1. Introduction
Hashtags have become an integral part of the Instagram world. Their role of increasing content visibility and attracting users becomes more and more significant. We will explain the importance of hashtags as a key tool for promoting content on the Instagram platform in this article.
2. Defining hashtags on Instagram
Hashtags are a combination of characters starting with a hash sign (#), used to mark and organize content on Instagram.
They play a key role in facilitating search by allowing you to quickly find publications on specific topics or interests. In addition, hashtags help create virtual communities around topics and improve publications visibility, allowing them to reach a wide audience.
3. Why do you need hashtags?
Hashtags are vital on the Instagram platform.
Here are a few main reasons:
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Attracting target audience: hashtags allow users to find content by interest and request. By tagging your posts with the appropriate hashtags, you attract the attention of those who are interested in the exact sphere.
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Increasing posts’ visibility: posts with properly chosen and popular hashtags are more likely to get into the feed of random users. This makes your content more likely to be seen by people.
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Expanding audience reach: using hashtags allows you to get into various thematic communities and get higher in search results. This contributes to expanding reach and attracting new subscribers.
4. Using Hashtag Rules
Proper use of hashtags plays an important role in successful promotion of your content on Instagram.
Let's take a look at the basic rules and recommendations:
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Spelling format: hashtags are written without spaces after the hash character (#) and without the use of special characters or punctuation marks. The case of letters doesn't matter. Thus, the hashtag #Hstock will be identical to #hstock.
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Number of hashtags: Instagram lets you use up to 30 hashtags in a single post. However, it's worth remembering that using too many hashtags can look intrusive and negatively affect the perception of your content.
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Variety of hashtags: it is recommended to use a variety of hashtags covering different aspects of your content and target audience. This will help you get more attention and diversify the flow of users who can see your post. For example, if you write about cryptocurrency, mention technology and finance then.
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Popular and highly specialized hashtags: popular hashtags will help your content reach a wider audience, while highly specialized ones will help attract targeted followers interested in specific topics.
Following these rules will help you make hashtags more effective and promote your content on Instagram.
5. Hashtag types
Hashtags on Instagram are diverse and can be classified according to various criteria, such as their frequency of use and specific application.
Here are some of the main types of hashtags:
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High-frequency hashtags: these hashtags have a large number of publications, usually over 100 thousand. They are widely used and allow your content to reach a wider audience.
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Mid-frequency hashtags: these hashtags have a moderate number of publications, usually from 10 to 100 thousand. They allow you to attract a more specific audience interested in certain topics or categories of content.
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Low-frequency hashtags: these hashtags have a small number of publications, usually between 500 and 10 thousand. They can help your content stand out from competitors and attract a narrower but more engaged audience.
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Rare hashtags: these hashtags have a very small number of publications, usually less than 500. They are less competitive but can be useful in attracting a very narrow but very engaged audience.
Each of these hashtags types has its own features and benefits, and their choice depends on your goals and strategy of promotion on Instagram.
6. How to choose appropriate hashtags
Choosing the right hashtags plays a key role in effective promotion on Instagram. But how can you find the right words? Of course, you can use other people’s ones or use some help of a specialist. But we want to figure it out in detail.
Here are some methods of choosing appropriate hashtags:
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Explore competitors: explore your competitors' accounts or similar accounts in your niche. Note which hashtags they use and rate their effectiveness based on the number of likes and comments.
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Analyze trends: use the search function on Instagram to find current topics and trends in your niche. This will allow you to identify popular hashtags that can bring more attention to your content.
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Use analytics tools: many analytics tools, such as Instatag, offer detailed reports on hashtags, including their popularity and engagement. This will help you choose the most appropriate hashtags for your content.
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Use specialized apps: there are applications and services that offer ready-made lists of hashtags for different topics and categories. They can be useful for quickly matching hashtags, but remember that such lists can be overloaded and less effective.
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Try neural nets and chat bots: it is not difficult these days, so explain to the neural assistant the task and request a set of tags for your topic. If the result doesn't suit you, repeat until you get the best hashtags.
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Create your own hashtags: create unique and original hashtags that match your brand and content. This will help you stand out from the competition and create your own user community.
When choosing hashtags, it is important to consider their relevance to your content, frequency of use and potential to attract your target audience. Explore different options and track their effectiveness to determine the optimal set of hashtags for your account.
7. Errors of using hashtags
When using hashtags on Instagram, you can make certain mistakes that will negatively affect your promotion.
Let’s take a look at some of them:
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Using too many hashtags: it can trigger perceptions of your account as an ad and prevent potential audiences from following you. Try to limit the number of hashtags to 10-15 per post.
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Using only popular hashtags: it can make your content invisible due to high competition. It is recommended to use a combination of popular, mid-frequency and niche hashtags.
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Repeated hashtags: they can be perceived by Instagram as a kind of spam. Diversity and updating hashtags will help avoid this problem.
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Using hashtags without any connection to the content: such actions can lead to dissatisfaction of your followers and decrease engagement. Always choose hashtags that match the subject of your content.
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Private account: if your account is private, hashtags won't have that much impact because hashtag content doesn't appear in the search. Make sure your account is public and users can see hashtags that work for you.
8. Services and tools for searching hashtags
For a successful choice of hashtags on Instagram, you can use various online services and tools.
Although to train a neural network and an excellent option, we will tell you about specialized services:
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Instatag: offers a selection of hashtags on the subject and direction of your content. It also has analytical functions to assess the popularity and effectiveness of hashtags.
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Hashtagify: allows you to explore and analyze hashtag trends on Instagram. You can find related hashtags, gauge their popularity and use that data for your posts.
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RiteTag: offers hashtag recommendations based on an analysis of their popularity and audience engagement. It is also possible to track the effectiveness of the hashtags used.
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Display Purposes: generates relevant hashtags based on the keywords or phrases you provide. It also filters hashtags, excluding unwanted ones.
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All Hashtag: provides a wide choice of hashtags in various categories, such as popular, random, top-end, etc. You can quickly find the right hashtags for your content.
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Seekmetrics: provides hashtag analytics to help determine which hashtags work best for your account and which to avoid.
When choosing a service or tool for searching hashtags, consider their functionality, reliability and usability specifically for you. These resources are just an example, you can use others, there are many of them.
9. Practical Advice and Recommendations
Here you have already selected hashtags and are ready to conquer everyone with your content, and I will take and give a couple more recommendations on how to use them more efficiently:
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Analyze results: monitor the effectiveness of used hashtags all the time with the help of Instagram analytics tools. This will help you identify which hashtags work best for your content and adapt your strategy over time.
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Create content to match certain hashtags: when creating content, consider the chosen hashtags and include them in the description and signature of your post. This will help your content to be more visible and accessible to the target audience.
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Try different combinations: joggle different combinations of hashtags and track their effectiveness. This will help you identify the optimal hashtags for each type of content and improve the results of your promotion.
Remember that properly chosen hashtags can make your Instagram experience much more efficient. Use a variety of hashtags, analyze results and constantly improve your strategy to maximize visibility and success on this platform.