As you probably already know, each image that you share on Instagram can be accompanied by a short message as well as several hashtags. The hashtags essentially help to categorize the post itself, so that people can browse through an entire category of similar content.
Considering so many people use hashtags to find content on Instagram, there is a huge potential to gain more followers by using the right hashtags. Of course to do that you need to know how to find and utilize these hashtags, which is why you should follow these steps:
Research hashtags related to your niche or industry
The first thing you should do is spend some time looking up all the hashtags that are related to your niche or industry. It is possible to find these hashtags using a search, or you could look at the hashtags that other popular Instagram accounts in your niche are using.
Analyze the hashtag popularity and post frequency
When you look at any hashtag you should be able to see the total posts – which will give you an idea of how popular it is. To put that into context however, you should also browse through the hashtag and see how frequently people post using it. It isn’t necessary to be specific, but you should get an idea of whether it is a hashtag that has hundreds of new posts a day, or maybe a couple each day, or less than that.
Choose a mix hashtags relevant to your image
Based on the information you now have, you can pick a mix of hashtags. Ideally you should blend the highly popular and frequently used hashtags with some that are moderately popular and less frequently used – so that your post isn’t as likely to get overlooked in hashtags where new images are being added so frequently that it is practically flooded.
Keep an eye out for relevant trends
From time to time certain hashtags may ‘trend’ (i.e. have lots of people posting on and viewing them over a short period of time). Keeping tabs for any hashtags of that nature that are relevant to your niche is necessary if you want to capitalize on their popularity and stand to gain even more followers on Instagram.
Be sure to also follow any new developments related to marketing on Instagram by following some of the popular webinars that are held by experts. If you aren’t free to watch these webinars live, you can record screen on Mac using Movavi Screen Capture Studio.
About Brandon Leibowitz
Thanks for this, it give me new idea how to properly use hash tags in IG, I just normally use hash tag base on the category of the blog post im a sharing. Is it also true that it is more effective to use hash tag by commenting it on your post rather than just by including it in your post?