You spend tons of time looking for hashtags to then get no reach whatsoever from them?
Don't worry, I got your back!
If you want to know exactly how to use Instagram hashtags, I'm sharing the best tactics with
you so that you can improve your Instagram Hashtag Strategy, reach new people and actually
get discovered.
Ready?
Let's do this.
Hi my lovely people, it's Natalia and welcome back to my channel where I share super actionable
ideas on content creation for entrepreneurs and creatives.
Today, I'm bringing you a video on Instagram Hashtag Strategy so that hashtags can finally
start working for you!
It's definitely a highly requested subject, I know hashtags can be a bit flimsy and it's
not that easy to get them right but hopefully with all that I'm sharing today, you'll get
some really useful pointers to start growing with hashtags and improve your hashtag performance.
So what have we got in store?
I'll be talking about:
- what the role of hashtags is - why you should still use them in your Instagram
posts - why they may not be working for you
- what mistakes people make with hashtags that stop them from getting discovered
- what the best hashtag strategies are - and how to actually research and find high
performing hashtags.
There is a lot to cover today so without further ado, let's jump right in.
**Point 1.
What's the role of hashtags?**
The most common way of understanding what hashtags do is that they help others discover
relevant posts.
If someone views a hashtag they're interested in, they can see all the different posts in
there so yours can get on their radar too.
Also, when a user is following a hashtag, a post that's tagged with it has a chance
to actually appear in their feed, even if they don't follow you directly.
But that's actually not the only role that hashtags play on Instagram.
By using them on your content, you're categorizing it and making sure its interpreted correctly
by the algorithm.
Through that, Instagram better understands your niche and pushes your content to the
right people.
**Point 2.
Why should you still use hashtags?**
I know that it's often said that hashtags don't work but they do and they can really
increase your reach.
Bigger accounts don't need to use hashtags at all because they have an engaged audience
and other means of being discovered - very often because their content is being reshared
constantly.
Are you a big account with a very high engagement rate and high shareability?
No?
Then use hashtags on all your content.
And of course, watch this video to the very end to learn how to get better at it.
But before we move on to the strategies, I think a small mindset talk is in order.
You need to understand that hashtags won't work each time and be ok with it.
It's just like with engagement - sometimes a post goes well, sometimes it flops.
It happens to the biggest instagrammers just as much as to the micro-creators.
It's always about constantly testing, analyzing, tweaking and updating to stay fresh and relevant.
If you see your hashtags are not working, try new ones and don't reuse the ones that
didn't serve you.
There is another reason why you shouldn't ditch hashtags.
As I mentioned, they're here to feed Instagram useful information and the categorization
of your content is just as important as reaching new accounts.
This is Instagram's way of knowing even more about the posts you're sharing and pushing
it to the right audience.
And, since Instagram is moving towards becoming a more SEO-oriented platform, keywords are
becoming more important.
You've probably noticed that if you now search for something, you are shown general keywords
first rather than top accounts, tags and locations although you can still access them of course.
This tells me that just like with so many other platforms, searching is becoming more
nuanced so using hashtags will still be very much relevant on IG.
Besides, the explore page is based on the algorithm and hashtags are a vital part of
it as well.
So do yourself a favor and use hashtags, please.
**Point 3.
Why they're not working for you?**
As to why I'm hearing that hashtags don't work.
Listen up.
If you're saying you're not growing because hashtags don't work for you, you're not getting
it right.
I get it that if you do well with hashtags, you get a chance to be discovered by so many
people on Instagram and gain more traction outside of your current followers.
But that doesn't mean you should solely rely on hashtags to get noticed.
It's exactly because they are so flimsy that you shouldn't think of it as an only way to
get new followers.
There are other ways like building real connections with people, creating valuable content that
your followers share, landing on the explore page or using Reels which have a brilliant
algorithm that's very favorable to creators who use it.
And I'll be very frank...
most of the time the hashtags don't work for you because you're not creating valuable content
or not speaking to your dream audience.
Overall, these tactics and focusing on producing helpful content targeted towards an ideal
client is what's going to get you discovered, not hashtags.
That being said, there are a few mistakes that you need to avoid to increase your chances
of getting discovered through hashtags.
**Point 4.
What mistakes are stopping you from getting discovered?**
A. NOT USING ENOUGH OF THEM
You know what bugs me?
What really, really bugs me?
It's when I hear "you should use 13 hashtags under your posts" or whatever other arbitrary
number that gets thrown in there.
What usually follows is "I don't know why it works but trust me, it does!".
First of all, just because something worked on ONE ACCOUNT or a few, doesn't mean it's
some universal rule to follow and you need to follow it blindly.
Secondly, if Instagram gives you the option to use 30 hashtags under your posts why opt
for less?
The more you include, the higher the chance you get of getting discovered, especially
when you're growing or still figuring out the best hashtags for different types of content
you produce.
That being said, if you've done your research and you can't find 30 great, relevant hashtags,
just don't sweat it.
It's not the end of the world if you do use a few less from time to time.
You know what's more of a mistake?
Using huge hashtags which takes us to the second mistake...
B. USING HASHTAGS THAT ARE TOO BIG
If your hashtags are too big, meaning they have been included under millions or even
billions of posts, then you're wasting your time and let me explain why.
Say you have an online store and you're getting ready for Valentines day with some awesome
deals.
Naturally, you'd be inclined to include #love and #valentinesday, right?
Wrong!
#Love contains a staggering 2.1B posts, and #valentinesday 22.8m posts.
I invite you to actually go under a huge hashtag like that, choose the Recent tab and swipe
down to refresh it a few times.
You'll see how many posts are tagged with it almost every second.
What this means is that if you tag one of your posts with a huge hashtag, you're getting
buried under a post after post after post, just as the ones you've just seen.
There's really no point in adding huge, generic hashtags like this because the chances of
getting visibility this way are slim to none.
So no more #travel, #art or #entrepreneur for you guys!
C. USING HASHTAGS THAT ARE TOO SMALL
But let's reverse the scenario and take a look at these microhashtags that you may be
using.
If they have less than 10k, less than 1k or the absolute worst option which is 100+, it's
just not worth bothering with those.
Unless you're creating your own brand hashtag, trying to build it up or having a challenge,
things of that nature, then don't use these tiny hashtags at all because they've either
been completely abandoned, or even more likely, people are just not interested in them, not
watching them, not finding them relevant so basically they are not active.
If they're not active or not active enough, they won't give you enough traction.
Always check if a hashtag you're planning on using has some recent posts in it as well.
If not, it's a clear sign it's dead.
This can actually happen to both small and big hashtags so regularly check the ones you're
using.
D. USING BANNED HASHTAGS
Using banned hashtags means your post is hidden from hashtag views and searches.
It has no chance of being featured on the explore page, it's not being pushed to your
followers and the only way it can be viewed is through your profile.
Obviously, we don't want that.
It's a huge waste of time to create a post that then just sits there and doesn't generate
much traffic.
But now, you may say you're not using any hashtags that are obviously shady or suspish,
but you need to understand that some completely harmless and innocent hashtags are on the
list too.
I'm going to get back to #valentinesday.
Tagging your post with this tag is not only bad because it's a huge hashtag but also because
it's banned.
Yes, I know, what's wrong with it, right?
Well, Instagram hates spam and even if there's nothing dangerous being posted with a hashtag,
if it contains a lot of spammy content, it's going to be blocked, either temporarily or
permanently.
Because of that fluctuation, it's always best to check your hashtags regularly - I know
I'm repeating myself but it's really important.
E. USING THE SAME HASHTAGS IN THE SAME ORDER
Speaking of spammy behaviors, did you know that you shouldn't use the same hashtags all
the time?
And to add to it, you shouldn't really use them in the same order each time as well.
Instagram is very clever and if it sees repetition, it may flag your content as spam.
Any behavior that Instagram views as bot-like is going to limit your reach, even if on the
surface everything seems fine.
That's why you should have different sets of hashtags for different subjects (more on
that later) and shuffle them as well.
F. USING NOT RELEVANT HASHTAGS
And while you're picking the right ones for your content and shuffling, always check that
they stay very relevant to the post you're creating.
If there's a disconnect between what's in the caption, in the photo and in the hashtags,
Instagram will know.
**Point 5.
What are the best hashtag strategies?**
First of all, don't overthink it.
As mentioned before, hashtags are just one part of a bigger puzzle and they should be
a part of an overall strategy, not the main star of the show.
Good valuable content should take the lead and hashtags can support it.
In my opinion, people focus way too much on hashtags instead of spending all that time
on thinking through what they're posting, to whom and why.
That's why for me, the best strategy is to have a spreadsheet, a table, a notion page
or any other tool and research your hashtags there.
If you've already identified your content pillars, this should be really easy.
If you've not, be sure to check out this video next and it will definitely make your hashtag
research much easier.
So let's say that you're a language teacher and your content pillars on Instagram are
GRAMMAR, VOCABULARY, PRONUNCIATION, CULTURE and MINDSET.
This is a great opportunity to create different hashtag collections for each and test them
out in practice, continually improving them and tweaking the list.
These should be specific to your business, to your niche and even to your location (provided
you are a local business) But you may now think - these are just a few general content
pillars, and you said to be relevant to the post I'm creating.
Isn't it too broad?
Yes, the pillars are the main subjects of your account, but all of them have tons of
subthemes.
As an example, within the CULTURE pillar, you could be talking about FOOD, HOLIDAY & OBSERVANCES,
MOST INTERESTING PLACES, differences between the countries a language is spoken in etc.
You could have different collections of hashtags for these subthemes or opt to change just
a part of your hashtag collection.
Say you have identified 30 hashtags which work for the CULTURE pillar.
You could replace 10 or 5 of those with something more specific to the subtheme you're talking
about.
Let's briefly talk about creating your own branded hashtags.
I think it can be a great tool to gather your posts that fall into a special category or
use it to interact with your audience.
If you're an educator of any kind, you could use a special hashtags to run a challenge
or a contest for your followers.
When tagged with a specific hashtag, these posts are much easier to follow and view at
a glance.
Moreover, if you're creating a library of some sort, it may be well worth having a hashtag
as well - so say you're a food blogger, you could be gathering all your recipes under
one hashtag.
As to the very popular dilemma of where to put the hashtags - below the caption or in
the comments - I have to say it doesn't really matter.
I personally go for the comment option simply because it gives me more space in the caption
(I have a tendency to write a lot) plus it's much less cluttered and that's what my brain
prefers in general.
However, if you do opt to put your hashtags in the comments, remember to do it right after
posting.
This way, you're not loosing any time before the algorithm can analyze your content fully
and push it out to other accounts, rank you within a hashtag or even place you on the
explore page for people who it recons would enjoy your content the most.
If you don't do it straight away, you may find that you get less reach that you would
normally do so make sure you have all your hashtags available at hand and place them
in the comments straight after posting.
Now, let's talk about the sizes.
I talked about how too large or too small hashtags are not good for growth.
But once you're in a safe zone, you need to differentiate your tags based on their size
as well meaning you don't want too many highly competitive ones and not too many low competition
ones.
So aim to get small hashtags with a pool of 10-50k posts, medium hashtags with 50k-500k
posts and bigger hashtags like 500k to 1m.
You could divide your sets of 30 hashtags to feature 7 big, 7 medium and 7 small ones,
plus 4 hashtags describing your business/niche/location and 4 hashtags unique to the post message
and finish off with your branded hashtag.
Of course, it's not some arbitrary number, you can choose to divide it into 5 groups
of 6 hashtags (for low, mid and high + post specific and industry related hashtags), you
can go for a couple of hashtags more in a small category, or opt for more mid hashtags
here and there.
The point is, it's not a fixed number, it's not some super specific science, it's all
about testing, testing and testing constantly to get the best results.
It's important to point out that it's not just the size of the hashtags that matters.
There are a few other factors like how much engagement they're getting on average, how
easy or hard it is to rank in the top posts for that particular hashtag or how much reach
you can get if you are successful within that hashtag.
That's why I'm saying hashtags are much more nuanced and it's not a clear cut choice, universal
for every account in a particular industry.
It will depend on how much engagement you yourself are getting, how big your account
is etc.
It's not easy to determine it yourself without extensive research.
**Point 6.
How to research hashtags?**
Luckily, there are tools out there that can help you do it.
The first way you can research hashtags is through Instagram itself.
Search for a particular hashtag, check how many posts are there, what types of posts
rank in the top posts, how often you see posts appearing in the recent tab, how much engagement
the posts are getting etc.
This is of course a lengthy process but once you identify the core hashtags, you can then
test and change them individually without having to research whole sets again.
If you want to save time and research more effectively, my favorite tool is Flick.
I do realize a paid tool will not be suitable for everyone, however, I've not found anything
even remotely as good as this one so it's well worth the investment.
It effectively analyzes hashtags, giving you a general ranking for them based on all the
different factors I mentioned before (so engagement, size, competitiveness etc.) but it also lets
you refine your search by filtering them and shows you analytics to inform you what works
for you and what doesn't.
So overall, I highly recommend this tool.
If you don't want to pay for a hashtag research app, I would defintiely go for neontools at
[neontools.io](http://neontools.io) which is by far the best free app I've used.
It gives you a breakdown of similar hashtags within three categories so over 1m, 100k to
1m and niche hashtags below 100k.
It's something that I've used many times in the past and it worked well - definitely much
better than most of the free hashtag tools that we're spewing huge hashtags like #love.
And now for the question I love most, Natalia, isn't it easier to just go to other people
who are doing well on Instagram and use the hashtags they use?
Well, that's a tricky one - it's both yes and no.
First of all, yes, because you may not know what hashtags may work for you at all, especially
at the beginning and it would be a learning opportunity.
But then, no, because not only are you copying someone else's work, but you're also not really
sure what their overall strategy is, you have no access to their analytics so these hashtags
may not work at all, and they may be getting discovered though other means.
So I'd say if you're researching other creators as an inspiration and a learning opportunity
then yes, but if you're bluntly copying all hashtags from their posts then it's a big
no.
Now that we're here, tell me what your key takeaway is from this video in the comments
below!
There's definitely a lot to unpack and I feel like I've only scratched the surface, but
I'd love to know what new thing you've discovered here today.
And if you've not identified content pillars for your brand yet, you have to watch this
video next because it will help you build a hashtag collection quicker.
And remember, all your actions on Instagram or any other platform should be a part of
a well-thought out strategy so if you're not acting strategically, head on over to this
video to build yours quickly!
Hit a thumbs up to let me know that you enjoyed this video and subscribe for more actionable
content like this.
Thank you so much for watching - I feel like this video was so intense for me so I appreciate
you being here and I'll see you next time.