How To Get The Best Hashtags For Instagram and Grow Your Followers
In our previous lessons, we talked about how to create the perfect content for your Instagram account and also how to upload the photos/videos from your Instagram mobile app.
Now in this chapter, we shall talk about hashtags and how to use them to grow your Instagram followers.
Let's get you started.
What are Hashtags ? A hashtag is a keyword or a phrase preceded by a # sign. Hashtags are used to identify messages related to a particular time. For a very long time, # was used as a pound symbol. In 2007, Chris Messina, a social media expert was the first person to use a hashtag on Twitter for the purpose of gathering discussions related to Barcamp and since then Hashtags have become a major feature of social media platforms. Hashtags, although originated in Twitter, are now being used on every other social media platform by brands, businesses, and celebrities to bring up a discussion on a particular subject and also gain followers on their profile.
Hashtags are a key way to bring up the audience to talk about and promote a particular service or a business product. Hashtags are updated regularly and when someone searches for a particular hashtag, all the posts and discussions that other users have made using that hashtag can be viewed. When businesses use hashtags in the right way, it can lead to an increase in followers.
Let us understand the relevance of Hashtags using an example.
In the above post, the user has posted an image using multiple hashtags. One of them is #gimbaloperator. As we mentioned that hashtags are used to view information on a particular subject and since the user has posted an image using this hashtag, the photo is now under #gimbaloperator.
Now if any person searches for this hashtag, all the photos, and videos that other people have posted using this hashtag become visible in one place. This way Hashtag does a great job in creating a category for a particular subject and users can know all about it by simply searching for that hashtag.
Millions of users post content daily on Instagram. In order to make your content stand out among millions of posts, make sure to use the right hashtag in your posts. Doing so will help you gain more followers and increase your brand awareness. You can use any hashtag that you desire which is relevant to your business but remember that Instagram puts a limitation of 30 hashtags per post.
How To Come Up With Your Own Hashtags
As simple and easy it may sound, being able to use the perfect hashtags can get a little tricky for some users at times.
Prepare a list of hashtags that you are going to use for your business. Search for hashtags that are common and related to your niche.
Look for 6 commonly used hashtags: On your Instagram, search for 6 commonly used hashtags related to your business. These hashtags must have at least 100k - 1 m posts.
For example, suppose that your niche is coffee.
Search on Instagram a hashtag related to coffee. In the above example, you can see that #coffeetime has over 24m+ posts. The hashtag next to it has almost 600k+ posts on Instagram.
Similarly, search for 6 similar popular hashtags that have a very large number of posts. Use these hashtags in every post you make from your business account in order to increase your reach and engagement. By using these hashtags, your post can be viewed on the top of the searches when someone looks for these hashtags thereby increasing the number of people who view your posts that can become your potential customers.
Look for 6 relatively less used hashtags: Find out 6 relatively less used hashtags having a number of posts ranging from 50k-100k for each hashtag.
In the above example, #coffeeofinstagram has nearly 80k posts. You can use such hashtags for your posts.
Just below, Instagram lists out a few hashtags related to your search. Click on any hashtag to know posts related to it.
Keep searching for such hashtags to make a list of relatively less used hashtags.
Look for 3 precise hashtags specific for your niche: In this list, the hashtags are specific to your target market that you are trying to attract and reach out to. Such hashtags must have at least 10k-30k posts. Look for hashtags related to the products and services you offer, your industry and what your customers probably are searching for.
In the above example, note the hashtag #espressocoffee is very specific and immediately gives the viewer an idea of the service offered.
Use 3 of your branded hashtags: Let us put out some facts and statements to you related to branded hashtags:
- 7 out of 10 Instagram hashtags are branded hashtags
- Having at least 1 hashtag increases the engagement by a massive 12.8%
- Using branded hashtags can easily help you track your organic reach
Remember that in our previous lessons, we had talked about creating a perfect Instagram bio. We also had asked you to create your branded hashtags.
Create a few hashtags that are relevant to your products/services. You must use at least 3 of those branded hashtags that you put out in your bio. Ask your followers to use those in their posts while reaching out to you.
In the above example, the user has created 3 branded hashtags that they can use in their posts.
You can even search google for popular Instagram hashtags. There are tons of websites that will list to you the most popular hashtags.
Use can use keywords as your hashtags. Include # and the keyword. Remember that there should not be any space
Mistakes To Avoid While Posting Content
Instagram businesses share millions of photos and videos every day. Some businesses are able to reach their target audience while others fail to do so. The difference is that successful businesses avoid certain mistakes that other businesses fail to understand. So if you are fretting over how to put out the perfect content for your audience, worry not. You just need to avoid certain mistakes that make your content lesser appealing.
Here is a list of some commonly made mistakes by users while posting their content on Instagram:
Posting tons of hashtags: You know that Instagram allows up to 30 hashtags per post. It doesn’t mean you have to exhaust it all. Too much of everything is bad and so is true in the case of hashtags. Less is more.
Using too many hashtags can make your post spam and might not even reach the audience you are targeting.
At times, posts become more effective only when significant hashtags are used along with them.
Make sure to include only relevant hashtags in your posts. The number of hashtags to be used in each of your posts also depend on the number of followers you have and the motive with which you are posting your content.
Let us take an example to understand how the number of hashtags you use is dependent on your content.
Suppose you have established your business on Instagram and have a large number of followers. Now you need to reach out to a much larger number of new audiences in a hope to convert them into your followers and ultimately into your customers. For this purpose, you are organizing a contest or giveaway. Here you can use more than 25 hashtags for your posts because you need to target as much audience as possible and still this post would not be considered spam.
Not Establishing your niche: You should focus on posting content that is relevant to your niche. Don’t post anything just for the sake of posting content for the day. Your audience must be able to connect with your content. Always plan content related to your niche.
Once you have established your brand on Instagram and have a niche, Instagram will help you find similar brands related to your niche.
In the above example, the business focuses on a niche healthy diet as suggested by the title. As you can see that all the posts from this profile are related to a healthy balanced diet.
Doing this will help your brand grow and bring more followers since your content is specific to your niche. Only the people interested in your niche shall be attracted to your website.
Not Consistent With Your Branding: One big mistake that some businesses make is that among all their posts there is not much similarity. Graphically, your posts must have some similarity such as the same filter or the same background even. Having some common links helps your visitors recognize your brand.
Use your brand logo in all the posts you make. Further, the color of the logo must be used in the content you post. If your business is related to some products, then use a simple background in all your posts while introducing them to your customers. This will increase your brand recognition and awareness among followers.
In the example profile, the posts are not appealing much to the viewer. The business user should have used a definite color background in their content rather than just having any random and dull background. Using different color combinations might confuse your followers/visitors. So try to keep the post with similar color combinations and filters as well. Secondly there is inconsistency in the posts. The angle of the photos, the placement of products and the overall selection does not appeal to the visitor very much. When there are inconsistencies like these, followers tend to become skeptical about your brand. However, when you post your content with a color similar to your logo and keep some similarity among all your posts, the followers will be easily able to recognize your brand and your profile.
In this profile, you can see that the business has a purple logo. In most of their posts, there is a shade of their logo. In a way, they are consistent with their branding.
Not Consistent With Posting: If at all there is one golden rule about marketing on Instagram, it is to make posts regularly. People tend to engage in those posts which are regularly posted by the businesses and are related to their business or the products/services they offer.
People follow you to view your content and the new posts that you make. If on some days you post a lot of stuff and then the next day you run out of content, this will not be well-received among your followers. It might get overwhelming for them to have to wait for your content. They wish to see the new content after a regular time. So plan your content for all the days on which you shall make a post and not forget to post on the right day and time.
You can also make use of planning tools to assist you in posting your content regularly. In our previous chapters, we had talked about using planning tools to plan your content ahead of the month and then post them on the scheduled date.
Conclusion
Hope this brief lesson on getting the best hashtags for your business and gaining more followers has motivated you to start working on your Instagram business with even more knowledge and enthusiasm. In the next chapters, we will teach you how to make use of Instagram stories to grow your business. Helping you discover how you can use Instagram to grow your business online.
Chapter 8: Using Instagram Stories To Grow Your Instagram See More