generally to connect like-minded people. But unlike branded hashtags, it doesn’t necessarily have anything directly related to your business. For example #instafood or #picoftheday. There are not specific to one person or firm.

iii. Campaign Hashtags –

Unlike branded and community hashtag, campaign hashtags are usually shorter-term & run for a few days, season or year. It is particularly used to promote new products or events or to just inspire people.

A campaign hashtag needs to be memorable, funny in order to achieve the goal.

3. Which types of hashtags should I use?

Every E-commerce business don’t get the benefit of all type of hashtag

International business doesn’t have any reason to use the location-based hashtag. In a similar way, business with a professional voice may not use the entertaining hashtag. So, try to adopt the hashtag which is more suitable for your business and for your audience.

4. How many hashtags should I be using?

There is a limit of 30 hashtags on a single Instagram post. This is the answer to how many you can use, not about how many you should use, it can be quite different.

There is much research on this. The constant result is that Instagram post with hashtag gets 70% more engagement compared to another post. So, you should definitely use hashtags in your post.

And the answer to How many hashtags you should use? The data is inconsistent. Some researchers advise using just two hashtags, while others say using all the thirty hashtags. So, it’s more advisable to test and analyze the result.

5. Should my Instagram hashtags be visible?

Nobody has time to read all the thirty hashtags or even a five. Because of this many brands strategically hide their hashtags under the “see more” button. You can also remove hashtags from a description by adding extra spaces. Also, many brands prefer to add hashtags in comments of a post. But this will lose the effectiveness of hashtags.

If you are using one or two brands and entertainment hashtags. In that case, leave that as it is or try to mention it in the first line.

Conclusion –

Hashtags are a crucial part of your Instagram marketing. So, create your Instagram marketing strategy with your own high performing hashtags that will increase your post engagement. And remember to analyze the result to get the maximum output.

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