5 Instagram Hashtag Mistakes You Should Avoid
If you want to have strong engagement and a mighty following on Instagram, you must learn to harness the power of hashtags. The Instagram hashtag mistakes you’re making can affect your likes, shares, and even follower growth.
The reason behind this is quite simple. The hashtags you include make it possible for everyone on the platform, including those who aren’t following you, to see your posts. Indeed, using hashtags is your first step to being noticed by millions on the platform.
So, here are 5 of the top hashtag mistakes you should avoid to make your Instagram marketing as successful as it can be.
Mistake 1: You’re Not Using Enough Hashtags
Hashtags can increase engagement on your Instagram posts. On other social media sites, though, too many hashtags can have the opposite effect. It’s only on Instagram, in fact, where hashtag barrages are very well-tolerated, and that more hashtags are better than less.
So use enough hashtags to attract as many likes and shares as possible on your posts. There’s no hard and fast rule as to how many is enough, though Track Maven discovered in their research that engagement rates tend to drop for posts going over 10 hashtags and that the sweet spot is 5 hashtags.
Other studies reveal a different number. Sprout Social says the ideal number of hashtags is 5- 10. Social Fresh says engagement is best at 7 – 9 hashtags and more than 9 is considered spam.
Check out your analytics to find out exactly what number is best for your brand, but from the results of these studies, it seems the right number of hashtags is between 5 and 10. The post below has 9 hashtags and it’s one of the user’s most popular posts, with not just plenty of likes but also comments.
Of course, you can also increase your post engagement by attracting more followers. To kickstart your follower growth campaigns, consider buying Instagram followers to boost your current strategies.
Having a large number of followers will help you attract even more followers. People love following the popular people, and with your bought followers you’ll look famous and draw people to you.
Mistake 2: You’re Not Using Hashtags for Geo-location
Ignoring your local community, particularly for businesses with physical stores, is a big mistake. Social media platforms are the new search engines and people are beginning to use them as such. Tagging your business location will make your business more easily discoverable and will help you attract new customers.
So, using #Washington for your business located in Washington, or adding your location in a tag like #WashingtonLife or #WashingtonPhotographer, can bring in more engagement on your page or followers for your account. Experiment with different kinds of geo-location with hashtags.
Mistake 3: You Are Reusing Too Many Hashtags
Do not use the same hashtag over and over again unless it’s crucial for your branding. Add variation so that you’ll continue to reach a new audience with your posts.
Using different and creative hashtags will also pique the interest of your audience and encourage them to discover what your post is all about.
Mistake 4: You’re Not Pushing A Branded Hashtag
Use one or a few branded hashtags that people can associate with your company. Branded hashtags may include your company name or be the company name itself, or can include your taglines, campaigns, products or services. So, if you don’t have a branded hashtag yet, it’s time to think of one and start using it in your posts.
Below, we can see how Starbucks is using #StarbucksReserve to promote their latest campaign.
Using a branded hashtag will help in building your brand identity, encourage brand recall and urge people to use it every time they talk about you and your products and services.
Additionally, user-generated content can help you build trust among your consumers. According to the Nielsen Consumer Trust Index, 92% of consumers trust organic, user-generated content more than they trust traditional advertising.
Incidentally, do you know that buying Instagram followers can also help you build a strong reputation on the platform? The number of followers we have acts as part of our social proof, or social influence, that shows people how popular you are. If a massive number of people are perceived as approving of your brand, then chances are high that others will follow suit, whether they realize they’re only following the wisdom of the crowd or not.
Mistake 5: You Are Using The Wrong Hashtags
It’s not enough that you’re using relevant hashtags for your post. You should also make sure that you’re using hashtags that don’t have any connotations you don’t want your brand associated with.
If you're in the photography business, for example, you might want to rethink using #cam. Some people use it for less respectable content, which is why it ended up on the banned hashtag list of Instagram. If you use it, not only will your post be associated with inappropriate content, it will also not appear in the autocomplete search results!
Do a search for all your hashtags and be sure that they will show up for people searching for those terms. Check out the posts coming up from the search to make sure you are only using hashtags that are appropriate.
Take some time to look through Instagram’s banned hashtags, too — it’s good for a laugh and you might find that you’ve been using some hashtags that are reducing your engagement.
Grow Your Instagram Following With Hashtags
The appropriate hashtags can make your content more discoverable, and that's one of the critical reasons why they're important in your Instagram marketing.
Hashtags help generate engagement from users who are already interested in what you have to offer, and grant you increased exposure to attract a larger following.
So learn to use Instagram hashtags like a pro — you’ll be able to better connect with your customers and boost your Instagram success today!
Date: December 6, 2017 / Categories: Hashtags, Marketing, / Author: Chell
