How Small Business Owners Can Use Hashtags to Grow their Brand Awareness on Instagram
Hashtags are a helpful tool you can use to drive traffic to your Instagram feed. They are basically search terms that you can add to your post to make it pop up when other Instagram users search those terms on the app. Here are 8 tips for how you can use hashtags as part of your social media strategy to increase your brand awareness and grow your business!
Use as many as you can:
You can use up to 30 hashtags per post on Instagram, and I recommend using as many as you can to help maximize your traffic. No, you won’t appear spammy if you follow my next tip 😉
Post them in the comments:
To avoid cluttering up your original post caption and appearing spammy, you can put your hashtags in a separate comment below. It will drive traffic just the same wherever you post them, so I recommend hiding them in that first comment!
Research ahead of time:
Make sure to set aside time to research appropriate hashtags for your future posts ahead of time. That way you can easily and quickly attach constructive hashtags to a post when the time comes and you aren’t shooting in the dark here. To research hashtags, you can just type in one that you think might be a good fit and see how many other posts are in that group and what other people are hashtagging their similar posts with. It can be a bit of a rabbit trail, but keep notes on what you find and it will be helpful when posting time comes.
Copy and Paste:
I create a bank of hashtags (via the research I mentioned above) on different themes and then copy and paste them into the comments after I post. Most planning software comes with a built-in section to keep your hashtag groups, but if you don’t use any planning software you can use a notes app on your phone to store these for easy access. I have found that it is most helpful to keep sets of 15 hashtags specific to a theme and then I can post a couple of different sets if I need to.
Change them up:
Try not to post the exact same set of hashtags on each post. If you continue to post the same set each time, Instagram might think you are spamming and this will act against you getting seen. That is part of the reason why I keep my sets to 15 hashtags so that I can switch things up easily.
Use local hashtags:
I always make sure to use local hashtags as often as I can too. This means that I research the location I am posting about first and make a bank of hashtags for that location. For instance, if I am posting about my hometown, Tacoma, Washington I make sure to use hashtags like #tacoma_wa, #gritcity or #heartoftacoma, you can also add your city to your industry for some effective hashtags like #tacomacreatives or #shopsmalltacoma.
get specific:
When you use general terms in your hashtags like #love or #happy your post gets buried in seconds because there are so many other posts using that hashtag. Try to find niche hashtags that are smaller and more specific to you without getting so specific that no one is searching for them. I usually try to find hashtags that have more than a few hundred posts but less than 100k.
Make your own hashtag:
If you are promoting a brand you can create your own hashtag and encourage your customers to use it too. It will help create brand awareness, and you can follow hashtags now too! Encourage your followers to use and follow your hashtag by putting it in your bio. It’s a fun way to promote user-generated content and gain more traction for your brand.