Perfect Instagram Hashtag Strategy – The 4 Key Elements
Wondering how to make the most out of hashtags on Instagram? This post is exactly what you need! You will learn how to Define Your Perfect Instagram Hashtag Strategy and Reach Your Ideal Audience.
Instagram is such a fun platform for creators, entrepreneurs, and businesses. The platform allows for company and personal brands to showcase what they offer to their audience in creative ways. One way for a brand to be discovered organically on Instagram is through hashtags.
What are Instagram Hashtags?
Hashtags are keywords or key-phrases with a pound sign (#) in front. They are used to describe content so that users interested in that type of content can discover it easily.
For example: #SummerVibes or #GirlBoss.
You can place hashtags in:
- Captions
- Comments
- IG Stories
- In your bio area (Btw learn How to Create the Perfect Instagram Bio (In 6 Simple Steps))
Why are Hashtags Important?
IG hashtags are searchable and therefore people can discover your posts through hashtags. This will allow for more people to know and love your brand, your products, and services.
Instagram hashtags are also a great way to build communities, for example, #BossBabe is a community of female bosses in different industries.
Hashtags will expand your IG audience, increase visibility, and increment the engagement on the content that you are sharing.
What is an Instagram Hashtag Strategy?
A hashtag strategy is a plan for your social platforms focused on the use of hashtags to achieve certain goals.
Generally, the main goal of a hashtag strategy is to increase target audience followers on Instagram.
Another goal of a hashtag strategy could be to increase engagement on posts.
🔑 In every hashtag strategy there are 4 key elements. Being aware of these elements will allow you to create the perfect strategy.
1. The Audience
The audience refers to your target audience. The people who you want to communicate and engage with.
You must ask yourself, “Do I know my business and my buyer persona?”.
To promote your products and services correctly (online or offline), you must know your business and who your ideal buyer persona is.
Having a clear picture of your ideal customers will allow you to reach them and speak to them on a personal level. Also, this creates better relationships and loyal customers.
So, what does knowing your audience have to do with hashtags? Well, it is essential to know what hashtags are they following and searching for.
PS. more on this topic in key #4
2. Number of Hashtags
Instagram allows you to use up to 30 hashtags per post and up to 10 hashtags on IG Stories.
There are different points of view regarding the amount of hashtags to use in each post.
Some people say they use all 30 hashtags to increase their visibility (to the max).
Others say just using 5 hashtags is better “less is more”.
My recommendation is to do some testing with different amounts of hashtags.
Try using a mix of 25, 11, and 8 hashtags then you see what works best for you.
Defining your hashtags is a trial and error type of situation. So, don’t worry, give it time and you will get to the perfect strategy for your business.
3. Hashtag Popularity Mix
Hashtag Popularity: How many times a specific hashtag has been used. The number of times a certain hashtag has been used reflects its popularity/usage.
The more popular a hashtag is the more difficult it will be to rank on it.
You can see the popularity of a hashtag listed when you search for it.
Hashtags can be grouped into 3 categories of usage/popularity.
- Low = 0-100,000
- Mid = 100,000 – 500,000
- Viral = 500,000 – Millions
It is important to note that the more popular a hashtag is, the harder it will be to reach the top ranking (visibility) because there are so many daily posts using that specific hashtag.
It is also important to note that using hashtags with less than 1,000 posts are not popular enough and people are not really searching for them.
The solution is to have a hashtag popularity mix. Depending on the amount of followers you have use a hashtag mix accordingly. Always remember on what hashtag popularity levels you can actually rank on.
4. The Hashtags
The hashtags you use MUST be relevant to the content that you are sharing.
So, what hashtags should you be using?
I divided them into two groups:
Group A: Your Brand Hashtags
Group B: Your Audience Hashtags
We are going to focus 50% on what you offer and 50% on what your clients are searching for.
Group A: The Brand Hashtags
Title: Your official business title. You can have more than one, as shown in the image below.
Purpose: This includes your purpose, mission, vision, etc.
Products/Services: The products and services you are offering.
Content: The types of content that you are sharing for your audience.
Group B: The Audience Hashtags
Interests: The things your audience is interested in and searching for.
Needs: The needs your audience has and problems your business will solve for them.
Location: If your product or service has to do with location you can search for location related hashtags.
Other: Any other activity your ideal audience searches for for example conferences, movies, events, etc.
Each post you publish must have relevant hashtags!
📒Note: You can’t share a pic of your adorable dog and hashtag it #FitnessCoach, even though you are a Fitness Coach and it’s your niche, that specific post is not relevant to that hashtag. Most likely it will not receive the desired engagement because the content is not related to the hashtag. Instead you could hashtag it #DogMom or #DogsOfInsta.
What’s next?
Once you have selected your relevant hashtags I suggest you open an excel sheet and create hashtag groups. The groups should be categorized in to your different content pillars.
Having your hashtag groups ready will save you a TON of time.
💡Tip: You should have at least 20 hashtags groups and rotate them!
All in all,
Finding the perfect Instagram hashtag strategy will take time and several tries but, once you figure it out, the results will be amazing! 🌟
Remember the four key elements when creating your hashtag strategy audience, number, popularity, and of course the hashtags.
If you have any questions leave them in the comments below and also, let me know what hashtag strategy has worked for you.
Learn more about Instagram Marketing for your business in the blog.
Follow me on Instagram @lauraarancibiamarketing I share content about digital marketing, social media marketing, content marketing, and more!
Talk to you very soon,
Laura