Top 6 Hashtag FAQs
Hashtags are the star of Instagram, they are said to be the be-all and end-all of Instagram success. So I thought I would share the most frequently asked questions I get on how to use hashtags.
Hashtag FAQ #1 – Why are hashtags so important?
They make your content discoverable by people who don’t follow you. The are like a keyword that describes your post. Using a hashtag will allow your content to appear on the explore page for that hashtag, and therefore be found by anyone interested in that hashtag, and that will help you grow your audience.
People can follow hashtags, so your post could also appear in their feed if they follow that hashtag. And hashtags are clickable so people can click through to a hashtag from a post they are looking at.
Posts with one or more hashtags get more engagement than posts with no hashtags.
So basically, you absolutely need to use hashtags!
Hashtag FAQ #2 – Should I write my hashtags in the captions or the comments?
In terms of the algorithm it doesn’t make a difference, Instagram takes into account hashtags in the same way whether in the captions or the comments.
Research shows that for smaller accounts, posts with hashtags in the captions perform better than when the hashtags are in the comments.
However, in terms of engagement it can make sense to put your hashtags in the first comment as they may distract your followers from your caption or call to action.
Some scheduling tools let you schedule your first comment so that your hashtags are scheduled alongside your caption and you don’t have to add them manually.
Hashtag FAQ #3 – Should I create my own hashtags?
Some brands create personalised hashtags with their brand name, their slogan, a version of their brand or an event they organise. Is it really worth using these?
You may think that as very few posts will use these branded hashtags, they might not be ideal for being used as a search term.
But actually, eventually it might be very beneficial to use your own hashtags as it will categorise all content that has been posted about your brand and it could be the first step to creating a community.
When you create your branded hashtag, check that it is unique, that it doesn’t already exist and that it is easy to remember.
Hashtag FAQ #4 – Should I only use popular hashtags?
What I consider a popular hashtag is one that has been used in over 100,000 posts.
My answer is no, you shouldn’t only use popular hashtags! You should use a mix of small / niche hashtags, medium hashtags and large / popular hashtags.
The reason for doing this is that your objective with hashtags should be to start appearing in the top posts tab of the explore page of the hashtags you use, not just in the most recent posts tab.
And in order to start appearing in the top posts for popular hashtags, you need to first appear in the top posts for smaller, niche hashtags. Once this is the case, Instagram will consider your content relevant and start serving your posts to the explore pages of more popular hashtags…And so on…
Hashtag FAQ #5 – How to I find relevant hashtags for my business?
There are many ways of researching hashtags. My favourite one is to simply use Instagram autocomplete function and suggested hashtags at the top of the explore page.
This method means you can really study each hashtag and look at their size and the type of posts that use them.
You can also use hashtag search tools to find niche hashtags in your sector. For example All Hashtags generates 30 random or top hashtags from one keyword.
Ingramer is another hashtag generator tool. The feature I like with Ingramer is that it shows the number of posts that use the hashtags it suggests.
Hashtag generators are a great way to quickly create hashtags and if you are struggling for ideas. But the hashtags won’t be as targeted and may not be as relevant for you. So, I would recommend using this method in conjunction with the manual one.
Hashtag FAQ #6 – How many hashtags in each post?
The question I get asked most about hashtags is how many hashtags you should use in each post.
Instagram allows up to 30 hashtags for each feed post and up to 10 for stories. It may seem like a lot and your posts may look cluttered but generally the more hashtags you use, the better.
The optimal number of hashtags to considered to be 9 and actually the average number of hashtags used by brands is 1 to 3 in each post.
However, I would recommend using more hashtags if you are a small business trying to grow your audience. I would say, start with 15 to 20 hashtags.
This can seem quite overwhelming to start with but if you build a robust hashtag plan, you won’t need to think about what hashtags to use in each of your posts.
In just a hour you could build your hashtag strategy for months to come. Get in touch if you would like to book a Power Hour with me focused on building your hashtag strategy.
