What's With Hashtags?

Why Do I Need Hashtags/#s?

Hashtags help get your content in front of the right audience and expand your reach past just who’s following you. It’s important to make sure that each hashtag you use is relevant and pertains to your content. If not, people will skip over it or you could be attracting the wrong people.

How many is too many?

Instagram allows 10 hashtags for stories and 30 per post. Use them. You will not be penalized for using all 30 hashtags on a post. Using all 30 will also allow you to test out different hashtags and see which combination gives you the best results.

*In order to see post insights, you must have a business account.

What are Banned Hashtags?

Banned hashtags are hashtags that have been flagged by Instagram for excessive improper use. Meaning that too many people have used the hashtag with irrelevant content. Or if it’s use does not follow Instagram’s Community Guidelines.

If you’re using a banned hashtag, your reach will be drastically decreased. A quick google search will let you know if a certain hashtag is banned or type the hashtag into the Instagram search bar. If you see the below, it is a banned hashtag and should be avoided!

How to Find the Right Hashtags:

Research & Test! There is no magic formula to finding the perfect hashtags. You need to put in the work. But there are some things to note.

• Don’t use all popular/oversaturated hashtags. The competition to get noticed is too great and the audience is usually too broad.

• Avoid hashtags with too few posts. There aren’t enough people using the hashtag to increase your post reach. As a rule of thumb, find hashtags with more than a few thousand posts.

• Switch up the hashtags you’re using. Don’t use the same 30 hashtags over and over again. They become stale and you’re missing out on new audiences.

• Find the relevant hashtags for your niche.

• KEEP TESTING! If you don’t get the desired results the first time, keep testing!