The Ultimate Guide to Using Hashtags for Instagram in 2023

Instagram is one of the most influential social media platforms at present. And every Insta user knows that hashtags are the real deal to drive engagement. Using hashtags for Instagram posts can either make or break your social media marketing strategy. Stuffing your posts on Instagram with random hashtags won’t just do it. You should include Insta hashtags correctly in your posts to get the ultimate Instagram growth. To use proper hashtags for Instagram posts, first, you need to understand how they work and then develop a strategy.

To use proper hashtags for Instagram posts, first, you need to understand how they work and then develop a strategy.

Hashtags are simply a combination of letters or numbers, preceded by the ‘#’ sign. They are clickable and can be used to categorize your social media content. Using relevant hashtags puts your posts under the tagged category and this can make your Instagram posts more discoverable by people interested in that category. It is one of the most popular social media tools used by creators to showcase their posts.

There are endless hashtags that you can use to define your brand. However, choosing the right kind of hashtag can give you the ultimate Instagram exposure.

No	Type of Hashtag	Description	Example
1	Industry hashtags	targeted to focus on various industries	#blogger, #photography
2	Location hashtags	make posts discoverable by the place	#delhidiaries, #kolkatagram
3	Niche hashtags	used for posts specific to the industry	#weddingplanners, #travelblogger
4	Brand hashtags	specific to companies and help to discover branded content	#sabyasachibride, #ikeahome
5	Community hashtags	used to connect with the specific community	#mytravelgram
6	Celebration hashtags	used to specify special occasions or events	#durgapuja2022, #christmas2022

"Did you know, an Instagram post with at least one hashtag has ​12.6%​ more engagement than a post without?"

Choosing the right kind of hashtags can take a bit of time and research. Once you get the basic understanding, you just have to use a little creativity to correctly use them in your posts. It’s simple enough to use trending hashtags on Instagram posts.

• Understand your audience and study consumer behavioral patterns to cater to their specific needs.
• Set goals for your content, such as increasing followers, provoking conversations and increasing engagement or sales.
• Identify your niche and USPs to use relevant hashtags.
• Don't overstuff and include only relevant hashtags.
• Follow the industry experts to know the most popular hashtags on Instagram.

Instagram allows you to add up to 10 hashtags on stories and 30 for normal feed posts. However, experts recommend adding 3-5 relevant and popular hashtags per post. You can add a combination of hashtags from different groups to get an even higher reach.

• Big hashtags are generic ones with over a billion mentions and too much competition.
• Medium hashtags are generic too but mentions are closer to the million mark.
• Community hashtags generally have less than 1 million and are great for building your own community.
• Micro-community hashtags are specific to the niche and have less than 50k but more than 1k mentions.

1. Higher Exposure

Hashtags make your posts more discoverable and bring them into the limelight. Hashtags are clickable. When you add a relevant hashtag to your post, anyone searching for that hashtag will see your post. It’ll help users find out about your products or services. Using the right Insta hashtags has proven to actively drive user engagement to the brand.

2. Boost User Interaction

It's no secret that Instagram users place a lot of value on hashtags. They search for and click on them consciously. They tend to comment and interact with posts with relevant hashtags when they find them attractive. You could include popular Insta hashtags in your posts to connect more with your audience.

3. Know about Latest Market Trends

Social media is an extremely dynamic place. You have to keep up with their ever-evolving trends to be relevant in the market. Following the best hashtags for Instagram that are trending gets you an idea about the latest industry trends.

4. Makes it Easier to Share Content

The sole purpose of using hashtags is to get your content more reach on Instagram. One of the main benefits of using Insta hashtags is to reach people beyond your followers. It helps to increase reach and broaden your audience base.

5. Avoid banned/flagged Hashtags

There are some hashtags that are banned by the platform to be used. They are considered inappropriate by Instagram and may adversely impact your content. In other words, these are things that go against the guidelines, whether through nudity, spam, or any other form of non-compliance.

Using proper Insta hashtags can go a long way in helping brands make their content reach a wider and relevant audience. Proper usage can lead to a highly productive growth of the content and an increase in likes, comments, and followers on Instagram. Use them wisely to improve overall user engagement on your social media content!