The ultimate hashtag strategy for organic Instagram growth

Let’s be honest. Hashtags aren’t always on the top of our priority list. So often we just create content, post it and throw in a couple of hashtags in there for good measure. 

You’ve already put all this thought into a great caption and editing an image to perfection. And now you need to find the perfect hashtags as well? That’s a full-time job in itself. Except, NOT ANYMORE! Here’s the ultimate strategy to get your content in front of thousands of eyes!

Why you should use hashtags on Instagram

Instagram hashtags work by organizing and categorizing photos and videos according to the same topic or interest. By using a hashtag on a post, that post will be visible on the corresponding hashtag page. Hashtags are mainly used to discover new content and allow others to discover your content. It creates a way for people to find you and discover you, even if they haven’t connected or interacted with you before. This is very helpful on a platform with billions of users. 

A few things to keep in mind:

• You need to have a public account if you want to use hashtags as a way for people to discover your content. 
• You can use numbers in your hashtags but not special characters.
• You can only add hashtags to your own post, not someone else’s post. 
• The hashtag limit is 30.

The different types of hashtags you can use

1) Community hashtags

Community hashtags are hashtags that connect like-minded users around a specific subject. These hashtags bring people who like the same music, same sports, same tv shows, etc together. Take a look at what your interests are and see if there’s a hashtag for it. This is a great way to get your content in front of other people who are also interested in the things you like and post about.

Community Hashtags can include hashtags about :

• Your product or service (#newyorkrapper , #melbournecoffeeshop)
• Your niche or industry (#Weddingphotographer , #Surfer)
• Your city or country (#CapeTown , #Sandiego, #Newyork)
• People who like the same thing (#Photographersofinstagram or #WritersofInstagram)

2) Branded hashtags

This hashtag is unique to you and your brand/business. It can be your business name, your name, or even a tagline. Through using this hashtag, you organize your content in a way for people to find it easily. #Nike #Adidas #Wendys

Use the right hashtags

• Use 8 -15 specific hashtags
• Using the full 30 may confuse the algorithm
• Make your first 3-5 hashtags highly specific and relevant. These are niche based. 
• Use the rest to build off of the 3-5 highly specific ones.
• It is important that all your hahstags have a similar theme or tone

Create a hashtag bank

Open up that notepad and jot down groups of hashtags you see are doing well and seem to be gaining traction. Allow at least a month before starting to change your hashtags. This gives you time to analyze the analytics to see if they’re working or not. 

Look at what hashtags big accounts similar to your own are using

Find big accounts that are posting similar content to you or have the same niche/audience. Look at what hashtags they’re using and add them to your hashtag bank to try out over time.

Getting to the top of a hashtag page

If you’ve ever searched a hashtag on Instagram, you’ve probably noticed that the page gives you the number of posts with the hashtag being used as well as that “Top Posts” are at the top of the results page. Getting your post at the top of a hashtag is a brilliant way of getting discovered by new users. But as we all know, getting your post up there doesn’t just happen like magic. 

Two things that determine whether you will land at the top of a hashtag page is

• How much engagement your post receives
• How much time it takes for your post to get that engagement

This means you need a lot of engagement in a short amount of time after posting (at least within the first 24 hours) to feature at the top of the page. With our engagement campaigns, this is possible.

How Social Clout Club can help you gain more exposure through hashtags

Social Clout Club can help you in two different ways:

1) Increase your reach and following

With our growth packages and celebrity campaigns, we help you by sending large amounts of traffic to your Instagram Account through our campaigns. This helps you boost your reach, increase your engagement and skyrocket your follower count. By doing this, it stimulates the algorithm to allow your content to be ranked higher and shown to more people across Instagram. 

2) Increase your engagement

Our engagement groups will give you the love your content deserves. If you have a strong following but lack the credibility this will give you a much-needed boost. By gaining consistent engagement, the algorithm will be sure to love you and start ranking you higher on people’s feeds, the explore page, and the hashtag page, making you more discoverable. 

In Conclusion

Hashtags are a powerful tool to use to grow your Instagram account organically. By using hashtags, you get to increase your chances of getting discovered by people who wouldn’t normally find your account. Don’t miss out on using this to grow your Instagram in the long run!