Why you should go overboard with Hashtags on Instagram

Instagram today is becoming the medium of choice for marketers, bloggers, and social media enthusiasts. As the attention span of our viewers and readers is decreasing visual is the right choice to spread the message across. But how do you make sure that those amazing pics you clicked and shared are not lost amongst the sea of pics shared by the 700 million odd users of Instagram, Worldwide?

The right answer apart from generating quality content lies in using the right Hashtags. I say right hashtags for just adding a hashtag in front of any word does not guarantee good traction. You have to be prudent in choosing the right hashtags.

Number of hashtags

Instagram restricts the use of hashtags to 30 per post. This gives it an edge over micro blogging site twitter, which restricts your post and limits the use of hashtags. Every expert you talk to will have a different opinion on how many hashtags you use but I say use as many as you can.

Make sense

And by as many, I do not mean that just spam the post unnecessary with any random hashtag. It should be relevant to your post and should make coherent sense. Recently I saw a picture of someone eating a meal and using hashtags lunch, then breakfast followed by dinner. The person was either enjoying his lunch, breakfast or dinDefinitelyately not all three in the same pic.

Research

Instagram might not be a college essay but that should not refrain you from doing proper research. When you browse through pictures of different accounts and people, take notice of the hashtags others are using. And check if you are able to if you can gauge their engagement viz-a-viz hashtags.

Go local

Many people ask me, what hashtags to use. There is never a right answer as it depends on pic to pic. However, if running out of ideas, use local or regional hashtags. For example, if you had that amazing street food from the local market, you can use the name of the market as the hashtag. If doing touristy stuff at another city, tag the city name as well.

I recommend using as many hashtags as possible. It leads to better discovery and wider reach. Don't take 30 as a target as even if you use 15-20 good and relevant hashtags it will lead to great engagement.