#WorkingHard, #Holidays, #MeetingObjectives, #Shopping, #NoSuccessWithoutEffort, #PerfectVacations … If you have recently visited a social network site, it is highly likely that you have stumbled upon some of these hashtags, which allow you to check if the user or follower in question is already on vacation or still at the foot of the canyon. Hashtags have become very popular, to the point that they are often used needlessly or without complying with the basic rules in order to make them more effective. If you want to strengthen the presence of your brand or business on Instagram, you may want to follow these 12 guidelines when creating your hashtags.
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1. Watch the competition
Using Instagram for your business does not allow you to follow as many rules as when you use it as a personal account. Therefore, it is advisable to do a little research before publishing anything. A tried and tested method when choosing the best hashtags for business is to check which are the most used at that time by our competitors or other well-known brands in the same sector you work. This strategy has a double advantage. On the one hand, it will keep you up to date with the latest news from your rivals. On the other, it will allow you to take advantage of the existing interest in these same themes, thus getting a greater following for your publications.
One of the most common mistakes among professionals who start using Instagram is the temptation to abuse hashtags. This will only result in reducing the quality of the publication and, consequently, harming the brand. There is no exact formula on how many hashtags should be included in each update, beyond the limits set by the platform itself (about thirty in the post feed and a dozen in the stories. To prevent the content from appearing excessively salesy or even spam, it is wise to publish around 10-25 hashtags in the feed post and 5-9 in the stories.
Once we have decided on the most appropriate hashtags density in each case, where do we place them within the post? You can include all the hashtags in the description, since it is preferable to write an appealing phrase in order to capture the users’ attention. Place most of the hashtags in the first comment of the post. Or simply put it at the end of your post description, separated from the rest, even leaving some space between the last paragraph and the hashtags.
If you want to add hashtags to a story, it can be included as a text or description of the post (at the same time adhering to the recommended density). By doing this, all the descriptions will be visible to users. If you want your hashtags to attract followers, because they are currently trending, but are not observed in parallel with the story, you can use the same color to write them as the one at the bottom of the screen. With this simple gesture, you will improve the positioning of the content without appearing excessively salesy.
Yes, our first suggestion was to observe which hashtags are used by other professionals in the sector in order to participate in these same trends. But this does not mean you cannot be original. In fact, you should be unique but without going over the top. Using hashtags allows you to make your posts unique and it also shows greater creativity. You can create a series of hashtags that you are interested in linking with your project or your brand and use them in everything you publish. If you need inspiration, take the time to review the hashtags that are most used by others and give them a personal touch that sets them apart from the rest.
Do you want to take one step ahead of the rest of your rivals? Hashtags can help you create trends and, to some extent, we could all do with a good handful of useful strategies for our content. But what do we do when we run out of ideas and we cannot “borrow” other people’s ideas? Try a hashtags generator, an increasingly popular resource among professionals because of its many customization options. All Hashtag is one of the most used applications for this purpose but there are others that are just as useful.
Before writing anything, think about what you are going to do. Your profile bio informs all the users about your work philosophy (or your company) and how you like to define yourself. Consequently, you can use hashtags to highlight these ideas and as a result, get a better position on Instagram. However, be careful when choosing words because, unlike what happens with stories, your profile’s bio is here to stay for the long-term. The information you include in your bio should not be changed often, so choose those hashtags that you can keep indefinitely. The hashtags in your bio will not position your profile in the search, but it will let your audience know which one are your favorites and in which one you take part.
8. Combine and vary the themes
Although the number of themes for hashtags is practically impossible to determine, there are different classifications depending on the purpose of these definitions. Brand, location or hashtags known as “niche” are not mutually exclusive. Moreover, you may get better results if you combine them with each other and do not always resort to using the same themes. At the end of the day, your company may be oriented to a certain business activity but it is always interested in generating as much traffic as possible in its networks.
9. Follow the news of your industry
Let’s assume that you’ve managed to nail it and your hashtags have succeeded. You now know how to create and use hashtags correctly. But does this mean that you cannot learn anything from the rest of the professionals in your sector who are on Instagram? Absolutely not. Never stop following the hashtags that are created in your niche market, since it is the best way to stay at the forefront (if you already are) or to improve your positioning faster. In addition, you are most likely to find out about any strategy change from your competitors.
10. Not everything is allowed
Originality cannot serve as a pretext to use expressions of dubious taste or words that may be offensive to certain people. Nor will it benefit your project if you use inappropriate language or undesirable humour. While these hashtags may arouse some attention among the Instagram community, it will not exactly be positive and can seriously affect your brand image. Also, remember that this social network site has a list of prohibited hashtags by almost automatically deleting any mention of words that violates the rules and may even block accounts (very rarely) in the most serious cases. Take a look at this list and review the rules before posting.
11. Beyond English
English is a very widely spoken language and is ranked high in terms of the number of countries that are English speaking as well as their economic and cultural importance. If English is your mother tongue, you are in luck because your content will reach a greater number of users. In any case, do not fall into the trap of limiting yourself to the English-speaking market. One of the great advantages offered by the Internet for business owners is the possibility of coming into contact with consumers and professionals from every corner of the world. To take advantage of this immense communication channel, make sure you regularly include some hashtags in other languages.
12. Strengthen your personal brand through contests
Finally, never forget that all the activity you do through corporate profiles helps to strengthen or weaken your brand. Organizing a contest through Instagram can be a good opportunity to improve profile positioning and hashtags also help in that purpose. The most important element for the success of these initiatives is that the hashtags used are related to the contest and the contents of the profile. Therefore, make sure that your contests always follow a sense of advertising your brand and your hashtags must help raise awareness of your brand more quickly. You can even choose to use the same strategies to advertise a contest.
We may have possibly left out some more tips on how to use hashtags correctly in your business project. But the general rule of the thumb is to follow all the previous tips I have included in this article and take the time to perfect your Instagram strategy. You will be surprised of the positive results when you implement these guidelines. After all, you are addressing an increasingly large and at the same time demanding audience. So seize the opportunity.
Finally, I invite you to visit my Instagram profile where I publish content related to Digital Marketing in English.
