All about the # - How to get the most out of Insta
Cath Bright
Digital Marketing, Content Writer and Marketing Strategist, Management Skills Trainer - supporting businesses to grow, and people to excel
Let’s talk hashtags. Specifically, Insta hashtags.
With the right strategy, you will get your posts seen by more RELEVANT people – those who are interested in your products or brand. With the wrong strategy, the algorithm may take a dislike to your account. You also risk annoying people who feel duped into following you!
Without wishing to burst into Kate Bush, who knows how any of the mystic algorithms work on socmed platforms? If you are posting on Insta, whether directly or through a marketing guru, then getting a grip on hashtags will help you achieve your goal.
Your goal – that’s a great place to start. Why are you on Insta? Is it to increase your brand awareness (reach) or is it to increase your sales (engagement)?
How you use your hashtags will depend on what your goal is through being on Insta: you need a hashtag strategy.
Here are my top five tips:
Relevant
The number one rule is that your hashtags need to be relevant. Relevant to the image, to your business, to your desired audience.?Using “popular” hashtags in the hope of picking up followers who are following the tag, may result in a few extra short-term followers but will not get you engagement. And it's a bit last decade.
Audience
Look at the hashtags your desired audience are following and using. That’s a great place to start building a list of hashtags to reach them.
Competition
You don’t want to copy but knowing the hashtags your competition are using may save you time and give you an idea of what works – and doesn’t work for your industry.
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Capitalisation
?No one wants to talk about Susan Boyle’s infamous album launch social media campaign #susanalbumparty. Would have been a different story with #SusanAlbumParty.
With a gift like that campaign, no further explanation is needed.
Number of Hashtags
Insta allows 30. A few years ago, the consensus was to use all 30.
Slowly that reduced, with most marketing experts suggesting about 15 was the optimum number. Insta themselves recommended 8-15 hashtags would give the maximum visibility.
In late 2021, the social media marketing world was rocked. Well, not quite rocked, but it did catch a few of us by surprise. Insta itself recommended 3-5 hashtags.
Is it a rule? No. Is it even believed by the majority? No. But if Insta itself, which fully understands its algorithm is suggesting it, it seems a pretty good idea to follow the advice.
On a business account, a large number of followers who will never interact, engage or pursue the relationship, aren’t worth much – other than the vanity rating. If your followers don’t engage it doesn’t help the reach of your post and Insta works out that you are playing with irrelevant hashtags to your business. Having a relevant audience, who will share, comment, and react, is invaluable to a business Insta account.
Still stuck for hashtag ideas?
Let’s say you produce organic toiletries:
?
Maybe check out what your marketing strategy is currently doing on Insta and mix it up a bit. If still old-school chasing interaction with 30 popular hashtags, maybe try these tips and monitor what happens.
Would love to hear how it goes for you.
The Carpet Guy that works with you, our domestic and commercial clients providing you with your very own flooring luxury from Archway Carpets in Woodbridge. You will be pleased we worked together.
2 年Always interests me who says a hashtag can be a hashtag.
?? Working closely with Accountants and Finance Directors to help their clients secure business finance! ??
2 年Very helpful article Cath, thank you! #susanalbumparty