Instagram Hashtags: How They Can Make Or Break Your Biz

Instagram Marketing Strategies

Hashtags are a funny thing y’all. Use the right ones and your Instagram growth can explode! Use them the wrong way, and well … your Instagram (and biz) may be left in the dust! 

Right Vs. Wrong Hashtags

So what determines which hashtags are “right” versus “wrong” for your profile? Let’s break it down! 

Niche

First and foremost, when determining Instagram marketing strategies, you need to consider your niche. Why, you wonder? ‘Cause if you’re a fashion blogger you don’t want to be using hashtags that travel bloggers use! Unless you’re a traveling fashion blogger. But for simplicity purposes, let’s assume you are a fashion blogger living in Boston. 😉

You want to start by narrowing down your niche so you can target hashtags relevant to your topic. Got it? Good, because that’s what people who will be interested in your profile are searching for. Once you’ve identified your niche you can begin to do a little research. Luckily, Instagram makes that part rather easy for you!

Hashtag Research

When I first began working as a Marketer years ago I was managing a few big accounts. One for a popular Spa in Miami and another for a fast-growing Health Club. Not to mention my own yoga account! One of the first things I did for each one was hashtag research, and it paid off enormously each and every time! 

People Discover New Content Via Hashtags

If you didn’t know already, Instagram allows 30 hashtags per post. That’s THIRTY chances you have to help people find your awesome post! Why not use this tool for all’s it’s worth?! 😉

Now, I know some people don’t like to add more than a few hashtags per post, but I’ve always added the maximum.

Why would you leave that kind of money on the table, y’all?! You are trying to grow your biz, right?

If you’re not trying to grow your biz, cool – use just a few hashtags per post. But, it you ARE trying to reach as many people as possible, I highly recommend you add the maximum of 30 hashtags for each and every post. Got it? Great! Moving on.

Digging Deep

The way I’ve always done hashtag research is to search for one specific hashtag. Let’s pretend for a moment that I’m a travel blogger. I’ll do a quick hashtag search for “Travel”. Ok, clearly as you can see from my screenshot below this brings up a whooping 357M posts! Uhh, thanks but NO thanks!! 

ONE MILLION +

If you include a hashtag in your post that has more than one million posts the chances that your post will ever be discovered is MINIMAL. Think about it for a moment, at the very same second you are posting a photo with the hashtag “Travel” there are literally hundreds of other people worldwide posting at that exact same moment using that exact same hashtag. Where does your photo end up? PUSHED DOWN the “recent” tab where it’s very unlikely to ever be found! 

Is that the exposure you’re going for? I didn’t think so. 

What About The “Top” Tab?

The only time I would ever suggest you include a hashtag with more than one million photos, (or to be safe 500K) is if you are 100% certain your photo will make it to the “Top” tab. How can you be certain your photo will end up there to be discovered by endless Instagram browsers?

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The “Right” Hashtags

Now that you know what hashtags not to include, which one’s should you include? Easy. Scroll down that “Tags” list to find some that your photo is guaranteed to show up in, for a long time.

What do I mean by long? For at least 12-24 hours.

You can find these listed underneath the “Travel” hashtag in the “Tags” column or by searching “Travel” and going directly to that hashtag; you’ll see a “Related” hashtags row at the top!

How do you know which ones will likely show your post the longest? Include hashtags that fall into the following three categories:

250-500k

100-250k

-100k 

Hint: The lower the number (ie. 10k) the longer your post will appear in the search results!

Three Set’s of Ten

My favorite strategy is to add ten hashtags from each (number) category. For example, I target hashtags that fall into these niche’s:

• Psychology
• Marketing
• Blogging
• Entrepreneurs
• Coffee

Once I’ve done my hashtag research, I include ten hashtags from these niche’s that fall in the less than 100k ranges, ten from the 100-250k range and ten from the 250-500k range. And every once in a while I’ll add a few that fall in the 500k+ range, but only if I’m 100% confident it’ll show up in the “Top” tab for that hashtag. 

Sound complicated? It’s not, I promise! 

Here’s what will happen. When you post your photo to these niched down, targeted hashtags the chances that your content will actually be found will skyrocket! Rather than disappear forever into the “recent” tab with millions of other posts, your content will stay for at least 12-24 hours in the “recent” tab for other people to find! 😉

That is your goal, right?! 

Instagram Marketing Strategies

Now, and only now, your unique content will be discovered and you’ll soon begin to notice that people are liking it, commenting on it and following your profile for more to come! Sometimes for days, weeks even, if you include hashtags from the -100k categories.

Here’s an example of two of my posts that I added last week! As you can see, both are still visible at the top of this hashtag’s search results.

Fashion Blogger Example

Just for fun, I’ve put together a list of 30 hashtag’s I’d use to grow a fashion Blogger’s account in Boston. Take a look and do some research on your own to duplicate my stagey and I’m positive you’ll start to see growth and engagement beyond your wildest dreams!

-100k:

#bloggercommunity #bloggershare #blogpromotion #bloggersofig #bloggerstyles #bloggeroutfit #wearingtoday #inmycloset #newenglandblogger #bostonbloggers

100k-240k

#bloggerbabe #bloggerbabes #problogging #stylebyme #fashionblogging #styletip #outfitdiaries #wearthisnext #whowhatwearing #bostonblogger

250k-500k

#bloggervibes #bloggerlove #blogged #bloggingtips #bloggersgetsocial #bloglovin #todayiwore #styledaily #liketoknowit #liketoknowitsalealert

Optional 500k+

#theblogissue #stylegoals

Rinse & Repeat

The best strategy is to do this once and copy and paste your chosen hashtags into a notepad on your device. That way you can copy and paste the same list into each post going forward! My only suggestion is to mix things up once every 3 months. This way, if one goes above that 500k “dealbreaker” you can delete it and add one that is below 500k to reach a wider audience 😉

Don’t Forget

Remember to sign up for my Mailing List to find out how I make it to the “Top” tab for each hashtag I include every time I post so you can achieve the same exposure! 

Next, make sure to read my post about The One Instagram Mistake You Don’t Know You’re Making + How To Fix It here. Toddles! 😉