Hashtags are not going anywhere soon; instead, they are becoming more popular and more effective for brands to increase engagement on their Instagram accounts.

Using the right Instagram hashtags have helped brands increase engagement with their audience and create more awareness. When you use hashtags after an Instagram post, it increases your brand’s visibility as users can find your post or account when they click on the hashtag you used when doing general searches.

There are many things to learn about using hashtags on Instagram to increase brand visibility and ensure you are getting a return on your marketing investment. In this guide, you’ll learn the essential things you need to know about using Instagram hashtags and tricks to making them more effective on your posts.

It’s when you use the hash (#) symbol before adding keywords that give a hint of your post or your brand’s identity. Note that you don’t need to add any space after the hash symbol. Go on and type out all your keywords, for example, #theultimateguide. You will notice there was no spacing between the hash, the ultimate, and guide. They were all merged. If you want to add different keywords to a post, here is an example #increaseengagement #instagramhashtag #newfollowers. You can add as many as 30 hashtags on an Instagram post.

What are hashtags?

To increase engagement with followers using hashtags, use more specific hashtags. If your account is about touring and you post a picture of a new tour site, include detailed information as tags such as the location, restaurants, or hanging out spots around it.

How to make posts appear on top of the hashtag page 

Every popular hashtag on Instagram has a page featuring the posts that use it most. Users go through the post that appears first on the hashtag page. To get yours at the top of the page, you’ll need to use the hashtag often. For instance, if your niche is about travels and touring, use the hashtag #travels #tours #whatsinmybag, and other related travel keywords regularly.

Another determinant is the number of your followers. If you have a large following which will get you more likes and comments, you’ll stand a chance of getting featured on the hashtag page.  When your posts get featured, your Instagram account becomes visible to people who are yet to follow you.

Here are some of the recent things you need to know about using an Instagram hashtag in 2019:

Recent Instagram hashtags development

Following hashtags

There is now an option to follow hashtags on Instagram. Why follow different brands for content you can get by following a relevant hashtag. However, this doesn’t mean that people who follow hashtags do not also follow brands. If they check out your post on the hashtag page and like it, you will likely get followed.

Don’t show for this hashtag

Instagram now has an option for users who do not like a hashtag that showed up on their feed. The “Don’t show for this hashtag” allows the user to remove the kind of hashtag they won’t like to see, which helps Instagram’s algorithm present them with only those they prefer.

Avoid using irrelevant hashtags on your posts so that users will not have to use the option, because when it happens continuously, Instagram might stop featuring your posts permanently. Add only relevant hashtags so that they get seen by those who need to see them.

Using hashtags on Insta stories

You can now add hashtags to Instagram stories. To confirm this, go to a hashtag page and click on the Instagram story button located on the page’s top-left side. Getting your post shown in the story will bring more visibility and probably new followers. So, next time before posting an Instagram story, add hashtags to them.  

Other recent developments about hashtags are:

You can now add up to 30 hashtags in a single Instagram post. If you want to add to your story, you’ll have to limit it to 10. You can also add clickable hashtags to your bio, which takes users to the hashtag’s page.

Another development is measuring the performance of your hashtags on Instagram if you have a business profile. To access the data for analyzing the performance, click on the post you want to analyze and select “view insight.” It will show you the post’s interactions, which includes profile visits, website clicks, and emails.

Getting the right Instagram hashtags to use:

While using branded hashtags makes a whole lot of sense, you’ll still want to use popular hashtags related to your niche to make it easy for the right audience to find you. Here’s are some ways to find relevant Instagram hashtags to use:

Use the search function

You can get lots of hashtags using Instagram’s search function. All you need to do is type a word related to your niche, select the tags tab to get all the hashtags associated with it. When choosing the hashtags to use, choose only those that are not too popular so that your post doesn’t get lost in the crowd.

Check out influential people and your competition

To get inspiration, you need to check out what others in your niche are doing. Check out influencers and others with large followings in your niche to see the hashtags they are using. You can also check out your competitors to see if there is a unique way they include hashtags to attract more followers.

Reuse hashtags

You can go through your old posts that had excellent performance, take note of the hashtags, and use them in future posts.

Key things to remember about using the Instagram hashtag

Don’t use more than 30 hashtags, and if you can keep it moderate by using only nine hashtags, which have proved to have more engagement.

Avoid using hashtags that have no relation to your post. You will only end up irritating Instagram users who will block your posts.

Avoid using the #followmeback hashtag as it will only attract the wrong users who are likelier to be spammers.