Are Your Instagram Hashtags Not Working?
You took the time out, you wore that #OOTD, did your hair and #MUA, called-in your favorite photographer, caught that #GoldenHour rush and so much more for the #Gram! We are impressed 👏👏!
You did so much to manage social media standards! 🙌🙌
But, looks like when you shared your picture and used those #Hashtag[s] on the post, it did not reach your Instagram followers and it did not do so well. It means that your Instagram Hashtags Not Working and that’s worrisome.🧐
#LoveHashtags? But Don’t Know Why They Are Not Working? Keep Scrolling
Well, fret not — now that you are here, keep scrolling to find out — what could be wrong and how to make the best of all your hard-work and #Hashtags on Instagram. Yes, hashtags are undoubtedly one of the most vital tools that add to the success of your account growth. And makes you ‘discoverable’ on an app of over one billion users, monthly!!
Before we proceed, let’s clarify what we mean by ‘Instagram Hashtags not working’:
- One possibility is that your posts are not showing up in hashtag search results at all
- Second, your hashtags are simply failing to expand the reach and engagement of your posts, which is restricting the overall growth of your account
Here we have listed some of the things you might be doing wrong leading to a situation where your Instagram hashtags are not working along with quick fixes for you to ace your #GramGame.
Reason #1: You are Inconsistent In Posting😓
Opted for a Digi-Detox? Or perhaps you are just having an erratic posting schedule, which means you are sharing two posts today and then five posts in a row two weeks later!
That’s not a good way of managing social media and you need to stop. Find your jam because inconsistency is typically the number one reason why are your Instagram hashtags are not working. When you are not regular with your posts, you are breaking a pattern and the Instagram algorithm will not show your randomly posted content to a wider audience.
While training our AI, we analyzed some random handles and the below graph shows the impact of posting regularly.
As you can see, on an average posts generate more engagement when they are posted daily. In case the duration between the posts is more — 3/6 days, the average engagement drops.
Quick fix:
Commit to a posting schedule that can be three times a week or five, and stay at it. This will help your followers know when to expect to see your new content and the chances are they are going to engage. Or else, hire a social media marketer to ace the job for you.
Reason #2: You Are Mis-Matching Content & Hashtag
Instagram has a separate explore section where you can browse through each hashtag. Here, you can find posts that are branching out from a similar topic having some common visual elements. And most importantly stating the popularity of the hashtag.
For example, search for #QuoteOfTheDay. It has more than 52,000,000 posts — making it an extremely popular hashtag amongst Instagram followers. The posts have a common visual element of a solid background and an easy-to-read font.
So if you plan to post using the hashtag — #QuoteOfTheDay with a heavy background image and a complicated font the post is most likely to not perform well. However, if you post with a beautiful pastel shade background with an easy-to-read font, the post is likely to perform very well.
Pro-Tip:
Before you proceed to create content for your Instagram followers, take a minute or two to explore this section of Instagram. This will help you understand the type of content that is resonating with the hashtag’s followers. This easy step will help you reach out to a greater audience set with increased engagement.
Reason #3: You Are Using The Same Hashtags🤨
Now that you have read the above two points, you are most likely posting consistently and posting what your Instagram followers want to see on that particular hashtag.
Now, please don’t keep using the same set of hashtags. Show some variety to your audience so that they don’t get bored. And stop Instagram from penalizing you for spamming with your same tried and tested set of hashtags.
The same hashtags will limit your reach as you are not casting your net wide enough. This might also make the Instagram algorithm to penalize your posts. And we obviously do not want that.
Quick fix:
Reach a wider set audience and manage social media at its best by choosing for variety and broadening out your hashtag use. Mix, match, and whip up the hashtags every time you post new content on your feed.
Pro-tip:
Look for trending hashtags for that particular day and mix it up with your content. [Tried and tested]
Reason #4: You Are Not Using Enough Hashtags
If you ask if there is any particular number of hashtags to be used in one post, then the answer is no. However, each post on Instagram is allowed up to thirty hashtags. This means if you are using only five spots out of thirty then you are most likely missing out on opportunities to explore with your Instagram followers. On the flip side, if you are stuffing your post with too many hashtags it may not work in your favor.
So the deal is to find the right balance, and that comes with managing social media accounts with varied genres. We analyzed some random handles and the below graph shows the impact of using Hashtags in Posts.
As you can see, there is a positive impact on Post Engagement due to the number of hashtags in the posts.
Pro-tip:
It is good to start at the best practices number — 30 to manage social media account and test out what works best from there. It might take weeks, months, or even a few years before you find an ideal number of hashtags to use on your posts. But, give yourself time, flexibility for trial and error for best results.
Lastly, always use your hashtags correctly! Do not have space between # and the word, and try to use capitals before starting every new word — for example, #MyYogaRoutine instead of #myyogaroutine.
An easy way out here will be to try out Predis.ai. It will give you new hashtag sets based on your post taking away all the stress of finding the perfect hashtags.
All this and more will help you in up-ing your #GramGame and we are sure!
Now, all you have to do is follow the steps and get the party started! Meanwhile, don’t forget to like, share, subscribe to our Instagram, Facebook, Twitter for more ideas.
