Hashtags help businesses expand their reach, build their brand and establish a community when used properly.
Use them to put your content in front of people searching for keywords associated with your brand or industry.
Implementing an Instagram Hashtag strategy with the proper Dos & Don’ts (outlined below) can build your visibility and business exponentially.
How it works
People and businesses find content, clients, information, customers, partners and contributors by searching hashtags of interest.
Place the hashtag symbol (#) in front of any keyword or phrase relative to who you are trying to reach. It will then become searchable by users.
Hashtags help social media platforms organize and categorize images, videos and content.
They also create a way for your target audience or ideal client to discover your content which otherwise gets lost in the quickly changing newsfeed.
Related Post: Instagram 101
5 Ways to Optimize Business Hashtags
Categories
Hashtag categories relevant to your post or business i.e. #smallbiz #entrepreneur #socialstrategy
Location
Geotag or add locations relevant to your post or business i.e. where you are posting from or the town/city in which your business is based
Emotions
Hashtag how what you do makes you feel, how you are feeling that day or what feeling your topic evokes. i.e. #independent #successful
Events
Hashtag the event you are attending/posting from or create a hashtag for an event you have created and are promoting
Products
Hashtag your product’s name, type of product it is and/or what it is used for
3 Dos of Hashtagging:
Create your own
Hashtags are a great way to generate buzz around what you are doing and your specific brand.
Be relevant
Once you’ve researched some of your ideas, choose those that are memorable and important in order to create staying power with your followers.
Refresh
Get more use out of older posts that are still relevant by reposting using fresh hashtags or reusing the best ones you posted originally.
Related Post: How to Sell on Instagram: 10 Rules to Do It Right
3 Don’ts of Hashtagging:
Do not hijack others
Do not just use a hashtag because it has a huge amount of traffic unless it is relevant to your content.
Do not overuse
Don’t weigh your posts down with too many hashtags. This reads like desperate marketing.
Don’t create a long, complex hashtag.
Overly complicated hashtags are not search-friendly or commonly used. Overly laden posts will get buried quickly rather than garnering attention.
So let’s find the conversations where our target audience shows up, add value to those conversations and finally start to build up a relationship that leads to awareness and ultimately a business transaction. ALL through using that little # symbol!
