Looking for a simple and straightforward process for choosing the right hashtags for your Instagram content strategy? Look no more – today I will tell you all about distinguishing between powerful hashtags and those which unfortunately are relatively powerless. What are niche, targeted hashtags, and what makes them different from the general ones? I will teach you their advantages, how to research and use them. 

Over the past few years, the Instagram landscape has evolved significantly. As a result, many tactics have changed – that’s why we all need to update our hashtag strategy.

You can no longer choose totally random hashtags, and hope that the Instagram search engine will rank your posts really high. It is now equally important to research the most relevant hashtags, and provide the most meaningful content, full of personality, and natural charm.

Instagram as a social media platform has become much smarter; algorithms have changed, and the competition is bigger than ever.

So how can you make a dent in the ‘Gram universe? How do you stand out from all these talented creators and all that crowd? More importantly, despite the quite big competition, how do you manage to attract new followers from your target audience and increase your reach?

The answer is… Niche, well-targeted hashtags. 

In this post, I’m going to discuss the basics of niche hashtags, their various benefits, and how you can find them. Ready? Let’s start from scratch.

There are two ways to pick your hashtags:

1. Choose some general hashtags that you think make sense, and hope for the best.
2. Use a research process to choose relevant hashtags (the ones your target audience is using and those with beneficial search volume).

In today’s guide, I’ll explain the process I use to choose the most effective hashtags. If you want to stand out, become discoverable, succeed, and survive in such a cut-throat competition, you definitely have to leverage your hashtag game.

Targeted hashtags have far less competition, and because of that they are easier to rank for. Most importantly, they’re really effective when it comes to attracting your ideal followers. You will just have to be a bit careful when doing your hashtag research!

But hey, never worry, tips I’m going to share with you below should help you with that.

Why Is It So Important To Choose the Most Relevant Hashtags?

Your Instagram profile probably already has lots of helpful posts, interesting captions, and eye-pleasing photos. But, you’re not getting the reach you deserve.

That’s where hashtags come in handy. As you already know, hashtags are words and phrases that describe your posts and provide more context to help other users find your content. So what’s the quick fix to get more views? Targeted hashtags, double yes. 

What Are Targeted Hashtags?

Simply put, niche, well-targeted hashtags are more targeted search phrases. They’re more specific and less common than overly popular hashtags. And, of course, they focus more on your niche.

If your profile is relatively new, and you don’t have millions of engaged followers by now, it can take months or even years of hard work and excellent content strategy to rank for overly popular, highly competitive hashtags like #fashion or #sport.

Trying to rank for the hashtag #fashion has a difficulty of 11/10. But if you pick a more targeted hashtag, like, for example, #fashionforkids, it’s instantly much easier to rank for.

A niche, targeted hashtag contains the general, a bit generic “head” hashtag inside, but it also includes a few extra words that make the final hashtag more targeted to a specific group of Instagram audience.

For example, #food is an EXTRA generic hashtag, right? It includes TOO MUCH CONTENT, and it may have a lot of searches all the time, but it isn’t targeted at all.

On the other hand, #foodforabs is a niche, well-targeted hashtag catering to a specific group of potential followers, i.e., users looking for recipes (or products) that will help them gain muscles. 

Targeting your audience using niche hashtags will position your posts much quicker than any general, popular hashtag. Even if the search volume of your niche hashtags isn’t big at all, it could still bring you many valuable views (and higher engagement). 

Key takeaway? Stop trying to rank for too competitive hashtags, start competing for easier to rank, niche, well-targeted hashtags instead.

The Benefits of Using Niche, Targeted Hashtags

Let me tell you: actually, there are plenty of benefits of using smaller, well-targeted hashtags. Here are two of the main advantages: 

• Less popular, medium, niche hashtags have less competition

Therefore, such hashtags are significantly easier to be ranked for – you already know that.

You may be a bit sad about the lower search volume. But hey, it’s almost impossible to rank for a super popular hashtag now, with your (current) account’s size.

On the other hand it is far easier and more possible to rank higher for more niche hashtags. And despite this lower search volume, you can still get a lot of organic reach, and precious engagement from new potential followers, once you acquire a top position for that hashtag.

There is a ton of competition and content overload for common, popular hashtags since they are just broader. At times, a massively popular hashtag can have billions of results.

But for a medium, niche, well-targeted hashtag that is more focused, there may be thousands of results. For instance, the hashtag #pizza generates 60,9 million search results (=60,9 million different posts!), whereas #italianpizza generates only 473k search results. And #canadianpizza generates only 8,1k search results.

Lower search results mean far less competition, making it easier for your posts to rank—a win-win.

• Furthermore, unlike overly popular, generic hashtags, niche, well-targeted hashtags attracts your target audience – not just the random people.

They just target the audience much better.

By choosing niche hashtags, instead of generic ones, you are more likely to attract people who are genuinely interested in what you have to say and offer.

For instance, if someone is looking for #pizza, it indicates that the searcher isn’t looking for anything in particular – most probably just pretty foodporn to become extremely hungry. But, on the other hand, when someone is specifically searching for #canadianpizza it may mean that this person is looking for a place to eat, not only look at! Which means this content can attract an actual CLIENT, not only some random, meaningless views. 

This is one of the most crucial reasons why niche, well-targeted hashtags are so beneficial. If you want to target specific users, it should come much easier.

How To Find the Right Niche Hashtags

Now that you know why niche, well-targeted hashtags matter, how can you start using them in your Instagram strategy? Let’s go – I’ll share my top tips, to find hashtags that will give you the results you’re looking for.

Do Hashtag Research

Hashtag research can help you discover new hashtags you haven’t ever considered. It can also help discover hashtag variations trending in your niche right now. It’s always smart to develop your new hashtags through good research. That way, you can find phrases your target followers are actually searching for.

The simplest way to start generating some niche hashtags ideas is to use the hashtag research tool – you can conduct intuitive research with the help of IQ Hashtags’ Search Hashtags Feature.

Choose Hashtags With The Optimal Search Volume

As I mentioned earlier, niche hashtags have a lesser search volume, but this shouldn’t stop you from choosing those hashtags.

Quite the opposite.

Don’t be tempted to choose overly general, too popular hashtags with thousands and thousands of new posts being added to it every minute.

This is one of the most common mistakes aspiring creators and business owners make when they are looking for new Instagram hashtags.

How to browse hashtags’ search volume?

You can do it manually, right in the Instagram search bar, or you can use a special tool to make your life easier. Although there are many tools, IQ Hashtags is (in my opinion) still the best option you’ve got. Give it a try. How? Log in to IQ Hashtags, choose the “Search hashtags” tab, input your primary hashtag, and click the “search” button. In my example, I have used “marketing” as the main hashtag. 

With this “Search hashtags” tab, you will discover a whole lot of different hashtag ideas with their search volume. 

As you can notice right here, the search volume of each of the hashtags is relatively lower. But since they are niche, well-targeted and narrowed, they will be much easier to be ranked for.

Targeted Hashtags – Best Practices

Is it worth it to use some irrelevant hashtags when you know they’re gonna to give you extra likes? No. Don’t mislead people.

Whatever you do, don’t use any hashtag that isn’t a good fit for your content, even if you think they will be easy to rank for, and bring you some extra likes or comments. For instance, don’t use the hashtag #seomarketing when posting a selfie without any marketing-related caption. 

Using irrelevant hashtags to “trick people into believing your content is something it’s not” is against Instagram’s spam policy and could result in your post being reported as SPAM. 

Bottom line: Keep your hashtags relevant.

How to make your potential followers stay? Create engaging content

Finding good, well-targeted hashtags is only half the battle. 

Creating engaging content – well, this is undoubtedly the most challenging part. Mediocre content doesn’t work anymore. Those days of Instagram are long gone. Instagram’s algorithms have evolved into providing its users a high-quality experience.

You need fantastic content. 

Out of 8 different Instagram marketing challenges, content creation is the biggest of them all for so many aspiring creators. So how do you create the right content with niche hashtags to boost its visibility?

The idea is to create inspiring, genuine, in-depth posts that really answer the questions of your target audience. If it is attractive for your followers, Instagram will take extra care of its high search position.

Keep in mind your target audience’s needs: what do your followers and potential followers want from you? How to understand the Instagram User’s Intent?

After making a list of niche hashtags to use, review them again.

Consider why people search for those hashtags.

As I have mentioned earlier, Instagram has evolved significantly over the past few years. While search queries are still dependent on hashtags, “user intent” is a relatively new thing that constantly redefines how Instagram works.

Once you understand the user intent of your Instagram target audience, you can then use the niche hashtags that satisfy their need. 

How to tell which hashtags are working? 

Monitor hashtag performance.

Once you find new sets of niche hashtags, it’s always a smart idea to analyze their performance. Hashtag monitoring is an activity that tracks the position of your posts based on particular hashtags. This process enables you to analyze relevant metrics and data – to find out which hashtags are currently the most effective for your target audience. From my perspective – using a professional tool, like my fav IQ Hashtags can help you gain a better understanding of how to tailor your hashtag strategy and promote your content more effectively:

Now that you have new knowledge, and you’ll soon find new niche hashtags, ready to attack, you can check out some of the other guides from our Instagram Hashtag Knowledge Base that will help maximize your marketing efforts. See you there!

The post General Hashtags vs. Niche, Well-targeted Hashtags – Which Ones Should You Choose To Attract New Followers? appeared first on Display Purposes Blog.

Let me tell you: long-form captions can become your REAL ace in the hole. Gone are the days of a single emoji or cliche quote to caption your graphics, photos, or carousels was enough. Why? The crucial metric that Instagram uses to decide if your post should be boosted by the algorithm is “the time other users are spending on a post”. The easiest trick to get your followers (and the future ones) to spend more time on your content? Easy peasy. Write longer, more engaging captions for them to read.

Many creators believe preparing a new post is the most challenging part of the content creation process. But, unfortunately, that’s not how it is! The most challenging part of running a thriving Instagram is what happens next: reaching new people and attracting them to actually consume your posts and read your captions.

 “If you create a new post, people and new potential followers will come” many creators believe in that optimistic theory. Well. Not necessarily. That’s why today we’ll discuss five surefire ways to encourage your audience to read what you’ve prepared for them! There are way too many profiles out there with mediocre captions. Yours need to be better!

First Line Matters. Come Up With Caption Hooks That Will Keep Your Followers (And Potential Followers) Reading.

Oh yes. The first line of your caption is the most critical part of your post! After you invest much time into carefully preparing a gorgeous photo or unique seamless carousel, how do you come up with a hook that intrigues your followers and- that’s even more important – compels them to go on (read on, I mean)?

The first line is the first thing your followers notice. It’s like your first impression on them. Will it be enough to make them fall in love with your post? Or like it, at least? But we actually need chemistry at first sight, right?

Unfortunately, if your first line is generic or a bit boring, it’ll discourage the follower from reading further. You could have prepared the most helpful caption out there, but if the introduction doesn’t cut it – your followers will skip. 

A good hook: this is what pulls the follower into reading your caption to the very last word. Make it interesting!

What do you need to come up with a good hook? It can be a sentence or only a word. Your caption opening can be a question or an honest confession about what inspired you to come up with this ‘Gram post concept. 

What really hooks Instagram users, according to research? QUESTIONS.

Have you ever noticed that a lot of Instagram posts begin with a question or even a whole set of questions? Starting your caption with a question is like approaching a friend and saying, “What’s up today, what’s new?” The chance that they notice you and give a response is significantly higher, right? 

Write for Your Target Audience, Not for SEO (And Then Optimize It for Instagram SEO)

I know it may sound a bit controversial, but let me explain!

When it comes to Instagram captions (because with blog posts, that’s a totally different story): I always begin by writing whatever I feel like I need to write. I just let my writing flow win. 

And I’ll be honest here: I think it’s beneficial to write for your followers, for your target audience, and write from your heart rather than writing for Instagram SEO.

Because you can’t end up having your keyword repeated three times in the same sentence! Including your keyword in EVERY sentence takes a lot of the fun out of caption preparation. And then, reading it!

But at the same time, of course – you need to realize the importance of Instagram SEO. And good news, there are some easy things you can do to help your Instagram SEO:

• try to include ONE keyword in your hook
• try to include at least 4-5 keywords in your captions (fortunately, it’s not a lot!)
• use targeted hashtags (my favorite advice: use a hashtag research tool to make it like a pro: IQ Hashtags drives great results, and it will arm you with expert research about your hashtags volume) 

That way, your post, and your caption will be essentially the same but with an Instagram algorithm-friendly approach. Knowing essential Instagram SEO and hashtag research principles (+ a good hashtag research tool) can really help you rise in Instagram search rankings.

Look For Solutions to Your Target Audience’s Problems.

Try to ask yourself: How can I make my content so intriguing and so valuable that they’ll DM me to say, “Thanks, this was what I needed”?

Creating epic guides and helpful how-to posts is a proven way to attract more people from your target audience, gain credibility and help your followers by sharing information they need to know to make their lives better.

Good news? This type of post usually ranks really high in search!

But don’t get me wrong: don’t get hooked on trying to create posts that are guides and how-tos only! Don’t all of your posts need to be uber useful! Remember about sharing personal things, straight from your heart, without any bullet points. A nice blend of formats is crucial to avoid burnout!

Surprise Your Followers With New Topics and Engaging Discussions 

How do other creators get so many comments on their posts? Was there a course on Skillshare you forgot to take? Is there any secret sauce trick you’re missing out on? UNFORTUNATELY THE ANSWER IT “NO,” but there are some key engagement factors that are probably missing from your posts. So let’s break them down to fix it! 

Long-form captions take way more time to write, but let me tell you: it will be worth it. How to begin and level up your captions? How to come up with so many new topics and ideas? 

• Brainstorm thoughts and topics you want to talk about on your Gram with your friends or/and other creators from your niche 
• Keep your notebook near you all the time (if you’re anything like me! But writing them down in a mobile’s phone notepad is also a good idea)
• Look for inspiration EVERYWHERE. Even small talk in a local grocery store can turn into exciting conclusions and topics for Instagram discussion. 

Don’t Post and Ghost.

Once you publish a new post or Reels, the work is EXTREMELY FAR from being over. It’s time to put on your brave marketing hat. Great content is about getting your audience the results they dream of. But hey, in order to achieve that, you need to attract more people from your target audience!

My pro tip? For your new content to perform better and increase your organic traffic: leave valuable comments right before and right after posting. Comment trending creators from your niche, your favorite ones, and the ones you admire.

Time for Q&A!

I’ve received several DMs and emails about writing engaging captions from you all from our clients! So let’s share some of them, as always!

I’ve been running my Instagram profile for about a year now. I think my posts are reasonably well optimized and have a friendly tone (I’d hesitate to say they’re perfect, of course), but ugh, let me admit: I’m awful at the whole marketing and interaction thing. Being a mom, working full time, and running an Instagram on the side leaves limited time for promoting my account and accelerating my growth! 

I hear you! Working a full-time job, taking care of your kid, and growing your IG can be EXTREMELY challenging. However, it’s the only way your Gram is going to grow – so don’t give up, please! How to promote your content when your spare time is so limited? There are many good options!

• Identify which trending hashtags are attracting your target audience’s attention right now (you can use IQ Hashtags and speed the process up).
• Leave positive comments on your favorite creators’ content.
• Take advantage of your Instagram Stories and show off yourself.
• Post your content when your community is online (analyze that in your stats)
• Create a consistent schedule that works for you – so you can stick to it without being overwhelmed or overworked! 

Good luck, dear!

What’s more important for an Instagram post: a good photo or a captivating, well-written caption?

As Selena Gomez says: don’t make me choose! Both! Making your captions intriguing easy to read is critical. A picture may tell your follower a thousand words, but an additional set of 200 amazing words can really help as well. 

But of course: know your audience and match their expectations. That’s actually the question you can ask them! But I’ll always say BOTH.

What is the best Instagram caption length? Should Instagram posts have long captions? Or are shorter captions better? How long should my Instagram captions be? Do extended captions get more engagement?

My research shows they do! I like to use captions as a mini-blog form. They need an opening line (good hook!), and a friendly CTA somewhere in the middle of text or the last lines – don’t you think they really resemble short blog posts?

Should you be writing long and professional essays? No. If you want, you can, but that’s not what I meant! You just need to let your followers know that you care about them, and you take your time to prepare good and engaging captions. Also, don’t be afraid to experiment with different storytelling methods, and don’t hesitate to include a joke from time to time.

Can you take a look at my captions and tell me if there’s something wrong with them? Pretty please?

I wish I could take a look at everyone’s captions for free, but then I would have no time to work (and write new Instagram lessons for you guys)! That’s why we have recently launched new services: custom audit. This way, I’m able to help you (for a highly reasonable price, 29$), and review not only your captions but your whole profile optimization and your content strategy as well! Win-win. So if you need my guidance and you want to ensure that your profile continues to provide value for your target audience: book your one. I put my whole heart into preparing these audits for you, TBH.

That’s all for today! What other “caption writing tricks” do you use in your content? Which of them do you like the most? Also! Needless to say (I hope): if you have any questions, please do add them to the comments below!

The post How Do You Get People To Read Your Instagram Captions? 5 Surefire Ways You Can Apply Today appeared first on Display Purposes Blog.

Do you know what I’ve noticed? The best resource to understand your community is… Communication with your followers. What’s more, with a strategic communication plan, you can gain the most valuable leads to generate future sales and sell your products or services in a non-salesy way. Knowing how to use the DMs feature can open so many opportunities for your profile and/or your business. Today, I’ll be focusing on one dilemma that a lot of creators face, but for some reason, not a lot of them want to admit to wondering: how do you use DMs to make the most of this feature? 

Ready to learn more about how DMs can help you build your tribe? Let’s go!

Do You Really Need to Use DMs to Grow Your Tribe Quicker?

Spend about 15 minutes in a group of Instagram creators discussing their tribe building strategy, and you’ll  most probably hear quite a few folks complaining about DMs and how much it takes to answer all the messages and how badly they need to outsource it (which is of course not a bad idea in many cases). The top reason why so many creators, and social media managers are missing out on the benefits of DMs? They think  communication with single users goes too slow and demands too much energy and time to focus on it. They don’t know how to use DMs. As a confusing result, they also don’t know how to make the direct messages feature work for them! They can’t see the intrinsic value of private messages – but things are changing rapidly and this year, DMs DEFINITELY should be a crucial part of everyone’s Instagram strategy. At least if you want to boost your sales or attract followers who may become your potential clients in the future!

Interesting Facts to Change The Way You Think About Instagram DMs

If you’re still hesitating if DMs marketing is a thing, here are some statistics and facts that you need to know about:

• For starters, here’s the most important thing you need to know about DMs: direct messages are the key way to deepen and maintain connection with your most loyal followers and boost your authenticity 
• Over millions of Instagram users message someone everyday via DMs
• DMs are one of the most efficient tools to get in touch with somebody without being face to face
• 81% of Instagram users make purchases decisions based on trust factor
• 70% of social media users say trust is even more important today than it was ever in the past

As you can clearly see, there’s one currency every creator and every on-line business owner needs more than anything else – trust. A trusted creator can easily become a successful entrepreneur! That’s why finding a way to build this trust in today’s competitive Instagram landscape is the most important skill you need. We ALL NEED IT, yup. That’s why I’d like to talk about…

6 Strategic Ways to Make DMs Work For Your Growth

Sold on the idea? Hope so! If you’re ready to get started with your new DMs strategy but not really sure how to start yet, here we go: there are 6 strategies you need to implement to become an expert in the art of DMs. You need to stick to that strategy to drive your efforts, of course! Because yes, DMS take a LOT of time. But time is money – and right here, it pays off. 

Let’s break down the DMs strategies that work in 2022:

Voice Notes

Send voice notes rather than typed messages. Why? It adds a personal touch to your communication with followers (and all the potential ones), making them feel noticed and valued. Voice notes can be extremely powerful! A few years ago, I started following a marketing coach and Instagram expert – she’s really popular right now, you know her for sure – Jenna Kutcher. I still sincerely adore her. She was rocking it, so decided to send her compliments and honest words of admiration. To answer that, Jenna sent me a voice note. It was such a huge surprise! It took her about 15 seconds to turn me into the most loyal member of her tribe. From now on, I was buying all her products and reading all her blog posts. That’s the power of trust and connection.

Respond to ALL Messages

There’s absolutely nothing more off-putting to a potential follower than being ignored! Sharing is caring, but replying to people’s messages is caring AS WELL. Don’t leave anyone disappointed, waiting somewhere out there with an expectation of your response! It will be a sad monologue without your reply. Of course, we’re all busy so you don’t have to answer right here, right now – hell no, you don’t have to reply to any DM you receive immediately. But just don’t leave any messages unanswered for days!

Create Content That Encourages DMs

Story stickers are perfect for this. Or, instead of directing people to your blog or landing page via a link in your bio, ask them to message you if they’d like you to DM them with more insights, special pieces of advice, or a freebie!

Don’t Be Afraid to Show Your Human, Less Formal Side

Show your followers that you’re accessible and you care about them. Sure, it’s great to give advice and send valuable insights, but listening is precious as well – so always make sure to listen to your followers carefully.

Use Different Content Formats

Leverage your DMs and experiment with different content formats: short videos, voice notes, images, memes. It will help you keep good communication ongoing! Different people have different communication patterns – so analyze which format works best for YOUR audience. 

Ask For Feedback

DMs give you a great opportunity to seek feedback from your community! Instead of asking for feedback in your captions, you can reach out to your most chatty followers and get exclusive insights and precious input about your content or your products/services. Appreciate them, and don’t be afraid to ask for suggestions and user experience insights. They will feel needed and motivated to stay with you – win-win! 

Bonus Tip

Keep a close eye on your messages to track your results and positive tendencies, and learn if your DMs efforts are paying off.  Analyze: 

• Which DMs format your audience loves the most 
• What people like to reply to 
• Who your most loyal audience is

Believe me – DMs are a truly powerful marketing tool that you can utilize to build long-lasting connections with your target audience. So yup, it’s high time to level up your communication strategy!

It’s Time For DMs Strategy Q&A!

I get asked a lot of questions about DMs and right DMs strategy from our IQ clients, and well, I do my best to answer each one individually! But sometimes, the same set of questions come up over and OVERRR again. So, as I mentioned in the last post,  I’d decided to answer the most important ones as part of Q&A column here! Because, I hope it’s valuable and educational for you. Let’s go!

I’m using DMs but I feel like it’s such a waste of time – I can’t see any real results. Where do I go wrong? 

If you’re already using DMs but haven’t yet seen any results and you’re not sure it you have a DMs strategy that works for you, consider this your Instagram-growth wake-up call: it’s time to get more strategic and intentional.

Will a new DMs strategy bring me immediate results?

As always, experiments are the best method for evaluating the best answer to that. Well, implementing a new DMs strategy worked for me and for many of my clients and friends – so I truly believe you will witness nice surprises as well. 

Who should I be targeting with my DMs?

You’ll be targeting… Your target audience!

The goal, of course, is to deepen your connection with your current audience, build new relationships, and continue doing all of the things they already adore you for, while also getting new people to know you better. 

Ask yourself these questions: What my followers would love to discuss with me? What are they researching right now? What can motivate them? 

How many DMs can I send per hour?

I’ve researched the topic – right now there is no one universal limit to the amount of direct messages you can send hourly. It varies from user to user, and there are many variables that will determine your  personal limit: your account age, trust score it got, whether your messages have a link in it.

But my tip, as always, is to play it safe and not overuse one feature.

Good luck! Let me know how your DMs strategy is working for you – if you any questions I haven’t answered, ask below, and I’ll talk about them in the upcoming article! See you there!

The post How To Use DMs To Grow On Instagram – Your Ultimate DMs Strategy appeared first on Display Purposes Blog.

Let’s say it loud: your goal is not about closing sales on Instagram – it’s mostly about creating authentic connections and genuine trust. Trust and engagement – believe us when we say this is the currency of the future. It sounds cliché, although it’s more than true. Let check it out for yourself. 

Why does engagement matter so much?

When your followers don’t have any history of commenting or liking your content, the algorithm is most likely to consider them not interested in your posts. The result? They won’t see your new material high on their news feed. Moreover, it applies to instastories as well – our marketing research shows that oftentimes people only watch the first ten, up to fifteen stories. Long story short: people need to prioritize your account in order to watch your content. In other cases, they’ll just miss it. 

Our clients often complain: I have 2 000 followers, but only 50 people watch my stories! How is it even possible? What am I doing wrong? That’s actually not even a surprising case – that’s the average number of views for a profile that doesn’t focus on building an engaged tribe.

Today we’ll be discussing the practical engagement hacks you can implement right now. Functional and straightforward – and providing results, that’s what we like the most about them. Our goal is not only to boost the engagement of your posts but your instastories views as well – so let’s go!

Use instastories to promote your regular posts and the other way round 

Have you noticed that sometimes people liking your posts and people watching your instastories are two totally different groups of followers? Some users prefer scrolling through the instafeed, and there are ones who log into the app only to watch instastories – it’s just the format they like better because it’s more direct and frequently more spontaneous. Use each format to promote each other. In your regular post, mention something worth seeing on your instastories + the other way round, show your new regular post on your instastories (with some call to action, a question, a poll, or a different accurate comment you’ve just made up!)

It’s a working strategy: we’ve tried it for ourselves, and many of our clients have tried this method, and it boosts the views significantly. Of course, you don’t want to overdo it because sometimes it may end up being annoying or boring for some of your followers, so do it once in a while, not every day, and hard pass: not a few times a day! 

Use smaller hashtags – give yourself a chance to get discovered

Smaller hashtags can do wonders for your account. Give yourself an honest answer: would you prefer 1000 random additional views or 250 that are from people authentically interested in your niche and are most likely to follow you after seeing or reading your post?

You can’t use the most popular and huge ones – simply because “recent posts” category view for them gets flooded with too many posts (sometimes 1 000 / a second!). Yours will get lost in the ocean of other posts too quickly, making it impossible for people to notice it.

Hashtags play the most significant role in getting people who don’t follow you to see your content. You have to attract them – and use hashtags they’re most probably typing into the Instagram Search Engine when they look for inspiration or knowledge from a particular field (your field).

Sometimes – and yes, we’ve seen cases like that! – one single really well-targeted hashtag can give you extra 1 000 – 50 000 views from people who don’t follow you. Imagine what 30 consciously chosen hashtags can do. 

We’ll also mention that your hashtag research can be a lot more effective if you use some hashtag research tool – it will save your time + you’ll discover hashtags you’ll have no idea other ways. Can we recommend any particular ones, in good conscience? Absolutely. IQ Hashtags is the one we always share, whoever asks – not only because it absolutely does excellent researches and is the most extended and professional one out there, but also because it contains free plans, meaning you can test it out for yourself without paying a dime for it – that’s an excellent option for the beginning. You can upgrade it whenever you want.

+ Remember that you should always use only hashtags really matching the contents of your posts – so you can’t use hashtag #foodiesinportugal when you upload a photo of your Greek holidays. It will be considered as spam, and your reach may be much lower – so avoid random hashtags at all costs. 

Make people spend more time consuming your content 

What do we mean? The algorithm checks how much time each of your followers spends on your content. If they read your captions, leave a comment or come back to look at your photos again, the algorithm notices that your material must be engaging and exciting. That’s remarkably precious.

So how to achieve this result? Write more involving captions – ask questions, include CTAs (calls to action), try to evoke emotions. Create aesthetically pleasing carousels filled up with practical knowledge your audience may need. Give them the solutions to their problems, research what they want to read about.

When it comes to instastories: use the tools Instagram gives you! The quiz feature, poll feature, question feature. The quiz feature kills two birds with one stone: when reading four different options, people spend much more time than reading only two ones or dragging the sliders with emojis. A quiz is much more involving: they have to think about it to choose the answer consciously. 

Know that those pieces of advice can drastically increase your engagement – take the tips you learned here and use them to start building your Instagram presence. Your statistics will unquestionably thank you for what you did!

Psst, we’re posting new tips & tricks a few times a week, so stay tuned for lots of credible materials coming this way!

The post 3 Instagram engagement hacks working in 2023 appeared first on Display Purposes Blog.

With that being said, let’s go to 7 things you should consider to use to grow your account in 2022 – what’s new and what’s getting more and more hype? Let’s see.

Finding your niche

Instagram is too crowded to simply assume that being a lifestyle, fashion, or photography Instagrammer will be “right niching.” It would help if you narrowed it down – now, in 2021, it’s more important than ever.

We’re almost sure you’re already tired of advice “go find your niche!” because let’s be honest: it isn’t as simple as it may sound.

If you don’t know your niche yet, of course, you shouldn’t let that stop you from posting.

Just test different topics, try out all the ideas that come up to your head – but do it consciously and decide which are the ones you feel the best with, which are the ones that your audience is interested in the most.

An analysis is a key to success (cliché but still 100% true). You’ll learn what feels most natural to you only by observing and experimenting. 

Focus on IG Lives Streaming

In the past, people were a little bit shy and intimidated by the thought of going live. It felt a bit unnatural to sit in front of the camera (built-in phone camera to be specific), but 2020 and the pandemic made people used to on-line activities and showing up on Zoom or Google Meet calls, plus all the things were happening on-line: yoga classes, fitness classes, linguistics classes, cooking classes, EVERYTHING.

Now going live on Instagram feels less awkward, and many times, even the shyest creators decide to try. It’s rewarding!

Now let’s dig a little bit deeper: it’s also a great way to actually engage with the audience. Answer their questions, get to know them better, and make them like us more because of our smile, tone of voice, and gestures.

It’s not only on the rise: it’s here to stay. 

Reels

Researchers assume that this year reels will take center stage on Instagram – this short video form has a vast potential simply because people enjoy consuming it. What is more, Instagram made reels shoppable, which means you can actually buy something that has appeared on somebody’s reel. That is a piece of big news for business owners – reels marketing will be growing fast, that’s more than sure.

Micro-influencers coming to the forefront

Micro-influencers are winning this year. Why? They most often have a much higher engagement rate and closer relation with the audience, and they are perceived to be more genuine. They provide a more niche-specific kind of growth and more deep engagement for brands they collaborate with.

Consistency

Instagram’s market is getting more and more saturated, and with that being said: it’s crucial to remind our followers why they follow us and why they should stay with us. Consistency gives your followers something to look forward to. It’s the easiest way to say, “hey, I am here, don’t forget me!”

Consistency looks different for everyone – but being consistent on Instagram is all about creating a realistic posting schedule. Yep, you have to note down your plan and stick to it. If it’s three times a week? Great. Everyday? Amazing. There is no right, specific option that will work best for everyone: you have to decide for yourself.

As long as you’re committed to your schedule – it’s okay. Plan your posts ahead: there are so many apps that can help you: UNUM, Planoly, Later… Spoiler alert: we’ll discuss which one is the best for who in one of the upcoming posts. 

Instagram SEO

Search engine optimization is finally coming to Instagram. If you have a website, a blog, or a Youtube account, you already know what it is and why it’s so important (and why it will make our Instagram life a little bit easier). Because of that change, we have to take our captions SERIOUSLY. They matter not only because they have to be engaging and user (follower) friendly: now our captions also should include keywords. Keywords that people interested in our niche are looking for – it will make our posts easier to be found! Great news: it’s going to be increasing our organic reach!

Branded AR Filters

Influencers and brands create their own augmented reality filters all the time – even though people love raw, natural, authentic content, at the same time, we adore those funny filters and creative animations. 

2022 will surprise us many times – but hopefully, most positively and creatively. What trends are your favorites? What do you expect more of, what should we research: we love to hear from you!

We write to inspire you to analyze your content – eat up all the information, use it and make us proud with your creative results!

The post Top Instagram trends for your social media strategy in 2023 appeared first on Display Purposes Blog.

It goes without saying that 2021 has been the year a lot of us weren’t expecting – it’s brought so many surprises, new challenges, and Instagram updates, it’s almost unimaginable! Someone asked us the other day whether it’s still a good time to start growing your Instagram account in the current situation, and our answer to this was… Our first thought and the mantra we always deeply believe in: “Purpose and passion led Instagram profiles with a conscious content strategy will always have a place in the Instagram world”.

But we know it sounds a bit like Paulo Coelho’s quote, and it may not exclude your doubts! No wonder, we all prefer strong evidence and in-depth research. That’s exactly what we need to talk about today! From so many of our frank conversations with you (did we mention how much we love them?!), we know that this doubt is absurdly common. Is it really too late to take your Instagram growth more seriously? Believe us, we hear similar questions ALL THE TIME. But what’s absolutely crazy, and maybe even a bit amusing to us is that we’ve been hearing these questions for more than a few years. A GOOD FEW YEARS. One particular question that we are repeatedly asked, especially in December and January, and literally at the start of each year, is “please, tell me without beating around the bush, isn’t it too late to start growing my Instagram in (insert year)“? This question is becoming even more regularly raised as the years go by. In the last two months alone, we’ve got many comments and discussions with you about whether it isn’t too late to start growing on the ‘Gram in 2022. 

And now we know – there might be a little, low voice inside your head telling you from time to time that you’ve missed the boat. A mean voice that sounds so realistic and wise, you’re ready to believe it. It’s laughing in your face:

Come on, it’s too late to start growing your IG in 2022 because it has all been said and created before.

How could you stand out among the trillions of AMAZING profiles with awesome content already out there? 

Nobody will care about your posts, and the growth isn’t feasible anymore.

And guess what? These are perfectly normal concerns! SO MANY CREATORS HAVE THEM. You’re definitely not alone. We all face them from time to time. It’s certainly more challenging to stand out now than it was back in 2015 for example. But that ABSOLUTELY doesn’t mean it’s too late to start growing, hell no! In fact, we STRONGLY believe there’s never been a better time to be an Instagram creator. Despite all the challenges of 2021 (and holy moly, there were so many of them!), we have seen incredible growth from the creators and Instagram entrepreneurs we work with. It seems like ambitious content creators with good content strategies are growing more than ever. Intrigued? 

So let’s elaborate on that and resolve all doubts! Today we’ll discuss:

• Is it too late to start taking your Instagram growth more seriously in 2022? Did you miss your chance?
• Is it still possible for you to create a career through Instagram?
• Will Instagramming be dead in 2022?
• How could you stand out among the millions of gorgeous Instagram profiles already out there?

If you’re reading this blog post, the chances are that you too have been thinking about taking your Instagram growth to the next level, but you’re a bit… Scared? Perhaps you’ve come across some Instagram creators who have built impressive online businesses, landed brand deals, and they’re living your dream life. Maybe you’re wondering if that kind of Instagram success could happen for you too? Is it still possible? Are you really able to achieve it? The first spoiler: it won’t be a walk in the park, but yup, it’s absolutely POSSIBLE. 

Are there too many competitors already?

At the beginning of 2021, there were an estimated 1 billion active Instagram users out there. So yes, you might be right in thinking: wait, that it’s all been said before. So many times! But that’s not so crucial. One thing is even more sure, however! It hasn’t been said by… YOU. Your story-telling, perspective, experiences, absolutely unique point of view, story of your life, insights, aesthetic, and sense of humor: that’s why you are you, and no one ever can create your content as you can. So if you have something to share with the world (even if similar things have been shared millions of times already), share it! Someone out there definitely needs your voice and the posts you’re going to create. Actually, so many people might need them! 

Instagram is already full of mediocre content: but there’s always a space for more ambitious creators, creating with a purpose.

But this 1 billion might still scare you, right? With all of those people, yup, it can get a bit overwhelming. Especially when there are plenty of profiles with tailored feeds, gorgeous captions, and beautiful smiles… Wait, wait, that isn’t the way! Just stop comparing. We’re sure you have something THEY DON’T. So just post the content you love preparing. Have confidence that you are doing your best. Keep experimenting with new formats, keep trying new solutions, and – that’s the key – trust in the process.

Instagram growth opportunities have been replaced by what Tik Tok is bringing to the table.

That’s NOT TRUE. Although, sure thing, some brands allocate more budget for Tik Tok campaigns because they think it’s an up-and-coming platform. It’s their choice. But there are also a lot of brands who know that the lifespan of an Instagram post/reels is extremely longer than Tiktok’s format. A high-quality Instagram post or reels can continue earning views for days or even weeks to come! Also, Instagram offers many flexible formats, meaning there is more room for carousels, multiple photos, videos, text, and links all in one location that aren’t going to disappear so instantly. A good Instagram post is simply more discoverable than a Tiktok’s one! 

More good news? It’s easier to get sponsors on Instagram than ever before. Things have REALLY changed in 2020 and 2021, and now many huge brands have nicely sized budgets set aside specifically for Instagram creators. Just saying! 

Authenticity is the most significant Instagram trend 

Let us tell you – showing your unique, authentic self is incredible for your Instagram’s growth. In times like these, followers turn to creators they feel they can trust, and having your smiling face, exciting story, and inspiring journey at the forefront of your profile plays a major part!

Although people might love different celebrities or Hollywood actresses, they will never relate to them as much as they relate to daily human connection and personal stories from someone just like them. Your voice and your point of view are what make your profile stand apart from the competition. It might feel awkward at first (oh, it does, we know it, haha), but you truly, TRULY need to leverage your authenticity and take advantage of what makes you special.

Instagram is still changing… And growing.

1 minute long Instagram stories, new options for reels, IG video, collaborations, link stickers… Should we go on? The list of the updates 2021 has brought is really LONG! TAKE ADVANTAGE OF IT! Without the new features, our profiles wouldn’t have taken off as effectively or quickly if we’d just had regular posts. 

Some people say getting discovered is more complicated than ever – but that’s not necessarily true for everyone. Hashtags still do wonders, you just need to know how to use them most strategically. Reels give you extra exposure. IG Video gives you plenty of opportunities. We’ll dive into all of them in the upcoming posts.

Guidance is easily accessible – and you’re more ready than ever, right? 

Look, there never was a completely easy time to start growing on Instagram, it’s not a piece of cake, especially if you’re a first-time Instagrammer. Doing your best to grow on the ‘Gram means repeatedly failing until you test everything out, find out what works for YOUR ACCOUNT and your community, and finally, get it right. Sure, doing so feels safer when the competition is smaller, but you can turn that into an advantage as well, and there are many sources of credible guides on how to make your content SEEN by your target audience. Because there always comes the point where you can’t grow anymore as an Instagram creator without the help of someone more pro, someone with a fresh perspective to give you clear hints on what’s working and what’s not, so that you can manage and market your content better, and better. Not only is it good for your profile, but it’s also good for your calmness and happiness.

And here we come! Don’t you forget you have us – Display Purpose marketing team, always ready to share our Instagram knowledge, reveal the secret sauce, and help you craft the ideal strategy to grow using organic methods. Together we’ll draft up your bulletproof blueprint for the upcoming year, and if you stick to this plan, YOU’LL ROCK! We’ve also negotiated a great deal with IQ Hashtags – now you can get their in-depth audit for less than 89$, and believe us: it’s a true game-changer for anyone needing guidance and insights from trusted Instagram strategists. They can review your account: once they have a clear idea of where you’re at, they’ll note down all their powerful suggestions on how you can optimize your profile and your content for more views and more engaged followers from your target audience. That’s the REAL help because you can get customized optimization solutions analyzed to work for you and your profile.

2022 is the year you decide to stop spending this one EXTREMELY precious life, putting your Instagram growth off until “someday in the future, maybe later”! 2022 is the year you begin to take control of the potential your storytelling and your content have! You need to finally believe that you’re worth growing your IG.

Notes to take away!

When our friends and clients ask us for advice on whether they should start growing their IG in 2022, and whether it’s not too late, here’s what we tell them: GO FOR IT. Growing your account can be a great way for you to expand and make more money, position yourself as an expert, and get incredible opportunities you’ve never dreamed of. Being an Instagram creator as a career path is not an overnight magical make-money-quick option, but it is a HUGE opportunity if you’re willing to sacrifice some energy, put foundational work in, and find out how to make the most of hashtags. 

But if your question still is: “Will Instagramming be dead in 2022?”, then the answer is most definitely a very loud NO. If you want to dive more into taking your growth to the next level, keep up with our posts and Instagram lessons. We’re always here to help and guide you, and don’t forget – hashtags are the creme de la creme of getting discovered by your ideal followers! 

Have any questions we haven’t answered, ask below, and we’ll talk about them in the upcoming articles! 

The post Is it too late to start growing your Instagram in 2023? appeared first on Display Purposes Blog.

Hey, hey you. Yes, you!

Are you wondering why your followers don’t interact with your educational carousels? Why do they completely ignore all the effort you put into preparing a list of your insights? Why don’t they share them with the world? Yes? Then lucky you, you’re in the right place.

Okay, okay. We know. We’ll stop with the ancient times sales pitch. All kidding aside. We just thought that maybe it was amusing. 

But seriously.

Having a low organic reach and almost no engagement when you’re putting all your heart into educational content creation can really make you feel low, and trust us, you’re not alone, and we’ve been there too. But we’re coming with good news (old times sales pitch again?): Instagram is all about good strategy, and having low engagement just means you haven’t implemented the right strategy yet. 

When it comes to educational content, there are so many strategies and Instagram golden tips out there that figuring out your own strategy can be frustrating, time-consuming, leading to growing confusion over lack of comments and shares and less confidence in your decision to start creating anything in the first place. Yup. We know it. 

Good news once again: let’s talk about some practical ways that you can speed up your engagement-renewal process and save your precious time. 

Let’s go! Today we’ll discuss in detail:

• Is educational content a good way to go?
• How to gain more shares?
• How to position yourself as an expert in your niche?
• What to do when your audience doesn’t like your educational content?
• Can you neglect hashtag research and still grow?

In today’s article, we’re going to walk you through the things that are holding you back from creating a thriving Instagram profile with valuable educational content. And we’ll discuss how you can fix your process so that you can attract high-quality followers from your target audience (the ones that love carousels and all the educational insights you post)!

Why your educational content may not be getting high engagement? Let’s find out!

1. You haven’t positioned yourself as an expert, and your followers can see it

Trust is the number one factor you need. First, you need to build it between you and your followers. Most people want to know more about the creators behind the educational carousels and posts with tips & tricks, so show up, don’t be afraid to share behind the scenes of preparing your posts, your daily life, daily problems you solve. Share your reality – especially if it has something to do with the things you’re teaching in your posts! 

You’re you. What you have to say is always going to be unique and one of a kind, as long as it comes from your own unique perspective and experience. Your own storytelling. Your mission is to make people see that you’re an expert worth trusting, and you can share a lot of intriguing insights with them.

What to do if you struggle with impostor syndrome and you feel like you lack something? 

Reading leads to ideas. Read more – that’s our favourite trick! Every article, every blog post, every book makes you more self-confident, and full of exciting stories and pieces of advice to share!

You may be in the gaining trust phase – share the things you read, the podcasts you listen to, quotes you love. What for? That’s the easiest way to show off that you really like what you do, and you don’t pretend to be somebody you’re not. Authenticity is a good way.

2. Your audience doesn’t consist of your target followers

Follow for follow and other quick and easy random-followers attracting methods may seem tempting, but believe us: it’s not worth it at all. If you’ve been doing 4f4 in the past, and now you’re paying the price, you may know what we’re talking about. The number on your follower count is high, but the engagement isn’t. It can lead to serious frustration: why nobody from your audience cares about your posts?

The reason can be extremely simple: they aren’t your target followers. No one topic or niche is better than another – there are just different people, and some are interested in this, some are interested in that. 

Now comes the juicy part that everyone waits to hear about: when you don’t want to pay for past sins, how do you reach the right target audience?

You keep on creating content that will attract them, along with the right hashtags, to make it more discoverable. We’ll elaborate on that in a sec! 

3. You neglect hashtag research 

“Oh, the elusive hashtag research. This is probably going to be the most challenging thing to get used to when preparing better performing educational content”. 

Are those your thoughts? Good news: that’s far from the truth! Let’s go back to the basics. 

Rule number one: you need to use relevant hashtags that match your content. 

Just like on Google, Instagram uses keywords (hashtags) to help sort content and distribute posts when users are looking for something. Unless you’re a celebrity or a Hollywood actress, and you go viral off the bat, hashtags are most often your greatest chance of getting your content seen by new eyes. 

Particularly if you don’t have a large follower base, you can create the most educational, polished, and prettiest content in the world, but nobody from your target audience will discover it if you don’t post hashtags.

You’ll be surprised by how many people still use them to seek out new posts and new accounts to follow – the discovery process is still alive!

4. Your audience isn’t used to seeing educational content created by you

Content pivoting isn’t the easiest thing to do. You may have multiple strings to your bow, and once you decide to modify your leading niche, your followers may get surprised or even a bit angry. You may lose some of them. The thing is: don’t worry too much, you’ll attract new ones from your new target audience!

That’s the first big lesson: you need to understand who you should actually write for. And then focus on attracting those people with the right hashtags and maybe even cross-collaborations with other creators from your new niche.

Educational content creators should stick together!

That’s it for today! Trust the process. We know you’re not afraid of rolling up your sleeves and putting in some great work to get good at Instagram educational content strategy.

Are there any burning questions about Instagram hashtags or engagement you would like us to answer? Let us know, we’re gathering topics for upcoming Instagram lessons!

The post 4 reasons why your educational content may not be getting high engagement appeared first on Display Purposes Blog.

In case you didn’t already know… your BIO is a bit like your global CV. It’s your profile’s identity in the Instagram world, and it is definitely something your potential followers will judge you on. A psychological study says that you only have around 7-8 seconds to grab a user’s attention before they lose their complete focus and look elsewhere! Yup. That’s clearly not a long time. So how can you grab their attention at first sight without looking desperate? How to make them intrigued? And grab enough attention, so they finally click the follow button?

How can you write a BIO that makes people curious about you?

Don’t be scared – we won’t talk about any hard-and-fast rules. Why? Because the first rule is: you can’t be afraid to experiment here!

It takes a little bit of trial and error to find the BIO that unquestionably vibes with you.

You can’t be boring – that’s rule number two. We’re 101% sure you aren’t, so we need to use all your charm and find the best words to describe what you’re doing. And why your potential followers should stay with you. Hold on tight. We’re going to give you some tips and tricks to keep in mind when tackling your new BIO. We’ll be writing the word magic for your profile. 

Today you’ll learn:

• how to transform your regular BIO into a short description that makes people stay with you
• all the BIO writing do’s and don’ts
• how to evoke your potential followers’ emotions
• how to make your BIO really powerful

Ready? Let’s do this! 

WHO ARE YOU?

A pilot? Vegan pasta enthusiast? Marketing coach? Vintage fashion lover? Graphic design solopreneur? Boutique owner?

That’s the first information your potential followers will look for. So what should you do? Let them find the information they want. Quickly. That’s why it should stand first, according to the information architecture. 

People don’t want to THINK MORE to figure out who you are and how they can relate. 

They want relevant information to jump out in front of them and say: “This is who I am, this is what I am doing”.

PROMISE SOMETHING, AND STICK TO IT. STICK TO IT. 

Basically, your goal is to get your potential followers feeling intrigued and curious when they land on your profile. Not overwhelmed – so you can’t make them guess whether they need you in their life or… Not. 

To stand out and be sure your BIO is highly intriguing for all the short-attention-spanned people, it should include a promise. Why is following you beneficial? Do you have the power to make someone’s life better? Teach them something, inspire, encourage? Let them know.

That can be your ultimate ace in the hole, don’t hide it anymore.

WHAT DO YOU WANT FOLLOWERS TO DO? TELL THEM!

Words can be persuasive, inspiring, and impactful, but if you are not asking your tribe to do something at the end, most probably, it’s not engaging enough. We’re sure you’ve heard about CTAs before, but the one if your BIO needs to be extremely short and sweet. Take a moment to understand your potential follower’s thought sequence and make it work in your favor. 

If you are selling vegan recipes, asking your followers to “buy now” is a bit overblown. Instead, consider something like “Try the most delicious kale risotto” or “Do you want to join my vegan army?”

Yup. Make it sound friendly and welcoming. People love to be a part of something – invite them! 

ONLY ONE CALL TO ACTION

If you want your followers to read your articles, only ask them to read.

You don’t want to ask them to visit your cooking portfolio, sign up for your freebie course, sign up for your newsletter, check your shop, and write you an email to book a 1:1 session. The more available options they have, the less likely they are to take ANY action.

All kidding aside, this is a proven psychological study.

ANSWER 3 CRITICAL QUESTIONS

Once again, because that’s REALLY important. When preparing your highly intriguing BIO, remember to answer these questions:

1. Who are you? Can an 8-year-old understand who you are based on your BIO?

 2. Why? Why should new people follow you? What are they going to get? What are the benefits you can offer?

3. Why your profile? What makes your profile different from your competitors? Why should they follow you and not your competitors who do the same thing?

Your potential followers are constantly asking themselves: What exactly do I get from following this profile? Will it make my life better? Do I really need this creator in my life?

If you want to win their attention and that one precious “follow” click, you need to be able to answer these questions. In a nutshell. 

Your BIO is really about them, not you

Are you bringing a fresh solution to a stressful struggle? Your potential followers are reading your BIO because they are looking for a connection between themselves and you. So take it, give them a reason to choose your profile, your content – through your charm, your content’s quality, authenticity, and your storytelling. 

TO WRAP-UP!

Unfortunately, we all have a short attention span, so it’s crucial to make sure your BIO is intriguing enough for someone in a rush. Your BIO is not all about you. This is your MAIN chance to tell your potential followers who you are, AND WHY THEY SHOULD STAY WITH YOU.

Alright, that’s all for today! What do you think?? Are you planning on creating a new BIO? Will you modify your current one?

Ps. If you’ve got any Instagram-related questions or have anything you want to learn more about, let us know—we love hearing from you! 

The post 6 things you need to include in your Instagram BIO to turn it into a magnet for new followers! appeared first on Display Purposes Blog.

We all know that hashtags are extremely important to help your Instagram content rank and get possible to be found. There are whole courses about finding the right ones for you, which is why we’re discussing keyword strategy so often – it’s a vast topic, definitely deserving much attention. But what about reels? Should you treat them as any other content type? Do hashtags play such a crucial part in making them more discoverable as well?

If you’re looking for answers, you’re lucky because we’ve gott ’em.

Instagram wants reels to get more and more loved by the platforms’ users, so to make them more visible, they give reels a boost in organic reach. How generous, right? We miss it with other post types! But, what can turn out to be even more beneficial is the fact that the Instagram explore feed displays reels at the top of the feed. 

So do you still need hashtags? Oh yes. The people who watch reels are mainly looking for a variety of short, entertaining content – so give them what they want. The risk is too high: there’s a risk they won’t find your reels on their own without your help. When you use relevant, targeted hashtags on your Instagram reels, they can easily be explored by your potential followers. Sure, they might not end up clicking the follow button at first, but they’ll watch your video posts, so they’re more likely to remember your face and feel the urge to get some more! The more views and engagement you get, the more Instagram algorithms like you. It will basically show Instagram that your content is enjoyable, which pushes the Instagram algorithm to show your content to even more users.

Sounds promising, huh? That’s why today we’ll discuss in detail:

• Why should you describe your reels with hashtags?
• How do you add hashtags to reels?
• What hashtags are suitable for reels?
• How do you make a reel go viral?

Maybe you’re up to your eyeballs in hashtag research for your reels, but you’re still not any clearer on why you should use them. Worry not, our friend. We’ve got some tips for you – so easy peasy, we’ll tell you everything you need to know!

Once again – should you use hashtags to make your reels more discoverable?

Instagram recently added a separate reels tab to the hashtag search explore page, which is the clearest sign that hashtags for reels can be really effective and are meant to be used!

Instagram gives an organic boost to reels creators, which can easily lead to the stellar growth of your stats. Many of you have seen it for yourselves – entertaining reels can instantly gain a surprising number of views, so it can be a huge chance to grow if you implement the right strategies, of course. Which ones? Today we’ll discuss some of them, but because this topic is really golden, we’re going to prepare many Reels Lessons to make everything as intuitive as possible! So if you’re a bit frustrated about which hashtags you should choose to make your reels more popular and how to make the power of these reels hashtags work in your favor, keep on reading! We’ll be sharing our secret-sauce hashtag ideas for reels and research strategies. Let’s go!

What hashtags are suitable for reels? Where should you look for targeted hashtags for your reels?

Always make sure to add only relevant hashtags to your reels that indeed correspond to your video’s content – that’s rule number one. 

Observe what your competitors are choosing and what your ideal audience is looking for – that’s the most basic but always smart option. Always try to identify hashtags that your target followers are actually searching for. You can also try research tools to find new, relevant hashtags and save your time. If you don’t already know, we recommend using IQ Hashtags for all things Instagram hashtag research. One feature you can always take advantage of when diving into strategic hashtag research is the hashtag suggestion feature, called Hashtag Search. This feature allows you to type in a hashtag, and it will provide you with a list of other related hashtags you can use right away. 

We also recommend using the search function directly within the Instagram app – that’s a practical source of inspiration as well? Type in a hashtag relevant to your niche, and you will get fresh suggestions on hashtags related to this given one.

When you spot a hashtag that sounds good to you, looks promising, and you really like it, stop for a while and look at the top posts for that particular hashtag to analyze why other creators have utilized it. Is it remarkably relevant to your content? If so, don’t hesitate to note it down and use it! Then track your analytics and adjust your hashtag research accordingly!

Do reels need captions?

That’s an excellent question! Should you take time to come up with creative captions for your IG reels?

Yes – that’s a highly underrated method to gain better exposure! Sure, most reels consumers will scroll through thousands of different reels, without any longer conscious stopping. But if your reels have an engaging, surprisingly clever caption to go with it, guess what? There are chances you’ll make someone intrigued, and what’s even better, it could be a high-quality potential follower from your target audience. A smartly written caption is the copy that goes with the content you have in your video. It should make someone laugh, feel inspired, or simply be good food for thought. Captions have the power to make your potential followers feel certain ways, and you can easily communicate your personality and values to attract them. If your caption is really catchy, many users might save it, and that boosts your reach. The more engagement you get, the more your reels will be pushed by the Instagram algorithms. So, yes, it’s definitely worth it to take your time to come up with a creative caption!

If you enjoyed reading today’s blog post, please let us know by hitting ‘comment’! Your feedback means the world to us, and we want to make sure we’re ALWAYS providing you (yes, you!) with top-notch value.

The post Are hashtags for reels important? Does adding them hurt or help your content? Here’s what you should know appeared first on Display Purposes Blog.

Move over Ethereum, engaging content is the new currency. All day we’re consuming new posts and reels like hectolitres of coffee on your best friend’s birthday morning (or the morning after). People are literally glued to their screens all day long.

So, it should be easy to catch their attention, right? Nothing more deceptive – it’s harder than ever because they’re getting more and more selective. Did you notice your latest content gets a much lower reach than it used to? You blame hashtags. We know it. They don’t work as they used to. Instagram needs to fix the algorithm; hashtags need fixing as well. Sounds a bit like your thoughts?  One of the things I’ve wanted to do in 2021 for my Instagram profile is to grow my follower base and attract my target audience, but hashtags aren’t by my side, so there’s no practical way to do that. Familiar as well? 

We’re discussing with many creators every week, EVERY DAY, and believe us: these words are surprisingly common. Been hearing this a lot lately! So, the first question that pops up in our head sounds: can it be true? Should we blame hashtags, or are they innocent, and something else is off? Is there anything wrong with the way hashtags are working atm?

People around us get SO CONFUSED with Instagram and hashtags. And we guess it’s also because there are so many conflicting insights out there. So we need to stop it. We need to make it much more straightforward. 

We’ve done our due research and have come up with some pretty fantastic facts and debunked myths. Today’s blog post is all about our insights, followed up with ways to implement the tips we’ve prepared for you. What’s more, most of what we’re about to show you, you can accomplish with just one tool — IQ Hashtags (if we had a dollar for every time we mention this tool here, we’d be richer than Kardashians. But we’ve noticed that IQ Hashtags created an affiliate program, so maybe it’s a bright idea to join). 

So, without unnecessary ado, allow us to share with you everything you’ll need to know about Instagram hashtags and the way they work in 2022. In today’s Instagram lesson, we’ll be covering the following topics:

• Are hashtags still working on Instagram the way they used to?
• Why don’t you see any results from your hashtag strategy?
• Is hashtag strategy overrated, and do you really need it?
• Should you use 30 hashtags every time you post?
• How to use the power of hashtags for stellar growth?
• Should you listen to those skeptical YouTubers who claim that hashtags are already passee?
• What should you do when you can’t figure out why your hashtags aren’t working anymore?
• Are hashtags a good way to get trending on the Instagram explore page?
• What should you do when hashtags are acting weird for you?
• Is it true that you don’t need hashtags, you only need to pump out valuable posts?

First things first. Let’s answer the most burning question, and let us tell you… 

Hashtags are alive. They’re definitely not dead!

Hey, we don’t have anything better to categorize our content, and we won’t anytime soon!

Hashtags are also the most basic way to connect with new potential followers. You know – Instagram is ever-evolving, the algorithm changes, Adam Mosseri’s statement may surprise you at times, but the basics of the platform definitely won’t change, and the basics of content-discovery and content-categorizing are still the same: hashtags.

If they’re alive, why don’t they guarantee high reach every time you post something new?

Well, sometimes hashtags perform really well, your post reach + engagement skyrocket, and you can’t be happier, and sometimes you can’t get sadder because all you get after you post is radio silence. Actually, there are many factors which determine that – not only hashtags (and we’re discussing them in many of our Instagram lessons, for example here: Why aren’t you getting likes and views through hashtags on Instagram anymore? 5 mistakes you may be guilty of making without even knowing ) 

Why do so many creators claim that hashtags aren’t working anymore? Well, sometimes hashtags don’t work because other people are simply not interested in what they’re posting – and hashtags shouldn’t be blamed for it. That’s the harsh truth nobody really likes, but there’s already too much average content out there – take your time and create valuable, authentic posts. Generic content isn’t enough anymore. No matter how great of a hashtag you find, you won’t get many views and high engagement if you don’t have appealing content. Period. So prepare the best content that you can create. 

Hashtags are still your most effective way to get discovered.

Are you a celebrity?

A Hollywood actress?

Ryan Gosling’s wife?

If none of the above, you certainly need hashtags

Why? You can create the most creative or entertaining to tears content, but how can your people find it if you don’t add hashtags? Even good luck needs some help! No matter what pessimistic marketing gurus are telling you, people use hashtags to hunt for new content and new accounts to follow. Do you want them to find you? 

If you’re sick of hearing “hashtag strategy, you need a good hashtag strategy” all the time, listen – it isn’t as problematic as some Instagram gurus make out

Instagram hashtags are an incredible way to reach new audiences. You already know that. They can lead relevant people right to your fantastic content. Win-win. 

But, how do you choose those right Instagram hashtags? That may sound like a challenge, right? But to be totally honest, it doesn’t have to be complicated. AT ALL. 

Focus on your ideal follower intent. In everything we create and post on Instagram, we should always be focused on fulfilling the potential follower’s wants, needs, and desires. Someone from your target audience. 

Just focus on choosing hashtags that match your target audience.

Pro-tip #2: Look at each hashtag’s search volume. Search volume gives you a clear idea about how many users are searching for that given hashtag! Sure, it should be beneficial to choose hashtags that many people are looking for, but – cliche quote alert! – remember that quantity doesn’t always equal quality. Many, many times, it’s much better to opt for medium and lower-volume hashtags because chances are, they will be much more relevant to your target audience, so your content gets easier to be found. 

Where can you find the best ones for your niche?

We know what you’d like to say! Hashtag research takes up way too much time. Finding the targeted hashtags with the right volume in your niche can be stressful. Want an easier way to find great hashtags that real people from your target audience are looking for? Let the hashtag research tool do this work for you. It’s your turn to be a bit lazy. Pardon our French – SMART, NOT LAZY!

A hashtag research tool like IQ Hashtags (that’s the one we’re using as well) will do the trick! This magical tool allows you to find new hashtag ideas in two main ways. Our fav is typing in a hashtag and getting back related ones.

Alright, that’s all for now! Targeted hashtags can open doors for opportunities that you can’t even imagine yet. When we started, we thought we’d only attract people from a small part of the world. Instead, we ended up writing and creating content for Instagram users from literally all around the globe! We can’t possibly predict what good hashtags could do for you, but we’re excited to find out! Let us know in the comments, and, if you need some extra help (regarding your profile, attracting your target audience, or some other Instagram-related advice) – we love reading your questions, and then we answer them in our Instagram lessons, so don’t you ever hesitate to ask

The post Do Hashtags Still Work on Instagram in 2023? Are They Really Dead? Do They Still Matter? appeared first on Display Purposes Blog.