A Creator’s Guide to using Instagram Hashtags in 2018
Love them or hate them, you can’t ignore them.
That’s hashtags for you.
From enabling your account to be found on Instagram, to making your content visible to the right set of people, to even helping you gain those extra likes on your post — hashtags are the most powerful way of growing on Instagram.
“But there are stacks and stacks of hashtags floating around the Internet, which ones should I use?”
“Also, how many hashtags should I use for a post?”
“And one last thing — should I post my hashtags in the caption or in the comments section?”
Finding and using hashtags correctly can be overwhelming and that is exactly why I’ve put together this post to help you understand and boost your hashtag #confidence.
First things first👇
How do Instagram hashtags work?
Every time you create a post on Instagram and add a caption along with some hashtags to it, the post becomes searchable and discoverable by other users. This helps a lot of users to discover your content and in turn optimises the reach of your post(s).
For example, if you’re a travel blogger and you hashtag your post with #travelawesome, #discoverearth, #roamtheplanet, #earthofficial or any other travel related hashtag, your post gets added to the pool of posts that carry the same hashtag.
Now if a user is looking for travel related inspiration or information, they can simply search for any of these hashtags to find your post.
Here is where it’s important to make sure you strike a balance between using a popular enough hashtag that other users search for and one that is not too popular so that it does not get lost in the plethora of posts that carry the same hashtag.
Are you with me?
Okay, let me explain again with an example.
Let’s stick to the travel post here. If you use the hashtag #discoverearth on your picture that has 3,796,537 posts (as I’m drafting this), it’s most likely your post will quickly get lost in the pool of other posts. But for example, if you use the hashtag #escapesnaps that has 23,828 posts (as I’m drafting this), the likelihood of your post being discovered will be significantly higher ✨
Here are some hashtag basics to keep in mind:
- Keep your hashtags crisp and concise. Don’t string too many words into your hashtag. There are more chances of people typing in and looking for #AvoToast instead of typing #ThisIsHowILikeMyAvoToast 🍞
- Instagram allows upto 30 hashtags and that gives you a lot of opportunity to make your post visible. Carpe Diem!
- Avoid adding hashtags where they are visible. They might lend a very spammy feel to your posts and decrease their likability. Instead add hashtags as the first comment on your post or if you wish to add it to the caption, add them after you write the caption preceded by “. . . . .” (one dot per line) so that they get truncated.
- It only makes sense to use hashtags if your account is public.
- Use hashtags that are relevant to your post. You don’t want to annoy users by showing an image of steak and fries and hashtag it with #CleanEating or worse, #GreenLiving 🍃
Now that you know the basics, let’s help you find the best hashtags for your posts.
How to find the best Instagram Hashtags for your account
While it might not seem like a biggie at first, hashtags are indeed a big deal. So in order to be discovered and found, you need to have a winning strategy behind the hashtags you use. While using the most popular hashtags like #goodmorning, #happy, #love might help you gain a couple of likes, in the long run, they won’t do your account any good.
Why?
Because these hashtags have been used on millions, heck, billions of posts and so the chances of discovery are really really low.
Nothing to be worried about, folks! While these hashtags may have been used to their capacity, there are a lot more cool, creative, niche hashtags that the Instagram community has been lovin’ lately. Your job here is to do the homework and find the hashtags that are being used by your peers and industry leaders. Not to mention, the audience you wish to cater to. Of course, I’m here to help you do the homework #️⃣
So let’s get started with finding these niche hashtags 💪
Research industry leaders
Industry leaders aka Influencers become Influencers because something seems to be working for them. There posts perform extremely well and they’re usually the ones whose pictures garner 100+ likes in less than a minute of them posting it.
From food to beauty to lifestyle to tech to travel to craft — for each category we have Influencers.
So to begin with, look at the hashtags these Influencers use.
A lot of the work supposed to be done by you is already done by them — the gurus of Instagram. All you have to do is carefully see which hashtags are most suitable for your niche/category and use them.
Research your Audience
Now that you tentatively have an idea about the hashtags, how do you know which ones you need to use for your account? This is where audience research comes in.
Look at the audience you want to target/cater to and see the kind of hashtags they’re using. You want to make sure your hashtags are similar to the keywords they’re searching for and using.
Research your Peers
If Influencers have set the bar too high and you want to take a step back, it’s a great idea to see what the Micro Influencers are upto. Micro Influencers might not have a following of 100K and upwards, but they’re usually the ones with a decent enough following + engagement. If your following is below 5K, you should see what the 10–20K influencers are upto. If you’re in the 10K range yourself, you should check out how the 30–50K are using hashtags and Instagram in general. Take notes, imbibe and apply 🙌
Find related hashtags on Instagram
There are many ways to find relevant hashtags, but the easiest and quickest way to find hashtags is by looking for them on Instagram itself.
Tap on the magnifying glass at the bottom of your Instagram screen. Start typing in a word that relates to the topic you post most about and tap on Tags on the top bar. This will show you a list of similar hashtags you can pick from along with showing you the number of times these hashtags have been used.
You can also take your search a step higher, by selecting one of the hashtags in the list. Once you tap on any one hashtag, it will reveal a list of more niche and similar hashtags at the top of the screen as shown in the picture above 🙌
Irrespective of how you find the hashtag, the key here is to make sure you’re using a combination of both popular and niche hashtags on your posts.
Getting noticed on Instagram (for all the hardwork you put in)
You might say, “finding hashtags is a tonne of work, friend! What if my posts still don’t get enough visibility?”
Well, the easiest way to make sure your posts get quick engagement and hence visibility is to schedule your posts for when your audience is most active on Instagram. Crowdfire’s Publish tool is one of the easiest ways to schedule and publish posts 🚀
If you post when your audience is active on Instagram, you’re more likely to drive engagement on that post. And as with Instagram’s algorithm, the posts that get quick engagement as soon as they’re posted, are bumped higher up on users’ feed which in turn will further increase engagement on that post.
Essentially, post when your audience is most active, receive higher engagement and quick visibility which in turn will lead to more visibility. Simple as that!
Popular Instagram Hashtags
Now I’m going to let you in on some of the most popular Instagram hashtags for your niche. All you have to do is copy and paste.
Yes, alright!
Thank me later…
Wait..
Settle down, you guys!
For the writers on Instagram
#wordporn #spilledink #writinglife #writerscommunity #writingtips #writersofinstagram #words #writers #typewriterpoetry #wordoftheday #igers #sword #writingcommunity #author #writingsociety #writingtime #iwrite #creativewriting #writersofig #wordgasm #wordsmith #igwriters #writingprompts #writingadvice #writingpromptsdaily #dailywriting
For the street photographers on Instagram
#cityscape #cityscape_lovers #cityview #buildings #citylandscape #urbanview #streetphotography #streetphotographers #everybodystreet #lensculturestreets #lensculture #streets_vision #streetlife #streetshared #streetleaks #urbanphotography #theprettycities #streetlife_award #wearethestreet #fromstreetswithlove #streetphoto_greatshots #rsa_streetview #storyofthestreet #streetmagazine #moodygrams #agameoftones #streetmagazine #urbanandstreet #ourmoodydays
For the travel bloggers on Instagram
#travelling #great_captures_city #travelawesome #openmyworld #letsgosomewhere #passionpassport #exploremore #travelingcouple #coupleswhotravel #travelingartist #doyoutravel #traveldiary #simplyadventure #abmtravelbug #flashesofdelight #mytinyatlas #travelinbetween #beachlife #islandlife #greatesttravels #finditlivit #exploreeverything #wheretofindme #gooutside #wonderful_places #holiday #traveltheworld #alwaysgo #travelingram #lovetravel #wanderlust #worlderlust
For the slow lifestyle lovers on Instagram
#thehappynow #thatsdarling #darlingmovement #pursuepretty #flashesofdelight #nothingisordinary#livethelittlethings #interiorinspiration #darlingweekend #petitejoys #abmhappylife #pursuepretty #livecolorfully #darlingmovement #seeksimplicity #momentsofmine #theartofslowliving #thatauthenticfeeling
For the fashionistas on Instagram
#ootd #outfitoftheday #outfitpost #myoutfit #realoutfit #instaoutfit #lookbook #mystyle #igstyle #lotd #lookoftheday #outfitinspo #outfitgoals #styleoftheday #todaysoutfit #todayimwearing #currentlywearing #whatiwore #aboutalook #wiwt #whatiworetoday #outfitinspiration #outfitidea #wiw #mylook #instastyle #instafashion #stylefile #styledbyme #styletip #streetstyleluxe #ootdmagazine #ootdshare #trending #lovethislook
For the singers on Instagram
#singer #songwriter #singersongwriter #singersbelike #singerlife #singersroom #singersofig #singersvocals #singers #musician #singing #song #sing #guitar #newsong #concert #band #onemanband #acoustic #cover #guitarist #livemusic #vocalist #vocals #instamusic #voice #live #talent #musictalenthub #newmusic
For the foodies on Instagram
#vscocam #vscofood #vscoedit#foodphotography #foodstyling #f52grams #feedfeed #breakfastlover #morningslikethese #lifeandthyme #onthetable #thekitchn #buzzfeast #buzzfeedfood #huffposttaste #forkyeah #plantbased #wholefood #healthyfoodshare #breakfeast #porridge #veganfood #healthybreakfast #foodandwine #tastingtable #foodiesofinstagram #foodiegram #foodielife #hautecusines #beautifulcuisines
For the fit fam on Instagram
#fitnessblogger #fitspo #fitfam #getstrong #trainhard #transformationtuesday, #fitspiration #justdoit #girlswholift #training #personaltrainer #cleaneating #eatclean #healthylifestyle, #noexcuses #fitnessgoals #nopainnogain #motivation #workoutinspo #workoutmotivation #workouts #workouttime #workoutoftheday #fitmotivation #keepfit #fitnesslifestyle #fitfam #fitnesslife #fitnessaddict #workoutworld #workoutroutine #workoutdaily #workoutsesh #fitfood
There we go 🙌
Hashtag away, folks!
Pro Tip: Your posts will automatically perform well if you supplement your hashtags with awesome images. People are constantly scanning them hashtag feeds, so make sure your image stands out ⭐️
I hope you enjoyed this post as much as I enjoyed creating it for you. If you have any tips, strategies for using #hashtags or Instagram in general, I’d love to know about it the comments section below 😊
