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Hashtags are a great way to create brand awareness on Instagram and get more viewers to your page. Hashtags can generate interest in your page and are a way to attract target audiences without any paid efforts. But how do you know which hashtags to use for your posts? In fact, how many hashtags are viable, and where should they be placed? You need a Powerful Instagram Hashtag Strategy in Place which helps your Instagram page to grow fast.
Have you ever seen those Instagram posts with a chunk of only hashtags and no text? There is something displeasing about them. While hashtags are helpful, using the right ones in the appropriate place can get your results. Pair your fabulous visuals with an epic hashtag strategy in order to hit your Instagram goals. Here is a guide on how to set up your Instagram hashtag strategy.
A branded hashtag is unique to your brand identity. It may simply be the name of your brand or a particular campaign or tagline. Likewise, this branded hashtag should accompany all the posts pertaining to your brand or marketing campaign. Encourage your followers to follow this hashtag to stay updated on the developments on your page. A branded hashtag should be catchy and not too long. It is definitely a powerful way, to begin with, Instagram Hashtag Strategy.
Fun Fact: The ideal length of an Instagram hashtag is under 11 characters.
Instagram content creators can add hashtags to both the Stories and the posts. They can be hidden in the caption and added as a separate comment. Which location is ideal for adding your hashtags? The consensus is that the position of the hashtags is dependent on how big your account is or how many followers you have. For those accounts with under 5000 followers, the ideal location for the hashtags is hidden in the caption. On the other hand, for accounts with more than 5000 followers, comments containing hashtags are the way to go. Please keep this a powerful step for your hashtag strategy.
Short-tail keywords are the 1-2 word phrases that searchers use when looking things up on Google. If your digital marketing team has conducted keyword research, you would have a ready list of short-tail or seed keywords to choose from. Use these as your hashtags.
Remember, when you enter a hashtag, you can see the number of posts for this type of hashtag. Go for a mid-size hashtag that is popular but not overly competitive so that your posts stand out from the crowd. Also, remember that it is always vital to use hashtags that are not too broad. For instance, a post about earrings can carry the hashtags #FashionAccessories, but only #Fashion may be too wide.
Depending on your domain, there may be specific hashtags that are trending or popular hashtags used by everyone who likes that content. To be at the top of your hashtag game, knowing these will make a difference to who views your posts. For instance, in the healthcare industry, some trending hashtags may be #healthcareforall or #stayhealthy. Use these popular and trending hashtags to expand your reach. At the same time, avoid being overly repetitive and copying the same chunk of tags for each post you make.
Fun fact: If you look up a hashtag on the app, Instagram provides a list of related hashtags.
This simple trick can have amazing results! You see, instead of simply asking your followers to follow your hashtag, ask them to use it. You can create a hashtag challenge, i.e., give your followers a relevant and quirky challenge to perform and share using your hashtag. A creator could also simply post an open-ended question or prompt (either a thinking prompt or a picture prompt) and ask followers and potential followers to post their thoughts and photos.
Hashtag challenges and prompts are a great way to tap into the ‘social’ or communal aspect of social media. User-generated content is exceedingly shareable, and followers love to participate and encourage each other, showing more engagement than they would to a simple brand promotional post.
So, that’s it. These five fabulous steps can help you get started with your powerful Instagram hashtag strategy. Remember that Instagram hashtags are used across social media platforms and are not restricted to Insta. They are usable on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc. So it is crucial to plan the right branded hashtags that can be carried across different channels in your cross-channel strategy. The ideal character count and the number of hashtags may be different for other platforms. An excellent way to account for that is to create 1-2 hashtags that are common across different locations, with some diversity that caters to the needs of that social media app.
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