Much of what you’ve come to believe about hashtags and how the Instagram algorithm works is wrong. From our conversations with you, we know that it’s really common to still believe in some widely spread myths – it’s high time to crush them!
What a relief. We will finally debunk them!
Attention spans are the unofficial currency of Instagram, and we all struggle to reach our target audiences. Hashtags give us so many opportunities to do it – but only when used correctly. Do you want more Instagram followers and higher reach, but you’re not sure how to make the ‘magic’ happen?
The first step is right here: you need to forget about some detrimental hearsay. No matter how long you’ve been an avid Instagram user, sometimes you believe in something that isn’t true. Here are three too common misconceptions – the ones that need our correction.
As long as Instagram exists and social media continues to hold influence and significance globally, hashtags will be a crucial marketing tool as well. So it’s only a rumor and an excuse to neglect a good hashtag strategy! They’re still a thing, so it’s essential to know how to use them to reach more people from your niches effectively.
Sure thing, celebrities can give up using hashtags. They have colossal exposure and impressive reach no matter what – other media promote them: tv, magazines, radio. As long as we’re not one of them, we need to attract the target audience organically by using proven marketing tactics.
So yes – unless you’re a celebrity, you really should learn the hashtag game and refine the hashtag research process.
Most Instagram users go through a similar cycle: from viewing hashtags as not-so-necessary to starting to get them, to the “lightbulb moment” when they discover how powerful they are. One of our team’s marketing specialists – Kate – also had the crucial moment of awakening. Look at her results: she posted a photo from her photoshoot (after hours, she’s keen on fashion and commercial photography), and thanks to well-tailored hashtags, she got over 50 000 views. That was the day when she said: wow, so it’s actually POSSIBLE.
Hashtags are extremely powerful, but first, you have to create something that a larger audience can appreciate. Too often, people expect hashtags to be a remedium for everything – they can do magic, but hey, they need little help from you! Creating valuable content and using consciously picked hashtags are complementary tactics, not oppositional ones, so you don’t have to choose one. Combined together, they are such a strong duo.
No matter what, if you want to gain recognition and stand out, the content you share should offer value to your followers. It sounds cliche, but it’s a must. Share unique tips, eye-catching inspiration, news, and updates that are relevant to your followers’ pursuits.
At the same time, you need feedback from your audience to learn what’s REALLY most interesting for them. What’s working and what’s not.
Hashtags are a way for you to get your posts seen by as many people as possible, but they have to be good. As one wise man has said once: people who talk about themselves all the time are boring, and that’s equally true on Instagram as in real life.
To grow your account, feel appreciated and maintain a worthwhile Instagram following, you – AND YOUR CONTENT – need to be genuinely exciting and – that’s even more important – engaging.
Ugh. There’s a lot to unpack here.
Why would the Instagram team and even Instagram creator @mosseri himself encourage you to use all the 30 hashtags if it was harmful? It makes no sense, right?
Each hashtag displays your content to various potential followers (maybe even clients in the future?). Don’t limit yourself by using fewer hashtags – and don’t listen to the amateur marketing gurus who say using 30 tags looks spammy. Hashtags make your content more visible to the right people – it’s pretty clear that using 30 hashtags will give you a higher reach. Do you want to miss it?
If you can find 30 relevant hashtags to add to your post, then you should unquestionably go for it.
You have 30 hashtags to put your point across. Thirty hashtags actually aren’t that many. From our studies, putting 30 hashtags is unmistakably the way to go.
Do you think that 30 hashtags at the end of your caption will look spammy?
Hashtags, when used as a marketing tool to gain exposure, don’t really need to be visible. That’s why you can also put them in the comment section. Yes, you really can post them in a comment – they will work properly as well.
You can also separate them from the rest of the caption by stashing them neatly at the end – after ten dots, for example.
There you have it! If you want to keep reading up on practical Instagram marketing tips, stay with us: new posts with proven solutions and industry secret sauce are coming each week. If you’re taking your social media growth seriously, you don’t want to miss them!
