Our Top 3 Hashtag Tips To Increase Engagement
Have you hit a #wall with your engagement on Instagram lately?
Trust us when we say, you aren’t the only one. One feature that everyone knows about (but often times doesn’t use to the fullest extent) is hashtags and the importance of having a hashtag strategy.
BONUS: Scroll down to check out our secret tool for hashtag research
A few tips on what to consider when coming up with a hashtag strategy:
⚡️ KEEP it fresh
In short - don’t use the same hashtags for every post. Instagram has begun flagging posts/accounts that post captions + comments with similar wording or hashtags. This applies to the hashtags you’re using on your posts! It’s a smart idea to create like 3-4 different hashtag groups and use them in rotation on your posts.
⚡️ be relevant
This may seem obvious, but always hashtag relevant content. Not only is this common sense, but it also helps people who are looking for your content (via searching for the hashtags you use) find your post. If you searched #icecream and you’re looking for cool ice cream photos, you’re most likely going to ignore anything that isn’t ice cream. The same applies to your content and the hashtags you use. Think “what would my ideal customer or audience search for?”
⚡️ MIX it up
It’s important to use a mixture of big, medium, and small hashtags. Try researching hashtags that are relevant to your content by starting with the largest concepts first and narrowing it down. For example: if I’m a fashion photographer and I’m looking to build a hashtag group for my posts I’d probably include some broad hashtags that are relevant to my niche such as: #fashionphotography , #editorialphotography , and #photooftheday . After that I’d think a little more specifically about my work/who I’m trying to target. Since I shoot with a specific camera or edit with specific editing tools, I could include hashtags like #canon5dmarkiv , #vscopresets , and #sigma35mmart . You can see how this process goes. It’s important to think outside of the box when doing your hashtag research. You never know where your next customer or fan will be searching, so try to put yourself in their shoes as you build out your strategy.
Our secret tool for hashtag research
When we first started building out our hashtag research strategy for our clients, it quickly became apparent how much time, energy, and brain power was involved in trying to discover what hashtags made the most sense for us to use. Sure, you could collect groups of hashtags that made sense for your content, but how did you know that they were the best in getting results or how engaged the audience was who was utilizing the tags that you were using?
We all know hashtags are one of the most effective ways of reaching your ideal audience organically, so ensuring you’re making the most of the “30 hashtag per photo” limit is so incredibly important when it comes to getting results. Thats why we love sharing our favorite hashtag research tool, Flick. With Flick, we can ensure that we reach the right people and use the right hashtags EVERY time we make a post for our clients or ourselves.
Not only does Flick provide amazing insight as to which hashtags are ideal for your content, but it also shows you how well your content will rank amongst the other people utilizing the same hashtags.
Using this tool has helped to put our content on the coveted Instagram Explore Page multiple times, which in turn leads to more engagement, better results, and increased brand awareness.
If you’re interested in trying out Flick, click here to get a 7 day free-trial and 10% off your first month of services.
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