Better by the Gram: Use Hashtags
This cannot be stressed enough. Instagram allows up to thirty hashtags. DO NOT use all thirty on every post!!! That is a great way to drop engagement rates. I suggest using no more than fifteen to twenty and on very rare occasion, use all thirty. As an example, I plan to release a book in the next twelve months about my travels. Each state is its own chapter and I am releasing the unedited version as individual blog pieces. I will use the thirty hashtag limit for each state chapter and they will be scheduled in advance, BUT I will also schedule a minimum of two additional posts per day with no more than fifteen hashtags in them. This will keep my total daily average of around twenty and won’t look like I am trying to game the algorithm because Instagram HATES when someone does that.
When researching your hashtags to use, look on Instagram at the numbers of instances the hashtag was used in each. Anything over 500,000 is bad to use. Target hashtags between 100,000 and 500,000 uses. That should be the sweet spot on getting noticed and being relevant. It shows too large of an audience and won’t get noticed in the ocean. You need a pond. Smaller, more localized hashtags are better. It is analogous to niche websites where “niches get riches.” Using my travel book example, I will search smaller hashtags within communities in each city I want to tag. There are times to break this rule, such as the hashtag #NewAuthor, for instance. It is very important to spend the time to find hashtags in your niche.
Hashtags are keywords. If you have done any website development, you know the importance of using keywords for searchability. Why wouldn’t you want to use this fantastic tool?
The following are some rules that should be applied to your routine hashtag usage:
-In the first remark on the post, avoid using hashtags. With practically every update to the app, they appear to work and don't work at different times. In any case, it doesn't appear any more clean. So don't do it and don't take the chance.
-Keep hashtags separate from your caption. Your point will be more clearly conveyed.
-Use only hashtags with 500,000 or fewer posts. Simply put, your material will go into oblivion, and your hashtags will have been wasted. Fewer than 100,000 is fine. You may earn a smaller, more dedicated audience.
-Use a maximum number of thirty hashtags, but I recommend fewer, no more than twenty except for special occasions.
-Use a hashtag that is pertinent to the image you are publishing. That means, use hashtags for your individual postings rather than your entire account. Don't #PalmTrees and post a photo of you and your friends in front of the Flatiron building in New York City if you have a NYC-based post.
-On each post, use a different hashtag. Instead, periodically rewrite them with the aforementioned factors in mind. Instagram may consider your use of the same hashtags repeatedly to be spam and may remove your content from hashtag searches if this happens. The Hipsters and other mod folks call it being “shadowbanned.” With this in mind, a few repetitive hashtags are OK, such as the use of your personal hashtags moniker, such as my use of #MichaelBeebe and #TheMichaelBeebe.
I can guarantee that if you take the suggested actions, more people will notice, like, and share your posts. Obviously, hashtags aren't the only way to be found, but they're arguably the simplest technique, however, some individuals don't use them effectively enough and certain marketing authorities consistently advise them to cease utilizing them. Those marketing authorities are wrong, in my less than humble opinion.
