{"id":275,"date":"2017-10-30T22:10:06","date_gmt":"2017-10-30T22:10:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.onlinesalespro.com\/?p=275"},"modified":"2020-09-14T14:35:01","modified_gmt":"2020-09-14T14:35:01","slug":"understanding-hashtags-instagram","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/onlinesalespro.com\/blog\/understanding-hashtags-instagram\/","title":{"rendered":"Understanding Hashtags on Instagram"},"content":{"rendered":"\n[et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ _builder_version=”3.22″][et_pb_row _builder_version=”3.25″ background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”3.25″ custom_padding=”|||” custom_padding__hover=”|||”][et_pb_text _builder_version=”3.27.4″ border_style=”solid”]Hashtags. They\u2019re the most misused and poorly understood marketing tool on social media, but if you know what you\u2019re doing, they can also be the ticket to small business sales.<\/span>\nIf you\u2019ve been marketing on Instagram, you have likely been using hashtags. Unfortunately, the vast majority of marketers don\u2019t use this powerful tool correctly. They destroy most of their hard work by using too many, too few, or the wrong hashtags.<\/span>\nIt\u2019s time to learn to use them properly.<\/span>\n

Why Hashtags Matter<\/b><\/h2>\nHashtags are similar to keywords, making it easier to find specific types of posts on the network. Instagram allows you to click on a hashtag, which then takes you to a page where all the posts with that tag are listed. In the past, these were chronological, below a handful of the top posts, but now the site shows you what is supposed to be most relevant.<\/span>\nUsing hashtags lets people find your posts even if they\u2019ve never heard of you, and the more likes you get on a post, the more likely it is to show up in the hashtag feed.<\/span>\n

Tips for Using Instagram Hashtags to Boost Traffic<\/b><\/h3>\nOne way to learn to use Instagram effectively is to just go ahead and test different ideas yourself. That can take a while, though, and you\u2019re much better off getting a headstart with these easy tips.<\/span>\n

Use 11 or More Hashtags<\/b><\/h3>\nWhile the limit of hashtags you can use on one post is 30, most people agree that this is pretty spammy looking. However, extensive testing has shown that adding at least 11 hashtags actually gets you better engagement. Keep those numbers up.<\/span>\n

Forget the Hottest Tags<\/b><\/h3>\nIt\u2019s easy to add popular hashtags to your description, but it\u2019s actually a terrible practice. If you are using #cute or #awesome, your traffic probably won\u2019t increase at all. The reason for this is that everyone under the sun is using the same tag, and your post will disappear in a tsunami of #cool posts in a split second, making them all but useless.<\/span>\n

Make Your Own Hashtag<\/b><\/h3>\nCreating your very own hashtag that uses your company or even your niche is a great way to boost visibility. Just make sure you check that it\u2019s not already being used and then come up with your own. As time goes on, you\u2019ll notice other people start using it, as well, but when someone clicks on that tag, they\u2019ll be led to a feed that is almost exclusively yours.<\/span>\n

Find Better Hashtags<\/b><\/h3>\nWhat makes a good hashtag? It should be something that doesn\u2019t have so much competition that it simply vanishes in seconds. Instead, make sure your posts will show up in that tag\u2019s feed for at least 15 minutes, if not longer. Ideally, you should have a mix of semi-popular tags (those with a million tags) and less popular ones (with a few thousand tags), so that your images are always in a feed somewhere.<\/span>\n

Stay Relevant<\/b><\/h3>\nDon\u2019t use random hashtags to pick up traffic. Even if it gets your post views, they won\u2019t be your target audience. It\u2019s far better to get less traffic, but higher quality, so stick to hashtags that work for your brand.<\/span>\n

Don\u2019t Add Tags Later<\/b><\/h3>\nThere are two acceptable methods of adding tags to your post . . . putting them in the caption of the photo or adding them in a comment after you publish. Keep in mind that it\u2019s best to put them in the caption. It used to be common to go back and edit your photo caption and change the tags up to get more views, but this no longer works and is a waste of time. Instead, focus on producing new images that will skyrocket to the popular images\u2019 feed.<\/span>\n

Check Your Favorite Hashtag Feeds<\/b><\/h3>\nMake sure you click on your own hashtags sometimes to see what is going on in those feeds. This can help you stay on top of things and adjust your strategy if needed. In some cases, a perfectly good tag can end up being used by spammers, turning the feed into something you really don\u2019t want to be associated with.<\/span>\n

Conclusion<\/h4>\nInstagram is great for marketing and boosting small business sales by increasing traffic, but it does have a learning curve. Using hashtags will help you build your audience faster, as long as you do it the right way.<\/span>[\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section]\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hashtags. They\u2019re the most misused and poorly understood marketing tool on social media, but if you know what you\u2019re doing, they can also be the ticket to small business sales. If you\u2019ve been marketing on Instagram, you have likely been using hashtags. Unfortunately, the vast majority of marketers don\u2019t use this powerful tool correctly. They […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":2604,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"on","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[112],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/onlinesalespro.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/275"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/onlinesalespro.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/onlinesalespro.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/onlinesalespro.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/onlinesalespro.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=275"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/onlinesalespro.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/275\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2605,"href":"https:\/\/onlinesalespro.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/275\/revisions\/2605"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/onlinesalespro.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2604"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/onlinesalespro.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=275"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/onlinesalespro.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=275"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/onlinesalespro.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=275"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}