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Instagram Hashtag Strategy Guide

Instagram Hashtag Strategy Guide. About Later The simpler way to plan your visual content marketing. Founded in 2014 and has grown in under two years to a community of over 600,000 users with some of the top brands, agencies, and influencers across the globe!

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© © All Rights Reserved
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75% found this document useful (4 votes)
994 views

Instagram Hashtag Strategy Guide

Instagram Hashtag Strategy Guide. About Later The simpler way to plan your visual content marketing. Founded in 2014 and has grown in under two years to a community of over 600,000 users with some of the top brands, agencies, and influencers across the globe!

Uploaded by

gtdm
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 53

INSTAGRAM HASHTAG STRATEGY GUIDE

Instagram
Hashtag
Strategy Guide
A Later Guide to creating and implementing
a successful Instagram hashtag strategy

1
Table of
Contents

Introduction 4

Chapter 1 – The Basics 8

Chapter 2 – How Instagram Hashtags Work 12

Chapter 3 – The Science Behind Why Hashtags Work 21

Chapter 4 – How To Pick The Right Instagram Hashtags 27

Chapter 5 – How To Organize And Use your Hashtags 33

Chapter 6 – How To Create Your Own Branded 44


Hastag On Instagram

Chapter – Engage Your Community 47

Conclusion 50
About Later

The simpler way to


plan your visual
content marketing.
Founded in 2014 and has grown in under two years to a community
of over 600,000 users with some of the top brands, agencies, and
influencers across the globe!

Turn <3 likes into brand love with Later.

Sign up for Later for free, forever!


Introduction
INSTAGRAM HASHTAG STRATEGY GUIDE

The hashtag, once a


commonplace symbol on your
phone, is now an integral part
of Instagram and the way we
discover content online.
Not only do hashtags help Instagram users organize and
categorize content, they’re also one of the driving forces
behind some of today’s best marketing campaigns.

70% of hashtags Posts with just one Posts with hashtags


on Instagram are hashtag receive 12.6% are 55% more likely
branded more engagement to be shared

Crafting a compelling branded hashtag that’s unique to your


business is a great way to connect with customers, find content
created about you by your followers, and build long-term
relationships with influential partners.

5
INSTAGRAM HASHTAG STRATEGY GUIDE

According to Simply Measured:

Posts with at least


one Instagram
hashtag average

12.6%
more engagement
that posts without
a hashtag.

6
INSTAGRAM HASHTAG STRATEGY GUIDE

In this guide we’ll teach you


everything you need to know about
using Instagram hashtags to gain
followers and increase likes.

Learn why you need to be using hashtags, how to use them, and
which ones to use to conquer your Instagram marketing goals.

We’ll walk you through the steps you need to take to implement
an effective hashtag strategy that boosts the reach of your
Instagram marketing campaigns.

7
Chapter 1

The Basics
INSTAGRAM HASHTAG STRATEGY GUIDE

What is an Instagram hashtag?


An Instagram hashtag is a word or phrase (comprised of letters,
numbers and/or emojis) preceded by a pound sign (#), and used
to categorize and find content around a particular topic or trend.

When you search for a hashtag on Instagram, you’ll be able to


browse all the posts that have been tagged with it. And when you
attach one to your own photo or video, it will become discoverable
by anyone searching for that hashtag.

Lululemon’s #TheAirOutThere
hashtag is an example of a
branded community hashtag
that the apparel company
used to promote a campaign
about helping people forget
about the stresses of the
holiday season, and take the
time to enjoy the outdoors.

TIP: How likely a hashtag is


to be seen by others depends
on how often the hashtag
is used, how popular your
post is, and how strong your
following is.

9
INSTAGRAM HASHTAG STRATEGY GUIDE

Why you should use


Instagram hashtags
Instagram hashtags are one of the most useful tools in a social
media marketer’s tool belt. Using the right hashtag (or combination
of hashtags) can help you expose your brand to large and targeted
audiences. In fact, your chances of attracting new followers, getting
more likes, and increasing engagement are vastly increased by the
use of hashtags.

But there are other opportunities to be had by using Instagram


hashtags, such as the ability to watch and learn from your
competition. By looking at what leaders in your field are doing,
you can acquire powerful and insightful data into what content
performs the best.

Your chances of attracting


new followers, getting
more likes, and increasing
engagement are vastly
increased by the use of
hashtags.

10
INSTAGRAM HASHTAG STRATEGY GUIDE

What is an Instagram
hashtag strategy?
In order to be successful with hashtags, it’s important to be strategic
about your hashtag usage. The “most popular” Instagram hashtags
are just simple words like #love, #happy, and #dog. And while using
these popular hashtags may get you a few more likes, it’s not going
to do much for your growth in the long-run.

Instead of using the most popular Instagram hashtags, it’s better to


use Instagram hashtags that have an engaged community behind
them, and are specific to your audience.

So, how are you


supposed to find these
cool, creative, and
community-oriented
hashtags? By creating
an Instagram hashtag
strategy, of course!

An Instagram hashtag strategy is


essentially any strategy that involves
tracking and organizing hashtags that
are relevant to your brand, and then
using them to expand your content
reach, amplify your brand, target
specific audiences, and get your
content discovered.

11
Chapter 2

How Instagram Hashtags Work


INSTAGRAM HASHTAG STRATEGY GUIDE

The different types of


Instagram hashtags
We’ve learned that hashtags can help you reach new
audiences on Instagram by connecting your posts to targeted
communities, but which hashtags should you actually be
using to boost your following?

#Tagging #every #single #possible #word is easy, but it won’t


help you find engaged followers. Understanding the different
types of hashtags and their corresponding audiences can help
you develop a more effective Instagram hashtag strategy.

13
INSTAGRAM HASHTAG STRATEGY GUIDE

Branded hashtags
A branded hashtag is a hashtag that’s unique to your business.
It can be as simple as your company name, tagline, or the name
of one of your products or campaigns. Or it can be a hashtag that
has nothing to do with your brand name, but has everything to do
with your brand identity.

While community hashtags are meant to increase the reach of your


message, branded hashtags are designed to connect themes for
you and your audience. They can be used to promote a campaign
or aggregate user-generated content (UGC).

A great example is
Herschel’s #HerschelSupply
hashtag, which they use to
group all of their Instagram
posts. Instagram users can
search for #HerschelSupply
to pull up any posts that
contain the hashtag.

TIP: Save time by


learning how to build
an Instagram ecommerce
marketing strategy

14
INSTAGRAM
INSTAGRAMHASHTAG
HASHTAGSTRATEGY
STRATEGYGUIDE
GUIDE

If you’re using Instagram for


business, it’s a great strategy
to create a hashtag around
your brand; whether it’s just
your brand name or a more
inspirational message.

15
INSTAGRAM HASHTAG STRATEGY GUIDE

Community hashtags
Community hashtags are hashtags that connect like-minded
users around a specific subject, such as #HealthyEating or
#CatsOfInstagram. They’re a great way to connect with others,
improve the SEO of your posts, gain followers, and grow
your own community.

The best way to find these community-oriented hashtags is


by looking to see which hashtags your audience, or favorite
accounts, are already using. The narrower the scope of the
hashtag, the more engaged the users are.

16
INSTAGRAM HASHTAG STRATEGY GUIDE

The best way to find


community-oriented hashtags
is by looking to see which

hashtags your audience,


or favorite accounts,
are already using.

17
INSTAGRAM HASHTAG STRATEGY GUIDE

#Hashtag rules
There are a number of rules and best practices that you need to
follow when using hashtags in your Instagram posts. Here are the
ins-and-outs of proper hashtagging on Instagram:

#1 #2
Number of hashtags Character count
Yes, there is a hashtag limit on While Instagram hashtags are not
Instagram! The most hashtags you can character-count-limited, it’s best
use on an Instagram post is 30. But trust practice to keep them brief. Short
us, 30 is more than enough. Posting a ton hashtags are more likely to be
of hashtags in your caption doesn’t look searched for and shared than
the best, and in fact, it can sometimes #longonesthatarehardtoread.
come across as too promotional and
inauthentic. Instead, choose a few
hashtags that are most representative of
your photo to use in your caption, and
then add the rest in the first comment.
#3
TIP: In order to determine what the
Types of characters
sweet spot is for your brand, take a look Hashtags don’t support spaces.
at how many hashtags influencers in So if you’re using two words, skip
your industry and your competitors use the space. For example, hashtags
in their posts. If you notice the accounts for the US election are tagged as
with the most engagement are using #USelection, not #US election.
a minimum of five hashtags in most of
their posts, that will give you a clue as
Hashtags also can’t include
to where to start. Then you can test out
special characters, like
posts with a slightly higher or lower
amount to find what works best. !, $, %, ^, &, *, and +.

#4 Banned hashtags
Instagram’s terms state that users In practice, there are two levels of censorship
“may not post violent, nude, partially on Instagram. Hashtags can either have an
nude, discriminatory, unlawful, infringing, outright block, meaning nothing will show up
hateful, pornographic or sexually suggestive when you attempt to browse that topic, or a
photos or other content.” The same is temporary ban, meaning images are prevented
true for hashtags! from appearing on those tags for a short-term.
18
INSTAGRAM HASHTAG STRATEGY GUIDE

How to add a hashtag


to an Instagram post
Hashtags can be added to your posts as captions or comments.
Assuming your Instagram account is public, a hashtag will make
your post discoverable on the corresponding hashtag page.

In order to add a hashtag to an Instagram post:

1. Select a photo or video to post

2. In the caption field, type #


followed by text or an emoji

3. Tap “OK” at the top of the screen

4. Select “Share”

If you want to add hashtags to a post you’ve already uploaded,


tap the three dots in the top right corner of your screen and
select “edit.” You can also add hashtags post-publishing by
tapping the speech bubble under the photo and typing the
hashtags in as a comment.

Another important thing to remember


is that you can only tag your own posts,
not other users’ photos or videos. 19
INSTAGRAM HASHTAG STRATEGY GUIDE

Take the first comment:


don’t post in your caption
Using too many hashtags in your caption can look spammy,
so it’s is best to use between 3-4 in your initial post description
and then up to 15 highly relevant hashtags in the first comment.
Taking the first comment is a great way to to add more hashtags
to your Instagram posts and increasing your exposure.

If you’re keen on hiding your hashtags, you can burying them


beneath dots and line breaks. In the caption or comment box tap
the 123 key. Select return and then enter a bullet point. Repeat
those steps at least five times. Instagram caps off captions after
three lines so the hashtags won’t be viewable to users unless they
tap the more option.
20
Chapter 3

The Science Behind Instagram Hashtags


INSTAGRAM HASHTAG STRATEGY GUIDE

Hashtags are the key to


discovery on Instagram.

Using the right


Instagram hashtags can
increase engagement
with your posts and
lead to more quality
followers.
So how do you find out which hashtags will work for your
posts? Which hashtags will put your posts in front of the right
audiences? To maximize their effectiveness, it’s important to
pick hashtags that are not only relevant to your brand, but
that are currently being used by your intended audience.

22
INSTAGRAM HASHTAG STRATEGY GUIDE

1. Find out what


hashtags your
audience is using
Throwing random hashtags at the end
2. Find out what
of your Instagram posts isn’t going to hashtags your
grow your audience. Instead, find out competitors are using
what hashtags your audience is using
and see which ones fit the content that It’s always smart to find out what
you’re publishing. Your hashtags should hashtags your competitors are using.
be relevant and contain keywords that By doing so, you can determine
users are actually searching for. which hashtags provide the most
engagement.

While it may not be your intention to


compete on those hashtags, you
could still end up figuring out what
your potential customers are talking
about and which hashtags they’re
using. And maybe you’ll discover new
hashtags to add to your repertoire!

23
INSTAGRAM HASHTAG STRATEGY GUIDE

4. Find related
hashtags
Surveying the landscape of trends that
are relevant to your own hashtag is an
easy and effective way to grow your
community. Simply type your hashtag
into the app’s search bar, and then
select “tags” from the dropdown menu.
You’ll then be able to see all of the top
hashtags that are closely related to
3. Find out what your own hashtag, revealing additional
hashtags influential ways to reach, monitor, and engage
with your community.
people in your
industry are using You can also browse through posts
containing a hashtag you’re already
One of the best ways to find hashtags having success with. Do you see a trend
you should be using is to follow of any other common hashtags that
“social influencers” that have the same could be included in future posts?
(or similar) target audience as you. If yes, write them down.
For the uninitiated, social influencers
are basically the people that tend
to perform exceptionally well on
social media. Every industry has its
respective key influencers. Find out
who these people are in your niche
and piggyback off their success.
These people are already well-
established with your target audience,
so why not learn from the best?
24
INSTAGRAM HASHTAG STRATEGY GUIDE

5. Use Instagram’s 6. Don’t forget about


search function popular hashtags!
Type in a keyword that’s relevant to It’s super important to focus on
your brand into Instagram’s search bar Instagram hashtags that have an
then select the “tags” tab. Instagram engaging community behind them and
will give you a list of all the hashtags are specific to your audience, but that
with that keyword as well as a number doesn’t mean you should ignore every
of posts that are tagged with it. popular Instagram hashtag trend.

Remember that a large number Tagged in over 330 million posts, #TBT
may mean a large number of people (Throwback Thursday) is one of the
following that hashtag, but it also most used hashtags on Instagram and
means there’s a ton of content your a great marketing opportunity. If your
post could get buried in. Experiment brand has a past, use #TBT to share it.
with a combination of popular and If your brand is brand new, you can use
niche hashtags. the hashtag to dig into the history of
your products or industry.

Keep in mind that hashtags are time


sensitive -- they reflect what’s trending
right now. So it’s best to post at
optimal times when lots of people are
on Instagram. One of the best ways is
to schedule your Instagram posts at
optimal times when your community
is most active.

25
INSTAGRAM HASHTAG STRATEGY GUIDE

Instagram hashtags are time


sensitive. Be sure to schedule
your Instagram posts at optimal
times when your community is
most active.

26
Chapter 4

How To Organize Your Instagram Hashtags


INSTAGRAM HASHTAG STRATEGY GUIDE

Do you have a system for


organizing your hashtags?

If you don’t or if your


current system leaves
much to be desired,
you’re probably
wasting a lot of time
and effort.

If you’re trying to capitalize on your Instagram and


get more likes and engagement engagement with
every post, you should have a system in place!

28
INSTAGRAM HASHTAG STRATEGY GUIDE

Use a spreadsheet or paste in notes


One of the simplest ways to organize your hashtags is by
posting them into Google Sheets. The reason we recommend
Google Sheets is because Instagram requires you post from
a mobile device, and Google Sheets is infinitely more
mobile-friendly than Excel.

STEP 1:

Create a new spreadsheet


and add your headers.
Open Google Sheets (or Excel), create a new workbook and
add these column headers in cells A1 through E1:

Hashtags • Category • # of posts


Date • Comments
29
INSTAGRAM HASHTAG STRATEGY GUIDE

STEP 2:

Format your spreadsheet


1. Select row 1, and click the “B” icon to bold it.

2. Freeze frames so that if you scroll down or to the


right, you will always see column A and row 1

Steps:
• Click “View” in the menu, then “Freeze” for “1 row.
• Click “View” again, and “Freeze” for “1 column”

30
INSTAGRAM HASHTAG STRATEGY GUIDE

STEP 3:
;

Enter your hashtags and


their relevant info
1. Type each hashtag exactly like this: #hashtag
(replace “hashtag” with the actual hashtag name)
– one hashtag per row, and all in column A.

2. Go to Instagram and in the search bar, enter the


hashtag you entered in A2, and click on the correct
hashtag from the selection that you are presented.

Steps:
Determine the most appropriate category you would
place this hashtag in (judging by the images, etc.)
and enter this category name in B2;
n • Enter the number of posts in C2;
• Enter today’s date in D2; AND
• Enter any comments you want about this
particular hashtag in E2 (e.g. the nature of the
photography, it’s relevance to you, etc.).
31
INSTAGRAM HASHTAG STRATEGY GUIDE

STEP 4:

See the overview


Finally, expand your columns so that everything
you entered is visible.

Steps:
• Select/highlight all of your columns
• Hover at the outer edge of column E until an
arrow appears (it may be single or double-ended,
depending on whether you are on a PC or Mac).
• Double-click.

If using a spreadsheet seems like more trouble than it’s worth,


consider using a notepad on your smartphone. This way you
can easily copy and paste your hashtag without having to
retype them each time you post an image.

32
INSTAGRAM HASHTAG STRATEGY GUIDE

Chapter 5

Create Your Own Branded


Instagram Hashtag

33
INSTAGRAM HASHTAG STRATEGY GUIDE

A branded hashtags is a
great way to start a
conversation with your
followers and increase
the reach of your content.
Branded hashtags are a way for your “fans” to share with their
followers how they are already engaging with your brand, and
for you to inspire user-generated content (UGC). It can mean
major growth for your followers and help with the overall
engagement on Instagram.

What is a branded hashtag?


One of the best way to get your posts viewed on Instagram is to
add hashtags. In fact, according to a study by Simply Measured,
posts with at least one Instagram hashtag average 12.6% more
engagement than posts without a hashtag. Instagram hashtags
easily amplify your message and help you reach a larger audience.
But Instagram hashtags are also great for branding, especially
when you’re in the midst of an Instagram marketing campaign.

So what exactly is a branded Instagram hashtag?

A branded hashtag is a hashtag that’s unique to your business.


It can be as simple as your company name, tagline, or the name
of one of your products or campaigns. Or it can be a hashtag
that has nothing to do with your brand name, but has everything
to do with your brand identity. A great example is Herschel’s
#WellTravelled hashtag, which the global accessory brand uses
to encourage their fans to upload photos of the adventures they
experience around the world.
34
INSTAGRAM HASHTAG STRATEGY GUIDE

Why are branded hashtags important?


Creating your own catchy, branded hashtag is a valuable
method for driving brand awareness and engagement.
But they also provide other benefits:

#1 #2
Optimize for Discovery Increase Traffic
Hashtags are basically another Like we mentioned above, hashtags
organic output for your content. make your brand discoverable. Once
If you optimize your hashtags and you’re easier to discover, you’re likely
use phrases or keywords pertaining to see higher social media traffic.
to your industry, you’re more Hashtag searches occur on Instagram
discoverable. all the time.

#3
Showcase Brand Advocates
Your brand advocates are trusted sources. In fact, a study
discovered that 92% of consumers trust brand advocates over
businesses. Hashtags are a great way to help showcase brand
advocate recommendations.

#4 #5
Measure Your Efforts Cross Networking
You can track hashtags within A nice feature of hashtags is you can
Instagra and gain insights into what’s use them across channels. This will
resonating with customers or what’s help your cross-channel promotions
falling flat. Having the extra data and make it easier to use hashtags for
could make all the difference. each major network.

35
INSTAGRAM HASHTAG STRATEGY GUIDE

How to use branded hashtags


Branded hashtags can be used to promote campaigns
or to showcase your products and services -- but in truth,
there are tons of awesome ways that businesses can leverage
branded hashtags to supercharge their Instagram marketing
efforts. Here are 5 of our favorites!

1. Collect user-generated content (UGC)


Contests structured around UGC are all the rage, and with good
reason: they’re fun, popular, and great for both driving engagement
and reaching a new audience. So what is a UGC campaign?
Generally, you create an ongoing contest built around participants
who contribute something in return for rewards. Usually it involves
an individual posting their own picture on Instagram, then tagging
it with a specific branded hashtag that your business has chosen.

A great example of a UGC


campaign comes from
Benefit Cosmetics, which
turned to Instagram to find
images of real people using
their mascara. Fans have
so far submitted more than
11,900 selfies on Instagram
using the #realsies hashtag. 36
INSTAGRAM HASHTAG STRATEGY GUIDE

2. Inspire your community


Instagram is a community built on the power of visual storytelling.
It’s where the world captures and shares its moments through
imagery. A branded Instagram hashtag can inspire your community
by creating a destination for people to share and collect beautiful
and meaningful content.

A great example of this comes from Lululemon with their


#thesweatlife hashtag. They engaged their community with a
hashtag to inspire and motivate new followers to live a healthy
lifestyle. And it worked! There are currently over 400,000 posts on
Instagram with their branded hashtag!
37
INSTAGRAM HASHTAG STRATEGY GUIDE

3. Take your followers


behind-the-scenes

Taking your followers behind-the-scenes is a great way to build


a deeper connection with your brand, and one of the best ways
to do this is with a branded Instagram hashtag. Keep your
followers in the loop about company news and product launches,
or simply give you audience a peek at how your brand does what
it does -- from the people to the product.

Kit and Ace’s #thisiskitandace hashtag is a perfect example.


The Canadian apparel brand uses the hashtag to share behind-
the-scenes images of its employees, products, and events.

Instagram is like any other relationship, you have to put in the time
and make yourself accessible to your community and show a little
love before you expect anything in return.
38
INSTAGRAM HASHTAG STRATEGY GUIDE

4. Create a customized hashtag


for your event
If you’re hosting an event, pick a hashtag beforehand and
encourage your followers to share content surrounding it on
Instagram. It will help drive participation and engagement,
and will also organize all the posts that are tagged with it on
a hashtag page.

The key to successfully marketing an event with hashtags is


creating a unique, catchy, and to-the-point hashtag that encourage
users to reshare, retweet, and repost. A hashtag such as “#food”
won’t nearly be as successful as a more specific unique hashtag
like “#SuperBowl50.”

39
INSTAGRAM HASHTAG STRATEGY GUIDE

5. Promote new products


As creative hashtag projects grow in popularity, having an active
branded hashtag that your customers actually want to use is the
pot of gold at the end of the Instagram rainbow. By including the
appropriate hashtags in your posts, you can effectively reach new
people interested in your products. The key is to use branded
hashtags that not only describe your photos and business, but
entices users to purchase.

MAC Cosmetics did this to


launch Caitlyn Jenner’s
new collection of lipsticks,
eye shadows, pencils, and
face powders. They shared
their #MACCaitlynJenner
hashtag on several posts
in the days leading up
to the launch to build
excitedment around the
new makeup line.

40
INSTAGRAM HASHTAG STRATEGY GUIDE

Best practices
Now that you have an idea of what a branded Instagram hashtag
is, you’re probably wondering exactly how to create a branded
Instagram hashtag. But before you start coming up with clever
phrases or keywords, here are some tips to keep in mind:

1. Keep it simple
Keep your brand hashtag short, simple, and easy to spell so
your fans and customers can easily remember it. You want to
be specific, but something like “#reallytastycoffeetoronto” for a
coffee shop won’t catch on because it has too many characters.
“#GreatCoffeeTO” makes more sense in this case.

41
INSTAGRAM HASHTAG STRATEGY GUIDE

2. Avoid competition 3. Spelling sensitive


You want your branded Instagram Make sure your hashtag is easy
hashtag to be relevant and centered to read and to spell by avoiding
around a topic that people will double letters (if you can), as
be enthusiastic about discussing, well as commonly misspelled
but you also want it to be specific words. There’s no point in
enough that it doesn’t get drowned hashtag gibberish!
out in all the noise of #coffee
#toronto. Search Instagram for
your ideas to find out if and how
your hashtag ideas are already
being used. Make sure your
branded Instagram hashtag is
unique enough that it deters off-
topic discussion.

4. Be memorable
Make your hashtag a catchy phrase
that rolls of the tongue, or make it
something so simple that it’s a no-
brainer for people to add to their
Instagram photos. Use familiar words
and brand-centric phrases, and don’t
be afraid of adding in some creativity!

An example of this is @shopbando’s


branded hashtag, #bandofun.
It includes both their brand name,
which is easy to say and spell, and
then adds the word “fun” after it!

42
INSTAGRAM HASHTAG STRATEGY GUIDE

5. Incorporate humor or cleverness


Hashtags that are either funny, cleverly constructed, or both are
much more likely to leave a lasting impression. Check out Red
Bull’s #PutACanOnIt hashtag campaign for inspiration! They invited
their followers to upload photos to Instagram with the hashtag,
and ended up with almost 10,000 original and highly creative
photos being submitted.

6. Don’t forget to spread the word


Creating your own catchy, branded Instagram hashtag is a
valuable method for gaining brand awareness, but it can take
some legwork to get people to start using it. You should include
your branded Instagram hashtag in all marketing materials,
including email, any printed products and brand imagery.
It should also span all your social media networks -- not just
Instagram! Don’t forget to add your hashtag to your Instagram
bio so your followers know to use it!
43
Chapter 6

Engage With Your Community


INSTAGRAM HASHTAG STRATEGY GUIDE

Spend 30 minutes each day engaging


with your hashtag communities
The quickest way to build a following on Instagram is to monitor
and engage with communities that use specific hashtags. To do
this, you’ll first need to find popular hashtags that your community
is adding to their photos and engaging with.

Research which hashtags


other industry influencers or
competitors are using, and
then spend time each day
monitoring and engaging
with the content of each tag.
The manual work of liking a ton of photos may make your thumb
sore, but it effectively makes other users aware of your profile.
Every time you like a photo, the user who posted the content sees
your avatar and handle, and some will click on your profile to learn
more. If they like what they see, then you’ve just scored yourself
one more follower! However, be careful not to “troll” hashtags:
remember to acknowledge your new followers with a comment,
additional likes, and a “followback.”

45
INSTAGRAM HASHTAG STRATEGY GUIDE

Search for hashtags


with Search & Repost
Do you ever wish you could search for photos on Instagram
by hashtags, and then easily repost them? Later’s Search and
Repost feature allows you to search for content by location, user,
or hashtag and add it directly to your media library to schedule
or repost into your own feed. Later also adds photo credit text
directly into the caption box for you, making the process of
providing proper credit to the original Instagram account simple
and easy.

Search and Repost is a feature designed to help Instagram users


discover and engage with the best and most relevant Instagram
content, including hashtags. From the Later web app, simply click
on “search” and enter a hashtag into the search bar. Remember
to include the # before the hashtag.

You can also use Search & Repost to see how many times
your branded hashtag has been used. When someone uses
your branded hashtag, consider sending them a quick
acknowledgment in the comments section of their post.
It’s a great way to engage your community!

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INSTAGRAM HASHTAG STRATEGY GUIDE

Chapter 7

Save Time With Instagram

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INSTAGRAM HASHTAG STRATEGY GUIDE

Running a business
Instagram account can
be very overwhelming
and time consuming.
You have to put together your content, schedule, and research
new hashtags, respond to comments and more. As an business,
it’s important to find ways to save time.

Schedule and manage your


Instagram posts
Want to save time with your Instagram
marketing? Later is a web app that
helps you schedule posts for multiple
Instagram accounts, collaborate with
team members, and plan and preview
your Instagram feed.

If you plan and schedule Instagram


posts for your campaign ahead of
time, you’ll be able to focus more
on engaging your audience, replying
to comments, and promoting your
campaign once it’s launched. It’s way
easier to plan the order of your posts,
write all your captions, and use Later
to schedule your Instagram posts
in one chunk of time, instead of
scrambling to do it everyday.

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INSTAGRAM HASHTAG STRATEGY GUIDE

Other best practices

DO DON’T
Add hashtags that are Add irrelevant hashtags,
relevant to your image like #justsaying #omg
and your brand. #obsessed #life.

Go overboard on your
Make up your own business Instagram hashtags,
#hashtag and use it on your between 3 and 5 is sufficient.
marketing materials. If you want to post more,
do it in the first comment!

Create a list of hashtags suited


to your niche. Save them on
Misspell your hashtags.
your smartphone. Copy and
paste your hashtags into the
first comment on your post.

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INSTAGRAM HASHTAG STRATEGY GUIDE

Conclusion

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INSTAGRAM HASHTAG STRATEGY GUIDE

Expanding your marketing


strategy to Instagram is a viable
option for business owners who
want to leverage visual content
and reach new audiences.

With Later, you can plan,


curate, manage, and preview
your visual strategy to build
awareness for your brand and
incentivize new customers.

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INSTAGRAM HASHTAG STRATEGY GUIDE

Put your Instagram


marketing plan
into action!
Join Later to save time on your visual content
strategy and curate thematic content to appeal to
your Instagram audience.

Sign up now!

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INSTAGRAM HASHTAG STRATEGY GUIDE

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