What are they, how do I use them and how can they help my business? Let us demystify the hashtag…
First things first
If you have direction, you are much more likely to succeed. You will need to create a clear Instagram Marketing Strategy before you embark on random posts.
1. Who is your audience (who do they follow, what do they engage with)
2. Why are you doing this campaign (for awareness, engagement or traffic
3. What must they do next (sign up, download or purchase)
When you have these answers, make sure that your proposed post marries to the desired outcome.
Why are hashtags so important?
Once you put your hashtag in your caption, your content will get automatically categorised and this will increase the audience for the post in search results.
So, let us work through some examples on how to increase your discoverability with a new audience:
If I am looking for a vegan cake recipe on Instagram, I would search for the words that are most associated with the desired outcome.
#VeganChocolateCake or #VeganCakeRecipe. It is important the word vegan and cake is included in your hashtag.
I was looking for farm wedding décor inspiration, I might search
#FarmWeddingDecor or #FarmWeddingInspiration. It is important the words farm and wedding is used as a primary search term. Other hashtags that would be used would be for example: #BohoWedding #CountryWedding #FarmBride
How do I choose a hashtag?
Firstly, when choosing a hashtag, try not to combine more than 3 or 4 words. A tip for legibility, capitalise words for easy reading – example #10amBeautyTip
In the age of digital overwhelm, for small businesses in a niche market, it will be more beneficial to your business to find the right audience that is looking for your service or product .
For example:
#HelicopterCapeTown rather than #tourcapetown, or
#BotanicalWallpaper rather than #Wallpaper
If you are an influencer and you get paid on the amount of hits for an international make- up brand, you might want to widen your appeal (example #smokeyeyes). However as influencer marketing grows, brands are paying on engagement (interaction with the post, such as shares, comments AND likes) and not just the likes.
Share your hashtag in your Bio
You want people to know your hashtag, so make sure it is visible on your page. Next time your client/customers visit they will post and use your hashtag creating more reach and getting higher engagement.
For example Le Creuset has their own hashtag – #LeCreuset so all they need to do to see who or how people are using their products is to search, simple – right?
Events and awareness
If you are planning on hosting an event, think ahead – plan well in advance and create yourself a hashtag for it. This not only raises awareness of the event but also builds it up which then creates more engagement and more traffic to your brand.
Gretha, a teenage activist that used social media to create worldwide gatherings of thousands young people asking their country\’s leaders to consider the environment and their future.
For charities or causes, hashtags drive awareness (for example #metoo or #plasticfreesea)
Do your # homework
Research your hashtags to find your audience (search your own hashtag to see how many results you get, refine your hashtag audience further). Rather than 10 hashtags per post – go for three strong hashtags that are going to create awarness, engagement and build your brand to the right followers for your business.
Local businesses, niche down on your hashtag such as:
#Chocolate 66.1M (too big) #londonchocolate 8575 posts
#Veganrecipes 3.1M posts (too big) versus #Vegancapetown 5500 Posts
#childrensbedrooms 39K posts versus #childrenbedsheets 661 posts
#dogbeds 55.2K posts versus the niche #customdogbeds 1363 and #designerdogbeds 2037 posts
It is clear, that going niche will find you better leads. Don’t rely only on them finding you, actively invite them to engage with your brand.
Hashtags Tips and Tricks
By Amanda Stergianos
TheDigitalCoach.co
