I’m sure you’ve heard all about the importance of using hashtags to grow your audience and engagement on Instagram and Twitter, right? Well, it’s not just hype. Using hashtags truly can help you grow your reach and engagement if done correctly despite Instagram’s ever changing algorithm. Today I’m chatting about how to use hashtags to increase your Instagram engagement. Let’s do this, shall we?
How to Use Hashtags to Increase your Instagram Engagement
Finding hashtags to use
Once you find a few hashtags to use in your post, you can easily build upon those hashtags by utilizing the search function on Instagram. The search function has been a complete game changer for me.
As you can see in the photo above, if you type in a hashtag, a few other relevant hashtags will generate directly below so you can easily add more hashtags to your arsenal just by utilizing Instagram’s search function.
How many hashtags should I use per post?
I personally recommend using all 30 hashtags on Instagram. I’ve read some different things saying using 7 hashtags is the best and so on but I think you should maximize your chances of getting your Instagram posts seen by using all 30 hashtags.
Increasing your engagement with hashtags
Use niche specific hashtags
It is important to use niche specific hashtags on your Instagram posts. Using super generic hashtags doesn’t always help increase your reach. In fact, you have a harder time appearing in the top posts section of those hashtags because they have so many posts submitted per day. If you’re a lifestyle blogger, utilizing this post about hashtags for lifestyle bloggers will help you step up your hashtag game in no time.
Choose hashtags with less than five hundred thousand posts
When selecting your hashtags, you’re more likely to perform better when using hashtags with less posts. Of course, you can still throw a few extremely popular hashtags into the mix but make sure those aren’t the only ones you’re using or you’re going to be disappointed with your reach.
Make multiple different hashtag sets
It’s important to test out a few different hashtag sets on your photos. If you’re consistently using the same 30 hashtags, they will become stale so make sure you’re rotating a few different sets to keep the Instagram algorithm on its toes.
Analyze what your competitors are doing
To make sure I’m always on top of my hashtag game, I always check out what hashtags others in my niche are using. It’s important to continuously work on your hashtag strategy otherwise you’re leaving cards on the table and you surely don’t want to be doing that.
Click the image below and get your free list of hashtags for business owners!
Your Turn:
What’s your current hashtag strategy? Do you use hashtags to increase your Instagram engagement? What are your favorites to use for your specific niche? Please feel free to let me know down in the comments.
