Hashtags: You (probably don’t) love them, you (most likely) hate them, and you definitely don’t know how whether you’re using them the right way. I know hashtags can be frustrating – especially when everyone else seems to have them figured out while you’re still getting a measly 60 hits in reach from hashtags. What gives? In today’s blog post, I’m diving in to all things hashtags and how to use them without losing your mind with my best hashtag tips.
First things first: Do hashtags still work?
Absolutely. Hashtags can still work, and as this article from Hootsuite says, they’re an important way to expand your Instagram audience and get more reach. But the way that they’re used by Instagram itself as well as other app users is shifting, and that means our approach to hashtags has to shift as well.
The Mistake Most People Make When Thinking About Hashtags
Hashtags are not a magic pill to explode your engagement and reach. They help put your content in front of the right audience, but your post still has to perform on its own in order to gain traction.
And not to throw shade, but most posts with hashtag tips (like this one) get it completely wrong. They recommend the most saturated, general hashtags because they appear the most popular; but these hashtags are a waste of your small business’s time. I promise, no one is finding your post in the #love hashtag (and your content deserves better).
From Discoverability to Categorization: How Hashtagging Has Changed
In the Instagram days of yore, putting popular hashtags like #likeforlike and #followforfollow were tactics touted by every social media guru and expert. Nowadays, those hashtags make you look spammy and don’t contribute to your growth.
So how do you utilize hashtags on Instagram today? By using them for discoverability and focusing on relevancy. More on this in the next section ⤵️
My Best Hashtag Tips
These are the exact hashtag tips and tricks I use to build my clients’ hashtags sets. Bear in mind – these aren’t a guarantee of explosive reach because there are SO many factors that go into the performance of a post. But by focusing on these best practices, you’ll set yourself up for success!
Focus first and foremost on relevancy.
Instagram’s algorithm now looks to hashtags to help them categorize content – this means large, generalized hashtags like #love will not help your content be seen by the right people. Instead, focus on hashtags that accurately describe you, your business and the topic of the content.
Don’t feel like you have to use all 30.
If you have 30 relevant hashtags to use for a post, by all means use all 30! But if you are not able to find well-sized (more on this in the next tip), relevant hashtags, and are grasping at straws, don’t force it. For most of my clients’ posts we use between 20-25 hashtags.
Use the right size of hashtags.
The way to get traction in a hashtag is to have the post perform well – and it then gets pushed out to more and more people. If your post is immediately drowned out by thousands of posts (which would happen in hashtags with millions of uses) or no one looks at the hashtags (like those with under 100 uses), you’re wasting that hashtag space. I aim for hashtags between the 10k-500k uses, with smaller accounts sticking to the lower end of that range and larger accounts incorporating more of the higher end.
Avoid using the exact same hashtags for each post.
While there can be some crossover between posts, don’t copy & paste the same hashtag set for every post – this can make Instagram see your account as spammy. I recommend having one hashtag set per content pillar.
Choose hashtags that meet one of three purposes.
When I build hashtag sets, I incorporate hashtags for each of the following goals:
- Describing your business (ex #interiordesignersofinsta)
- Hashtags that your ideal client would follow or search (ex #firsttimehomebuyingtips)
- Describing the content you’re posting (ex #firsthometips)
Need more prompts to help you come up with hashtags for your content? Consider community hashtags, location-based hashtags (especially if you serve your local area!), or national holiday hashtags.
Hashtags to Use For Your Interior Design Business
To get you started on your new-and-improved hashtagging strategy, I’m sharing a few of my favorite hashtags for interior designers:
#californiainteriordesigners #interiordesignerideas
#homeinteriorideas #homedesigntrends #maketimefordesign #prettylittleinteriors #interiordesignphotography #interiordesignlovers #classyinteriors #homedecorbloggers
Hashtag Tips: How to Use Them Going Forward
The moral of the story? Hashtags can be an asset to your Instagram strategy. Avoid skipping them altogether because they stress you out. Instead, reframe how you expect them to perform and make your goal relevancy and categorization.
Want more where that came from?
Check out these related blog posts:
- 10 Instagram Post Ideas for Interior Designers
- 10 Instagram Story Ideas for Interior Designers
- 10 More Instagram Post Ideas for Interior Designers
And don’t forget to sign up for my weekly newsletter, where every Tuesday you’ll get 3 content ideas, 2 trending audios, and 1 social media resource for further learning.
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