Ah, hashtags. Some laud them, while some think using them seems thirsty. Here's the deal, hashtags are still a super-efficient way to get people to look at your posts. I know what you're thinking, "vanity metrics don't count anymore, Nicky. Eyes on an Instagram post don't mean a thing." Oh, my sweet reader, how wrong you are. According to research done by Sprout, a post with at least one Instagram hashtag averages 12.6% more engagement than posts without a hashtag. That's just with one hashgag—ehem, I mean hashtag. Imagine a whole bucket load of hashtags (and, by "bucket load," I mean thirty because that's all the Instagram algorithm allows).
Now, strategy. Having a plan for anything is essential. Think of Rocky Balboa from the film Rocky. Did Rocky just willy nilly walk into the ring to fight Creed without any training? No, he and Mikey, planned, practiced, and worked together to make Rocky an optimal fighter. You're going to do the same thing, but with a social strategy. Cue "Eye of the Tiger. "
Instagram is unique because it allows you to add up to thirty hashtags per post, and there are many schools of thought on how they should be posted. Some believe the Instagram algorithm favors posts that use hashtags in the copy. They could be right, but there's something about this tactic that feels unauthentic to me. As a writer, copy is special—sacred, if you will— and littering it with a bunch of hashtags just doesn't feel right.
If you agree, you might want to consider my strategy instead.
I write the caption and add three relevant hashtags at the end of the post.
I have a couple of hashtag banks to pull from that are relevant to the brands I work with. Let’s say I help you run a spirituality-related Instagram specifically about chakras. I’ll keep a #hashtag bank or two related to #chakras, #spirituality, and the like. I take about fifteen of those hashtags (and I try to change them up per post) and dump those in the first comment but I don’t stop there.
Then, I get creative. I use lesser-used hashtags relevant to the brand. With the more common ones, your post might not be seen because there are millions of other users using that same hashtag. They're still good to use because Instagram loves specificity, but your post might get lost with all the others. With less-used hashtags, you have a better chance of being seen.
Make sense? Follow my Instagram @nickyvaldeswrites to see my hashtag strategy for your own eyes. I ~love~ to hear from you, dear reader!
