Hashtags are a built-in feature Instagram has that enable you to reach a wider audience for specific topics or themes. If you want to reach a more niched-down audience and get more specific in who views your content, hashtags are one of your best friends.
However, how many hashtags on Instagram is the right amount to use in a caption? That is a question we will answer in this article.
Why Hashtags Are Important
If you want to increase your reach and get more relevant views on your content, you will want to leverage hashtags.
Hashtags can be followed, just like Instagram accounts. This means that if you use a hashtag that your target audience follows, your post may come up in their feed, just as if they were following your account.
If you have a business or brand that has an Instagram profile, you may also want to create your own hashtags for expanded brand awareness. The biggest benefit of branded hashtags is the ability to leverage user-generated content in marketing campaigns. Branded hashtags make it significantly easier to keep track of any posts being made about you.
Add personality to your IG account with the help of hashtags. Drop in some fun and entertaining hashtags to amplify your engagement. Shareable quirky trends tend to be highly engaged with, which increases your reach.
How Many Hashtags on Instagram You Should Use
Since hashtags are helpful in attracting your target audience, you should be adding them to your content captions. However, you should be using them strategically. To gain traction, they must be targeted and relevant to the content you are sharing. Avoid using hashtags unrelated to your content just because you believe they are popular or captivating.
Once you understand this, you will probably want to start filling your caption with as many hashtags as you possibly can.
How many hashtags on Instagram can you add to a caption? The answer is up to 30 hashtags.
However, best practices recommend against adding 30 hashtags to each post you made. This is due to there being both diminishing returns after approximately 10 hashtags being used in a post, as well as a greater likelihood of being considered hashtag spamming.
Overall, successful Instagram users recommend using up to 9 hashtags per post. Some recommend going as low as 3-5 hashtags. Some brands use as few as one or two hashtags in each caption while others add 10, 20, or even the official limit of 30.
The best way to determine how many hashtags you should use is to take a look at your analytics to see how engaging your posts are. Try out different kinds and combinations of hashtags. After some testing, you should get a clearer picture of the best hashtag strategy for your needs.
Bottom Line: Only use relevant hashtags and go with less rather than more.
How to Find the Best Hashtags
As we mentioned earlier, using the most relevant hashtags is how you will drive the most engagement to your content.
Here is what you can do to find the best hashtags to amplify your content to your target audience:
Create a Brand-Centric Topics List
A great practice to do is to write down all of the topics that are relevant to your brand. Consider what the product or service you provide is, as well as what content your customers find most appealing.
Review your analytics within your Professional Dashboard in the Instagram app, as well as your website’s analytics. These metrics will provide insight into what your audience likes the most and what they engage with the least.
Leverage Hashtag Tools
There are many hashtag research tools that can make your search for the best hashtags much quicker and easier.
Protip: Lookup any hashtag you add to your go-to list within Instagram to make sure they are actively used.
Once you have found your ideal hashtags, consider using a hashtag tracking tool that will be able to inform you as to whether a hashtag you use is helpful or not, as well as their general performance. You may find that an active hashtag isn’t working for you with a tool like this, which can help you swap it out with a more value-added one.
Research Hashtags Competitors Use
Conducting some competitor research when it comes to hashtags could prove to be very helpful. Review the hashtags your competitors are using, as well as how engaged with their content is.
You may find some hidden gems this way that can be included in your go-to hashtag set.
Another helpful action to take is to check if any of the hashtags you use are being included in the content your competitors are posting.
Note: Make sure you are not adding any brand-specific hashtags that would be irrelevant for your brand.
Create Branded Hashtags
Every brand should have at least one of its own unique branded hashtags. You will separate yourself from the sea of content posted on Instagram every second.
The more your brand grows, the more you will want to get your audience involved in adding your branded hashtags in their content when they are sharing something about your products or services.
You could also create campaign-specific hashtags that can be used when you have a special event. Anything from a product launch to a contest can get its own event-specific hashtag.
Conclusion
Instagram hashtags will help you both reach your target audience and categorize your content better. Using a mix of niche-specific and brand-specific hashtags (and not too many) will help you have more successful engagement and marketing campaigns. Make sure you follow our tips to enjoy the best outcomes.
