One of the key tools for getting found on Instagram is hashtags, but how do you find the best hashtags? Follow these easy steps to get a great collection of hashtags to choose from every time you post!
- Start with the competition
When you’re looking for hashtag ideas, there’s no better place to start than your competition and similar businesses around the world. Head to their posts and check which hashtags they use, save these in a document.
- Find related hashtags
Start taking some of the hashtags you found and find as many related hashtags as you can! The more the merrier. One way to do this is to write a hashtag directly into the search bar on Instagram if the hashtag is used a lot, right under the ‘follow’ button, there will be a ‘related’ bar that will give you other hashtags that are frequently used with the term you searched. You can click through some of these to find even more related tags. Another option is to use a website that helps find related hashtags, such as https://displaypurposes.com/. Write all these new hashtags down in the same document!
- Check how many times the hashtag has been used
Once you have a nice and long collection of different hashtags that are related to your business and the photos you post, start checking how frequently these tags get used. Put each hashtag into Instagram’s search bar for ‘tags’, and it will show a number of posts. For example, #wanderlust has been used on 114 million posts.
- Divide the hashtag into three group sizes
While you’re finding out how many posts have been made using each hashtag, start dividing the hashtags into three or four group sizes. If you have a small or brand new account, it is better to mainly stick to smaller hashtag group, such as ‘under 5,000 posts’, ‘between 5,000 and 25,000 posts’ and ‘between 25,000 and 50,000 posts’ . The larger your following, the larger the post number you should look for. If you have a few thousand followers, the numbers may be more like 10,000; 50,000 and 200,000. Increase the group numbers as your following grows.
- Dip into your hashtag bank when you post
Once you have everything divided into a few groups, you have the perfect reference list for hashtags to use every time you post. Instagram allows up to 30 hashtags on each post and we believe it makes the most sense to make full use of that and post 30 hashtags each time (either at the end of your caption or in the first comment right after you post). Experiment using a different ratio from the groups and see what works best. We like to keep it at about 12-15 hashtags from the smallest number, 10-13 from the medium-sized group and up to 5 from the largest group.
Find other ways to get seen on Instagram by checking out our article here!
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