How to Use Hashtags on Instagram to Gain followers – Hashtags are one of the simplest strategies to generate more reach and potentially more followers on Instagram.
Although nowadays the results are not as expressive as they were at other times – according to a study by Sproutsocial, at the end of 2014, a post with at least one hashtag had an average of 12.6% more engagement compared to a post without no hashtags – it still makes sense to use hashtags.
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How to Use Hashtags on Instagram to Gain followers
And in this post I’m going to share with you some points that you should consider to make the most of hashtags! Read all the way to the end to learn how to use hashtags strategically to get more reach and more followers.
1. Uses 30 hashtags per post
Instagram allows you to use up to a maximum of 30 hashtags per post. Each of these hashtags will increase the likelihood of reaching new audiences and, consequently, increase your engagement and number of followers. That’s why my recommendation is that you use those 30 opportunities and not just a few.
There is no basis behind the claims that Instagram penalizes those who use too many hashtags. This is not true, so make the most of them.
2. Publish your hashtags directly in the post
In a post, you can post your hashtags directly in the post description or in the first comment. Both are valid, but according to several studies, posting hashtags in the description often tends to perform better compared to hashtags in the comments.
If that’s something important to you – maximizing your post’s reach and engagement – putting it directly in the post might make sense. Alternatively, in case your text is too long or you don’t want to have your hashtag block in the post, it’s okay to use the first comment to include the hashtags .
3. Add a break before your hashtags
If you choose to post your list or block of hashtags directly in the post description, you should be careful to separate the post content from the hashtags to ensure your post is easy to read. For this, you can use 5 points (as in the image), to visually separate the description from the hashtags.
4. Select niche hashtags (or the right size for your profile)
How well hashtags work in your strategy has a lot to do with the type of hashtags you choose and how big they are. And for that very reason, the secret lies in the type of hashtags we select. My recommendation is that you opt for niche hashtags (i.e. more specific hashtags) or hashtags that have an interesting number of posts that are somewhat equivalent to your account size .
For example, using hashtags like #lifestyle #entrepreneur or #love, with literally millions of posts, doesn’t show much effect because these hashtags are too popular and are hyper saturated. When you publish a post with these hashtags, your content will be buried, with less chance of appearing in the “Top publications” and “Most recent” feeds.
The aim is to find used but not saturated hashtags . This will allow your post to appear both in the most recent posts, but mainly in the main publications (i.e. in those publications that are highlighted when you enter a hashtag).
To find more specific, smaller hashtags, scroll through Instagram’s suggestions and you’ll see different options sorted by their size (as you can see in the image above). To choose your hashtags, you can also use the Display Purposes website – which presents you with several hashtag suggestions when you search for a given term.
5. Include up to 10 hashtags in Stories to appear on the Explore Page
Many people associate hashtags only with feed publications, but we can also use hashtags in Stories. The most interesting part is that when we include hashtags in Stories, they can appear highlighted on the Explore Page, thus increasing the probability of new audiences reaching our content.
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It doesn’t mean that you always have to include hashtags in Stories, but it can definitely be something that you test from time to time to generate more reach and exposure for your page.
6. If you include hashtags in Stories, choose to hide them
As I mentioned in the previous point, including hashtags in Stories is a strategy to increase our reach. However, hashtags must not distract from our audience (or worse, cause people to turn away from our content). For this reason, I recommend that you hide hashtags in Stories. As? You can simply reduce their size or make them the same color as a certain part of your Story. Alternatively, you can also choose to place them behind an emoji or another element in your Story.
7. Follow hashtags on Instagram
So it is. Hashtags should not only be used to help other people find us but are also a great way to expose ourselves to new content and new profiles . Following hashtags – within the topics that interest you most or that represent your target audience well – will allow you to interact with more people within the profile of your ideal client . And at the end of the day it will help you reach out to more people and get closer to them.