If your like most people, then you probably love interacting with you followers on Instagram and you want to see the best engagement possible on your posts. Using the right hashtags is very important. We recommend posting 30 hashtags after your caption. If you post them as a separate comment, they won’t show up when people view your photo. This way, you get the benefits of using hashtags, without seeming spammy to your followers
Do I Really Need to Use Hashtags?
Hashtags are important because they help people outside of your followers find your photos. If you want you can do an AB test to see how effective hashtags really are. Here’s a quick run down of the test:
- Crete 5 posts with no hashtags, make sure your photos are high quality and engaging
- Record the number of likes and comments you get on each post.
- Calculate your average likes and comments for your last 5 posts
- Post another 5 photo using 30 hashtags related to your niche
- Find the average number of likes and comments for these 5 posts
- Compare the results
Another hidden benefit of using hashtags is that they help people find your photos long after they were posted. You may notice that you get say 100 likes per a photo on average the day you post it. If you use a bunch of niche related hashtags, then people can find your photo later. Sometimes if your post gets really good engagement, Instagram will even feature your picture as a search result for that hashtag. Hashtags categorize your photos for users to interact with each other’s content.
So Which Hashtags Should I use?
You should use 30 hashtags relevant to your niche that have at least 1 million posts. You don’t want to waste a hashtag on a super specific hashtag that no one uses. If you want more advice on which specific hashtags to use, we recommend checking out Social Network Elite’s Instagram hashtags Cheat Sheet. It offers some great advice on which hashtags to Chose.
Social Network Elite is an advanced Instagram marketing company. They understand Instagram well and they can help you gain real engaged followers for your account. If you are interested in taking your Instagram to the next level, we recommend checking out their site and signing up for a free trail HERE.
Pinstripe Magazine Staff
Online Men’s Lifestyle Magazine on Gear, Grooming, Girls, Gadgets