Using the top Instagram hashtags of 2021 is a great way to reach new people on Instagram and generate leads for your business. Using hashtags requires little effort and no monetary investment – but they can lead a wide audience that may be interested in your content to it. However, it is important to know how to choose the right hashtags to use, where to put the hashtags, and how many you should use in your posts.
Whether you have a video ad or an image you want to post to Instagram, the right hashtag strategy will help enormously. Here are just a few quick, basic tips for getting started on building a great Instagram hashtag strategy.
Hide your hashtags in the caption
Hiding your hashtags is the best way to prevent people from confusing your posts with spam. Instagram limits the amount of text displayed on your feed, so it will hide additional text. One has to click the “show more” link to reveal the entire text for any post.
You need your hashtags to appear after that link. Sometimes, however, if you keep your caption short and sweet, you may not have enough text to hide your hashtags under the “show more” link.
To hide your hashtags, you should add line breaks. However, this is difficult since Instagram wipes out all line breaks added to texts that are input to the caption editor. You should, therefore:
- type your caption in a different editor (such as a note-taking app) and copy-paste it.
- type a character and then a line break.
- type another character and another line break until you achieve at least five lines.
- now add your top Instagram hashtags underneath
- copy and paste the whole thing into the caption editor.
Find popular Instagram hashtags related to your brand
You need to discover what Instagram hashtags influencers are using. People interested in related posts will be searching for those hashtags and will likely come across your content. It is a great way to ensure your posts reach the appropriate target audience.
When you type an Instagram hashtag into the caption editor, you will be shown how many posts use that hashtag. Another method is to use a hashtag finder to help you discover hashtags that are related to your content.
Make sure you search Instagram hashtags before you use them
Before you use Instagram hashtags, make sure you search them to see just who is using them, how they are being used, and what kind of content is associated with each hashtag. Just because a popular brand or influencer has used it, does not mean it is appropriate for your posts.
Combine smaller niche hashtags with popular hashtags
It is the eternal dilemma of advertising online: should you use a popular search term that may have a wider reach, or should you use a hashtag with a smaller niche?
The best way to go about this is to combine both popular and less common hashtags for use in your posts.
Keep a list
There is no need to compile top Instagram hashtags every time you want to post. Simply keep a list to update from time to time so that you can just copy the list and paste it on Instagram when posting your content.
Hashtags are powerful lead generators and should be part of your social media strategy for business – so take the time to make sure you get them right.
Written by Freelance Business Contributor Alana Wills
