What are the different types of hashtags?
There are 5 main types of hashtags. You will want to try and select at least one from each of the categories for each post (but only if it makes sense!).
- Branded hashtags: These are “your” hashtags, and will have next to no competition. Have hashtags for your brand in general #daisydigital, as well as specific hashtags for different campaigns.
- Industry hashtags: These hashtags describe your business niche and have a reasonably high level of competition #digitalmarketer
- Location-based hashtags: Use hashtags for the area that your service. This may be more specific if you are a service based business #matamatanz or more broad if you are e-commerce #newzealand
- Community hashtags: These are hashtags that will target a specific group of people that would relate to your messaging #smallbusinessowner
- Descriptive/topical hashtags: These hashtags describe the content of your actual post #websitedesign
Should you use hashtags in the caption or in the comments?
Ahh, a question we get asked ALL the time. Instagram has in fact confirmed that it makes absolutely no difference to their algorithm if you put them in the caption or in the comments. We are big fans of putting your hashtags in the caption, purely because we are all about saving you time! If you put your hashtags in the comments, you cannot schedule them.
How many hashtags should I use?
You can use a maximum of 30 hashtags per post. Instagram caused a lot of controversy earlier this year, coming out on their creators account saying you should use between 3-5 hashtags per post, which (excuse my French) is crap. Simple maths: if on average a hashtag can get your brand 3 more sets of eyes on your post, 3 x 5= 15 whereas 3 x 30= 90… duh??
We recommend doing at least 10 hashtags on each post, but if you can come up with 30 relevant hashtags for a post, use 30! Just make sure that you don’t add hashtags that are irrelevant.
Should I only use hashtags in posts?
No! Hashtags also work well for your stories and for your reels. For stories, we recommend using around 5-10 hashtags (you can use a maximum of 10). Keep these hashtags hidden by layering stickers over top of them, or setting the text colour the same colour as your background:
Content is still king
Hashtag strategies are all well and good, but they will only work if you are creating high value, visually appealing, unique content. Prioritise your content, try to be as creative and original as possible, and your hashtags will give your posts that extra push to increase engagement.
Save your time with our # Packages!
Thinking of hashtags, a time consuming task you probably don’t love doing. Take the hassle out of your hands and put it into ours! We have two hashtags packages you can choose from, we can create either 100 or 50 for you.
If you would like to work with one of our social media strategists to formulate a hashtag or a content strategy, get in touch!
