Creating content to be shared online and social channels is a strength of ours at Think Ink Productions. With animated video quickly becoming some of the most engaging online content, we have written a guide for sharing content with hashtags that will help you spread it among your various communities, as well as add people to them.
Guide to Hashtagging your posts
Hashtags have been proven to be a valuable resource in bringing targeted users to viewing your photos. Best of all, Hashtags are free and organic, so why not take advantage? Using relevant hashtags to your profile and photos are key to this resource. The more your hashtags match the post and profile the more likely new users are to find and engage with you.
Selecting these hashtags can be hard, and using them effectively can be even more difficult. One of the ways to increase the effectiveness of your hashtags can be as simple as being more specific. Whatever your account is there will be tags for you that can fit any category imaginable. We want to help you identify simple ways to find and use hashtags that are already there waiting for you.
How do I find the best hashtags to use with my posts?
Competitors - Taking a look at what hashtags your competitors are using can help you discover ones you would like to use, or even ones not to use, this will also give you ideas in finding things to replace them.
Influencers or Accounts with high followings in your niche - find similar accounts that are thriving and see what they have been doing that is working, look for ways to apply these to your content.
Use Keywords - in the search section of your app enter keywords for applicable tags, when you find a keyword you like they will also have related hashtags to use for you as well on your posts. Take a look into the numbers on each and remember while some have a high amount of followers, they will also come with a high number of posts competing for views.
What’s worked? - Evaluate a collection of your posts and what has worked and what hasn’t. Apply some of the successes to your future photos. Instagram business accounts you can see in analytics of each post on how each hashtag has performed.
Now that I have hashtags I like, how should I use them?
After a little bit of research you will have a list compiled for your hashtags. Here are some of the rules you may or may not know to hashtags, as well as some tips on how to use them.
Thirty per post - With each Instagram post you are able to take advantage and use up to thirty hashtags, if you try to use more than thirty the comment will not go through. The hashtags can be posted in the body of the caption, or in the comment section. Users will be able to link to your photo, or to view the hashtag from these.
Saved Note - Once I have a list of hashtags I have seen are effective I like to save them in a note on my phone/computer to be able to easily copy and paste them to the caption section in the format I like to post in. The last step is just reading over and making sure each tag fits the content of the visual, change and update when necessary and send the comment out.
Hashtags in Instagram Bios - Not only are your posts easier to be discovered through hashtags in your posts, through Instagram bios users are now able to link their profile to specific hashtags. Linking specific hashtags make it possible for accounts to create branded hashtags and group together a pool of user generated content.
Now Follow Hashtags - At the end of 2017 Instagram made it even more possible for your posts to be seen. Allowing users to follow specific hashtags. In the past users were only able to search posts based off of specific tags, or click to see it through a hashtagged post to see them. It is now easier than ever to see content that you will be interested in from the hashtags you love.
For Example - When planning a road trip to Banff National Park I spent a huge amount of time searching the various hashtags for the area and it helped create an itinerary that I am still proud of. The perfect itinerary created from hashtagged posts made me fall in love with Banff and now I am delighted with the ability to follow the hashtag of #BanffNationalPark to keep this beautiful place sprinkled on my feed.
Relevant Tags- Perhaps the most important thing to remember when using hashtags is that they fit the content and theme of the profile. Hashtagging is a way to connect to an audience that is going to engage and be interested in what you have to offer. There are many tags that have been used a lot like #love with over a billion posts under that hashtag, while it is possible to get extra likes using that kind popular and high use hashtag the users are less likely to interact beyond that. Keep in mind that Instagram is going to stop showing the total number of likes a post receives, so don’t go for likes, seek for users that will engage and find value in your content.
An example in using better tags is again, being specific. Specific hashtags add value to your posting by bringing a more targeted audience. Say there is a food review account that wants to try and collaborate with all yummy local restaurants and review them on their social channels. An easy hashtag idea is to use #foodie which has over a hundred million posts ranging from Chet reviewing his first Chicago Deep Dish, to Amy trying her first Pakoras in India, and more. While Chet, Amy, and others photos are beautiful and the food looks delicious, I have no plans to travel to Chicago or India anytime soon (even though I’d like to go) because of this I am less likely to engage with their content seeing it on the explore feed. Good news though there are specific tags for this, to make it more targeted I could use hashtags like #utahfoodie, #slcfoodie, or even hashtags the cities for more specific feeds, and still have the reach of tens of thousands of people with these.
Using the targeted alternative will help people in this area discover this food account and the content associated. “Whoa this looks good, I want to try it.” Soon you hear back from people near the locations you tag that saw your post and are now fans of yours for making the introduction to deliciousness. Local restaurants are also happy with you for reviewing and will sometimes reach out for you to come try their food, and post about it.
Conclusion:
Having high quality visual content is only one step, the next is making sure that this content is seen and hashtags are the best way to do this. The success of hashtags are different for every account, select a few of the strategies we mentioned and see what works for you. Always be looking for what works for you, and accounts like you. Adding to your content and hashtag strategy is a constant process, but one you will be grateful you did.
Specific hashtags will help you bring a targeted audience more likely to engage with you. Hashtagging is free and bring organic fans that you can build a community around. Make sure to welcome some of the users discovering your profile for the first time and interacting with your content. As you continue creating quality content, watch as your social channels grow when reaching the right users. For help with content creation see what Think Ink Productions can do to help.
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