Hashtag. What comes to your mind first when you think of it. A name, a word or a phrase with prefix # , right? But how do you actually define a Hashtag in front of someone? What’s its use? How does it benefit you? What are the types of hashtags? What hashtag is appropriate for your post? And most importantly what are the top hashtag on Instagram?
In this article you will find answers to all the above questions in detail with complete information. If you are new on Instagram or trying to build your business online, Instagram hashtag can be a great help to you. Hashtag can work as a key to your Instagram success if used properly.
Hashtag can get you more likes and comments on your posts because it categories your post for Instagram and then Instagram makes your post available to the people with the same Interest. But remember, every coin has two faces. If used improperly or in a wrong manner, a hashtag also contains the potential to cause damage.
In order to develop a better understanding of how to use appropriate hashtag for your post, you need to understand how they actually work and what role it plays.
What are Instagram hashtags?
Hashtag simply could be any word, phrase, combination or letters, numbers, emoji, etc. with symbol #before it. For example, #likeforlike. Remember, a hashtag doesn’t contain space. Basically it’s a minute unit of trends that can lead you to success on Instagram.
Basically, Hashtag help categorize or group your content and make it easily discoverable. Instagram finds it easy to recognize your category or niche by hashtag and make your posts available to more people.
Hashtag are clickable. Once you click on a hashtag, you will see a whole long list of accounts/posts which have used the same hashtag. So, when you use a hashtag in your post, you get added to that list and it becomes easier for people to find you.
Top Instagram Hashtags in 2022
- #fashion
- #instafood
- #happy
- #love
- #tbt
- #photooftheday
- #like4like
- #picoftheday
- #me
- #folllowme
- #follow
- #art
- #summer
- #selfie
- #me
- #instadaily
- #friends
- #nature
- #repost
- #style
- #girl
- #food
- #fun
- #instalike
- #family
- #likeforlike
- #travel
- #fitness
- #trending
- #viral
- #instagood
- #trendingnow
- #worldcup
- #nofilter
- #beauty
- #tagsforlikes
- #viralpost
- #instamood
- #music
- #makeup
- #igers
- #amazing
- #photo
- #photography
- #dog
- #sunset
- #model
- #sky
- #lifestyle
- gym
- #beach
- #foodporn
- #cat
- #handmade
- #f4f
- #lifestyle
- #motivation
- #design
- #vscocam
- #hair
- #toofunny
- #followforfollow
- #funny
- #bestoftheday
- #instapic
- #pretty
- #dogsofinstagram
- #vsco
- #drawing
- #artist
- #memes
- #wedding
- #baby
- #flowers
- #photographer
- #party
- #swag
- #healthy
- #cool
- #inspiration
- #yummy
- #fit
- #lol
- #workout
- #blackandwhite
- #winter
- #black
- #home
- #foodie
- #christmas
- #london
- #blue
- #holiday
- #sea
- #landscape
- #pink
- #insta
- #design
- #f4fl
Most popular business Hashtags
- #entrepreneur
- #branding
- #onlineshop
- #ecommerce
- #retail
- #business
- #smallbusiness
- #marketingtips
- #management
- #B2B
- #startups
- #b2bsales
- #businesstips
- #eventmarketing
- #innovation
- #marketingdigital
- #sale
- #marketing
- #socialmediamarketing
- #promo
- #socialmedia
- #training
- #networking
- #advertising
- #smallbiz
- #contentmarketing
- #socialmediatips
- #b2c
- #marketplace
- #b2cmarketing
Why should you use Instagram Hashtags?
As you may already know that Instagram is no longer the chatting or social media app that was launched in 2010. It has now become the hub of online businesses, trading, marketing, etc with billions of people as its customers using it everyday. For businesses or start-ups, it is a very significant platform to approach new customers.
I think you already got one reason to stay on Instagram but now you might think about where the hashtag comes from, right?
- Expanding reach: Hashtag play a vital role in expanding your Instagram reach and finding more new customers. The more your reach is, the more is your audience. When you use a relevant hashtag for your post, you appear on the list of that hashtag. Your profile is more likely to get discovered by people and show up in top search results.
Some people also follow hashtag which means they can see your hashtagged post even if they don’t follow you.
- Community building: Community building is one of the best perks of using Instagram Hashtag. You can build a community online by using Hashtag as people will be more likely to engage with your brand.
For instance, when the way of work out changed in 2020, the Nike Los Angeles began using #playinside to connect and bring all the local people together to get active in their homes.
- Boost Followers: You might be aware of this as most people believe that using more Hashtag can also increase your followers. Though some people believe it’s a misconception, Hashtag can actually help you with the follower count if used in correct way.
What does Instagram say about Hashtags?
As most people usually get illusioned with the popularity of Hashtags, Instagram doesn’t admit that popular Hashtags are exactly the effective ones. Note that the popularity of a Hashtag doesn’t ensure effectiveness.
A lot of people may use the same Hashtag that people follow most. But you have to be careful while using Hashtag for your post as your post might get lost in the crowd of content on it. Instagram suggests using a combination of popular and niche Hashtags to reach different audience from broad to specific.
Types of Instagram Hashtags
You should know that Hashtag is not just one type. Instagram introduces nine types of Hashtag that you can use according to your need. While using Hashtag, you also need to understand what type of Hashtag is appropriate or useful for your post.
Niche Hashtags
Niche means the category of your work or profession. But it’s a little more deeper and specific because you have to show which context of your industry you fit in. For example, #foodblogger, #bikerider, #travelvlogger, etc.
Product or Service Hashtags
It’s simply the word that best suits your product. A word that could describe your product like #eyeliner #footwear, #menclothing, etc.
Community Building Hashtags
As we explained above, Hashtag might be a great help to build community online. Instagram Hashtag which appeal to a particular group of people come under this category. For instance, #Iranianwomen #instagraminfleuencers #craftersofinstagram
Seasonal Hashtags
The words that refer to a particular or special event, Season or Holidays. It could be used for winter vacation like #wintervacation or #summerdays. Or it could be used to refer to a national holiday such as #nationalnailpolishday #republicday.
Location Hashtags
You must be familiar with this one as nowadays it’s normal for people to tag the location they go to for a vacation or anything else. Some people directly geo-tag their Instagram post but yet it would be better if you include a location Hashtag referring to your actual location such as #vacationsinbali or #londoneats.
Daily Hashtags
If you are a regular Instagram user, you must know that everyday has a lots of its own hashtag such as #sundayvibes or #mondayblues. You can find a plenty of creative daily hashtag online.
Phrase Hashtags
It’s not necessary for a hashtag to be a word of a whole sentence, phrases can also be turned into Hashtag. It could actually be fun as well as beneficial to you as they can help you to connect to existing communities. For example, #shewhowanders of #amwriting.
Acronym Hashtags
The best known acronym Hashtags is perhaps #tbt which means Throwback Thursday. The example must have made it clear for you what is an acronym hashtag. It’s basically a short form Hashtags for a phrase. Some other popular acronym hashtags that you might have heard are #OOTD for outfit of the day, #YOLO for you can live once and #FBF for Flashback Friday.
Emoji Hashtags
Here comes our last type of hashtag which is probably the most interesting and attractive ones. The hashtags include emojis or words and phrases with emojis. Examples are #???? and #sunglasses???.
How many Instagram Hashtags to use?
You are allowed to use upto 30 hashtags on a single post while 10 on a story. You won’t be able to put more than the limit. There is no right or wrong number of Hashtags that you should use on a single Instagram post. Some people say that you should not use so many hashtags in a single post while some suggest you can if it’s relevant.
So, it’s all up to you eventually. The highest recommended number of hashtags is 13 to start with but the most common number of hashtags to use is 3 to 5. Instagram suggests using 3 to 5 hashtags per post only as it makes it easier for them to categorise you. On the contrary, you can use 30 hashtags on a post and many online platforms suggest using as many hashtags as possible on Instagram.
Note that before reaching any conclusion you need to determine what works for you. There’s a possibility that even after using 30 hashtags you don’t get a good response from users while on the other hand a couple of hashtags can get you a large following.
How to hide hashtags on Instagram posts?
When you are a caption lover and give a lot of time to a beautiful caption, you might not want to end your great Instagram caption with a reliable collection of Hashtags. So how to use captions without even showing them on the top? There are a few ways to hide or precisely make it less visible.
Follow the steps to hide your hashtags:
- Write a caption for your post as you normally do without including any hashtag.
- Now once you publish your post, simply go to the comment section and click the speech bubble icon to leave a comment.
- Now type or paste all the prominent hashtags you want to use and post it.
- Your Mobile viewers will not be able to see the hashtags until they open the comment section. Until then, it would be invisible to users. While on the desktop, your comment will remain at the top visible to everyone. So, if you’re targeting a mobile audience, it’s the right method for you.
How to find Trending Hashtags on Instagram?
Finding trending hashtags on Instagram is nothing like the way it’s on Twitter. Unlike Twitter, Instagram doesn’t showcase the trending hashtags in a different section, you have to figure it out yourself. However, if you tap the search icon on the bottom of your screen, a search bar will open. When you enter any hashtag in it, it will take you to a page consisting of several hashtags using the same word. You will also find how many posts have featured that Hashtag.
When you start observing your Instagram feed, you will gradually learn to spot the trending Instagram Hashtags. But you don’t need to rush. It’s not always necessary to go with trends until or unless it works for you. First see if your content matches that hashtag.
5 Tips to use hashtags on Instagram
We have already told you a lot of things about Hashtags including what they are, why to use hashtags, how to find the relevant one, types of Hashtags and how many to use. Now is the time for a few Essential tips for using hashtags on Instagram that can actually help you in a lot of ways.
- Use Insights to see the performance of your tags
If you have switched to a business profile on Instagram, you must be given a feature called Insights. You can access this feature to know how many impressions received from hashtags. You will have insights for individual posts so you can go check the insights of whatever post you have chosen. Swipe up to see all the insights including impressions on tags.
- Use hashtags on Instagram stories
When you have a closer look at the hashtag page, you will find a story icon on the bottom by tapping on which you will be able to see stories of people with public accounts tagged with the same Hashtag. There are two ways you can include hashtags on Instagram stories. First is by simply using hashtag sticker and the second is typing # and continue the same way you do for a photo or video post caption.
- Avoid using banned hashtags
When some inappropriate content is associated with a hashtag, Instagram might ban it. But it doesn’t mean that you can’t use it. Of course you can. Even if you click on it, you will see the top posts with that tag but no recent post or Instagram story.
You should know that using banned hashtags can result in drop in engagement rate as spammed or banned Instagram hashtags attract the unwanted audience with no interest in your content. It also makes a bad impression on the users by your side. Also, there might be some hashtags that could result in drop in engagement for you even though they’re not banned. So, avoid using hashtags that sought for likes and comments such as #like4like or #follow4follow.
- Understand how hashtag page works
When you use a hashtag, you become a part of the page that shows which post have featured the same hashtag. And ultimately, this is a great way to expose your content to a new audience. You can also stay in the top section if you have used that hashtag most recently. Recent section is sorted based on who used it recently but the posting time that is considered is when the post was originally shared. So, if you add any comment or tags after publishing the post, it will have no effect on your position in the Recent section.
- Don’t use irrelevant or repetitive hashtags
Instagram’s community guidelines make it very clear that using repetitive hashtags for every post can get your content penalised by the algorithm. So mind if you are using the same hashtags for every post just because you think they are good or working for you.
Also, try to use more relevant hashtags that connect with your content. What we want to say is that pick hashtags that make sense for your Instagram post. When your post reaches to right user, you will get a good response leading to a higher engagement rate.