Along with sharing gorgeous pictures and writing engaging captions, you also have to add a collection of hashtags. Whether you’ve been using Instagram from 6 months or 6 years, you know that hashtags are important.
Luckily most of you, who are on Instagram, already use hashtags and if you’re not using hashtags then you are missing out on other new people seeing your post therefore not getting enough Instagram engagement and your follower count isn’t growing.
If you’re using hashtags and noticing they are not performing well it could be for a number of reasons.
- You are using a hashtag that is “viral” meaning to popular and your photo is getting lost in the wave of other people using the same hashtag. Keep in mind that everyone is using these same tags that’s why they are popular but they’re also not great to boost your engagement,
- You are not using relevant hashtags, meaning you are just plugging in random hashtags because you think they will get your more engagement. For example using #veganfood on a photo of your outfit, that hashtag isn’t related to the post so people think its spam or aren’t interested so its not seen.
Heres a simple Instagram Hashtag Research Strategy you can start implementing today!
Lets start with the basics:
You can use up to 30 hashtags per Instagram post and you can even use (& hide) them in your Instagram Stories.
Types of Hashtags:
“small” hashtags and there are tags that have under 100K posts
“medium” hashtags that have 200k- 500k posts
“large or viral” hashtags that have millions of posts.
Best practice would be to use a combo of all 3 types of hashtags so you get the most engagement.
SO how do you find hashtags that are specific for you?
Start by breaking it down to 3 categories:
NICHE
What’s your title? Or Industry?
What’s your main skills?
Ideal Client Interests
This is where you need to think like your ideal client.
Where do they live? What interests them?
What problems do they need help with? Where do they “hangout” online?
Type of Content & Services
What type of posts do you make? How do you add value? What’s your service or offer?
After brainstorming you should be left with multiple big keywords (hashtags) that you can start with.
Open up your Instagram app and start researching.
This is what the process looks like:
For example, let’s say I am a fitness coach, that’s my niche, and I help women lose weight.
So the hashtag #weightlossjourney could be a good starting point, but lets get more specific.
My clients are typically moms who try to fit in a workout and clean eating into their busy life. She may have an interest in weightlifting or running but also wants a community of fellow moms to talk to.
So from #weightlossjourney we move onto #momswhoworkout
Lets dive in a little more.
I make inspirational posts who give women the motivation they need to get up and workout while raising little ones.
Now were at #strongmoms this hashtag has roughly 277K posts on it so it’s a good mid-range starting point.
And you do this for all the big keywords you started with when you broke it down to those 3 categories.
How do I find what hashtags to use?
You want to find a mix of low, mid, & high range hashtags to use. Try to stay away from really broad hashtags like #weightloss
Really dive deep into you’re ideal clients shoes and think like them. This way you connect with them in places they are already hanging out at.
I know this seems overwhelming and you’re probably questioning if its worth it.
But, honestly, it pays off and wouldn’t you rather carve out a few hours now to focus on getting your Instagram strategy perfected, knowing its going to help your account and get your content in front of your ideal client?
Let me know if you end up trying this method!
Shoot me an email or reach me on Instagram.
This was so helpful. I’m building my Instagram following I needed this
So glad you found it helpful! I hope it helps you get a head start on building your account up !!
This is great advice! I have seen people talk about skipping smaller hashtags in favour of larger ones, but I think doing so is missing out on an important piece of the bigger puzzle. Like you, I prefer to stick with a well-rounded combination of all of the above – that has definitely been providing me with the best results thus far.
Personally between small or large hashtags i would go for small.
The big/ viral hashtags are already established, tons of people are using them for that reason & end up getting lost within the first few minutes because it’s such a popular tag.
When you use smaller ones you have a greater chance to stay in the “top” category and you can build authority and somewhat of a community because will people will associate you with the smaller hashtag because you pop up more than you would in a viral tag.
Great advice: I’m using it!