Instagram Hashtag Strategy Guide
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
Conclusion 50
About Later
5
INSTAGRAM HASHTAG STRATEGY GUIDE
12.6%
more engagement
that posts without
a hashtag.
6
INSTAGRAM HASHTAG STRATEGY GUIDE
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
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.
9
INSTAGRAM HASHTAG STRATEGY GUIDE
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.
11
Chapter 2
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.
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.
14
INSTAGRAM
INSTAGRAMHASHTAG
HASHTAGSTRATEGY
STRATEGYGUIDE
GUIDE
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.
16
INSTAGRAM HASHTAG STRATEGY GUIDE
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
4. Select “Share”
22
INSTAGRAM HASHTAG STRATEGY GUIDE
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
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.
25
INSTAGRAM HASHTAG STRATEGY GUIDE
26
Chapter 4
28
INSTAGRAM HASHTAG STRATEGY GUIDE
STEP 1:
STEP 2:
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:
;
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:
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.
32
INSTAGRAM HASHTAG STRATEGY GUIDE
Chapter 5
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.
#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
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
39
INSTAGRAM HASHTAG STRATEGY GUIDE
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
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!
42
INSTAGRAM HASHTAG STRATEGY GUIDE
45
INSTAGRAM HASHTAG STRATEGY GUIDE
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!
46
INSTAGRAM HASHTAG STRATEGY GUIDE
Chapter 7
47
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.
48
INSTAGRAM HASHTAG STRATEGY GUIDE
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!
49
INSTAGRAM HASHTAG STRATEGY GUIDE
Conclusion
50
INSTAGRAM HASHTAG STRATEGY GUIDE
51
INSTAGRAM HASHTAG STRATEGY GUIDE
Sign up now!
52
INSTAGRAM HASHTAG STRATEGY GUIDE
53