Hashtag tips for Instagramming like a boss

If you’re old school like we are, you remember the days when the # symbol referred to the pound sign on a telephone, but in today’s tech driven world that very symbol has become known by many as the beloved hashtag. How has this tiny thatched icon become so significant? Because it is the way to become discovered on social media, especially Instagram! We’re going to give you hashtag tips that will have you blow up on Insta – are you ready? Sweet!

• Always integrate hashtags in your story.
  • Instagram actually allows its users to post “invisible” hashtags that work to connect you to your intended audience without having to clutter up your stunning images
  • Stories are the fastest growing trend for reach right now – always be story-ing
• Never post hashtags that go against your brand, even if they’re trending.
  • Not every hashtag that’s trending works for every audience
  • Your engagement count might bump up, but your follower count will most likely drop because Instagram users won’t stay loyal if you don’t stay authentic
• Always use three or four consistent hashtags in every post
  • Hashtags ensure your content is connected to everyone on the platform, including those who don’t follow you currently
  • By using similar hashtags consistently, more of your posts will be tied to that search criteria, thus increasing the chances for engagement
  • Consistent hashtags also makes for happy followers, they know what to expect from you and look forward to similar content from you in the future
• Never let hashtag clusters take away or distract from the content you’re posting.
  • Instead, place hashtags at the bottom of your post, separated by space/ spacers, pr as a comment on your post – doing so has the same effect in regard to Instagram’s algorithm as putting hashtags in your captions, but has a cleaner “feel”
• Always follow and interact with accounts that share a similar hashtag culture as you
  • By liking/commenting accounts with similar interests as you, you increase the likelihood that they like/comment you back, which creates a relationship
  • Their users are notified of their actions on the activity tab, possibly driving their users to your account as well
• Never copy someone else’s hashtag clusters
  • Hashtag clusters should be unique to your brand and follower interests
  • If you’re copying and pasting someone else’s, you’re ignoring your own brand, and actually furthering the reach of that company’s brand, possibly hurting your business in the process
  • Some brands hide brand-specific hashtags in the middle of their clusters for this very reason

• Always use the max number of hashtags.
  • Instagram’s guidelines allow for 30 total hashtags to be used by an account per-post
  • CinchShare offers a handy-dandy hashtag counter in your Instagram scheduling tool to help you keep track of your count
  • Using all of these available slots ensures you reach the largest audience possible
• Never fall into follow-for-follow/like-for-like hashtag traps
  • The boost in followers/engagement will only benefit you in the short term
  • The fact that the majority of the new followers are bots and can’t actually interact with your account/business negates the purpose of having followers to begin with
• Always be researching new and relevant hashtags
  • Instagram is a constantly evolving social platform – what seems to be trending today can quickly become a useless hashtag two weeks later
  • Use online tools to research trends and always stay on top of your game

Easy peasy, right? That’s how we roll! Now go out there on Instagram and get to hashtagging like a boss – we’ll be sure to see you now that you have these tips at hand! And be sure to follow our hashtags (and include them in your TextClip hashtag bundles too, so we can find you in seconds, literally!) #CinchLIFE

Happy Hashtagging!