Hashtag How-To on Instagram

Instagram is stepping up the hashtag game in a big way and you should be using them. You may know that the Instagram algorithm has always favored specific and relevant hashtags, but you may not consider them as important as they truly are. 

For example, you can now follow hashtags. I can follow every post that utilizes #shewolf in one feed and that means, so can my followers. For your branded hashtags that you have created, this a crucial way to curate user engagement. It also gives you a beautiful list of potential new followers. You can also use this to look into additional hashtags you could be using to grow your following around like-minded accounts. 

On the flipside, users can now mark your hashtagged content as something they DON'T want to see. This sends a message to Instagram that the associated content is not interesting or not relevant. This tells the algorithm to filter this content for the user. If you get too many of your posts marked with the "don't show for this hashtag" setting, you could have a red flag raised on your account, which hurts the rest of your content as well. You can now see popular or suggested hashtags by looking at an accounts following. Toggle to hashtags instead of people to see suggested tags.

Providing value is still the name of the game. Your marketing strategy should absolutely include ways to provide value to your target market. Being spammy or super salesy isn't interesting to people. It's obnoxious.  The same approach should go towards your instagram hashtag strategy. Don't just copy and paste the exact same list of instagram hashtags into every single post. You run the risk of being shadowbanned. Switch things up and use relevant hashtags to the post's message. You can create multiple hashtag lists in Evernote or on Later to remember which one's you want included. You shouldn't have any tags such as #likeforlike or #followforfollow. Any tags that have 1 million or more uses might get you more likes but they aren't targeting the buyer personas you are interested in, and they aren't growing your engagement. Use tags that say something about your business and your target market. 

What about data? Your business profile can also track your hashtag success in your insight right in your account.

So #engage and #encourage your audience to follow your branded hashtags to connect and create a community. Let us know how it goes and include #shewolfco so we can see your success!