How to Use Hashtags to Skyrocket Your Instagram Following

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Growing your Instagram following doesn’t have to be a struggle. The key to Instagram growth lies in finding the right hashtags for your posts and your brand. The right hashtags will skyrocket your Instagram following fast and strong.

The good news is that these hashtags aren’t difficult to find and there are tools to help you out. In this blog post, I’m going to teach you how to find and use hashtags to grow your Instagram following in no time.

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I struggled to get my Instagram profile off and running. No matter how frequently I was posting, my following simply wouldn’t grow. I know this frustration so well and I also know I am not alone.

The real game changer for me was learning how to use hashtags correctly. These following tips will help you grow your Instagram following quickly and prevent follow/unfollows. Use these tips in addition to posting regularly (one to three times daily) for best results.

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What Are Hashtags?

Hashtags are keywords and phrases that follow the “#” symbol on social media. These keywords are all one word with no spaces and can also include emoticons. They are placed in social media posts to help make the post searchable on the platform.

For example, if I want to publish an Instagram post about my cat, I would use hashtags like #cutekitty, #catsofinstagram, or #kittykitty in my post. This allows people to search for the content of your post using hashtags.

This is how related posts are grouped on social media, but especially on Twitter and Instagram. If you search for a specific hashtag in the search bar, you will see the most recent or most popular results with that specific hashtag in your search results.

This is how people find your content on Instagram. People can search for a specific hashtag or follow a hashtag and if your post includes that hashtag, it may show up in the search results. Without hashtags, your post is not likely to be classified or show up at all in search results. This greatly reduces the chances that it will ever be discovered by your target audience.

How to Use Hashtags on Instagram

Instagram allows you to use up to 30 hashtags in each post. Some people say you should use 10 or fewer while others say you should use 30. These can be placed anywhere in your post. However, the general consensus is that they should be placed at the end of your caption on your Instagram post or in the comments.

If you choose to place your hashtags in the comments, your captions will look cleaner, but the longer you wait, the farther down the post will show up in search results. Even five minutes can negatively impact your post’s performance.

If you use a scheduler like Hootsuite, Later, or Tailwind for Instagram, include your hashtags at the end of the post. That way you won’t forget or be delayed in adding your hashtags to your post at a later point.

Using Hashtag Finders

If you are struggling to come up with several hashtags, you are definitely not alone. When I really started using hashtags, I was overwhelmed by the whole process. Something that helped me tremendously was a hashtag finder.

I still occasionally use hashtag finders. I use LeeTags (an app) and Display Purposes, a website. Both allow you to search for hashtags via a search bar and lists search results based on popularity. However, they do have drawbacks such as not finding longer hashtags in search queries.

Once you find all of the hashtags you wish to use, you copy and paste them at the bottom of your post. When I use hashtag finders, I usually add several other relevant hashtags to the post as well.

Tailwind also offers a hashtag finder within its Instagram scheduler. That’s a huge bonus for Instagram users and cuts out the extra step of using a separate hashtag finder. Tailwind suggests hashtags for your posts and also informs you which are the best to use based on density (more on that later).

I use a combination of all of these finders, but I also search for niche and post related hashtags to target my posts via the Instagram app. I will show you how to do that later in this post.

Hashtag Density

The greatest challenge to finding the right traffic on Instagram is hashtag density. Hashtag finders are great, but they often include commonly used hashtags that have millions of posts. This sounds great, but if you think about it, it prevents your posts from being noticed.

Let’s say you are a beauty blogger and want to create a post about a new lipstick. You wouldn’t want to use the #lipstick hashtag. I know that sound like an oxymoron, but let me explain. As you can see in the screenshot below, the #lipstick hashtag has 24.5 Million posts. That means the hashtag is too dense and your post isn’t likely to be seen.

Do Your Research

It is better that you use hashtags with less competition. To find these, type in your prospective hashtag in the Instagram search bar. You will see the results for that hashtag, followed by similar hashtags. I recommend using hashtags that have fewer than 500,000 posts (preferably 200,000 or fewer). Be sure to also use more targeted hashtags that have fewer than 100,000 too.

Hashtags with loads of posts have a tendency to attract spammy accounts, like those that follow/unfollow. A great way to tell the difference between a spammy hashtag and a better one is to view the feeds for those hashtags.

The feeds of high-density hashtags often have a mix of professional and unprofessional photos. You will see some high-quality pictures, but also several amateur photos or a strange mix in the images.

The picture below shows the feed for #lipstick to the left of the gray bar in the middle and #lipstick💄 with the emoticon on the right. The one on the left has 24.5 million posts and the one on the right has 63,000 posts. Can you tell the difference?

Density and Longevity

Another thing you need to pay attention to is the longevity or life of your post. Hashtags with higher density tend to be short-lived.

To demonstrate what I am talking about, I waited 5 minutes and refreshed the feed for each of these hashtags I used above. The next photo is the side-by-side comparison of the exact same spot in the feed for #lipstick before and after 5 minutes. I used a blue bar in this one to make it easier to identify the old feed on the left and new feed on the right.

If you notice, none of the pictures are the same in this feed. That means that if you use hashtags with a larger density, the life of your post is very limited. Typically it is 5 minutes, at most, unless your post starts trending, which would be hard to do with such a dense hashtag.

The next set of images is the screenshot of the second hashtag, #lipstick💄 with only 63,000 views. As you can see, only one of the images changed in 5 minutes. That means that when you use less dense hashtags, your post will have a longer life on Instagram.

This is why it is important to find a balance between hashtags with lots of views to get more eyes on your post and less dense hashtags with fewer posts to extend the life of your post. Both have their own advantages and disadvantages.

I recommend using hashtags that have fewer than 500,000 posts, period. Only one or two should be over the 200,000 mark. Then, you should split the difference between the remaining hashtags, mixing hashtags between 100,000 and 200,000 and those under 100,000.

This will give your posts a good combination of exposure and longevity. This will ensure you have the best exposure and will also limit the number of follow/unfollows you receive.

How to Use Instagram to Find Good Hashtags

There are a few different techniques you can use to find hashtags that work well with your brand and will increase your Instagram following

Method #1

New hashtags are easy to find on Instagram, both on your computer or via the Instagram app on your mobile. All you have to do is search for a hashtag and you will receive that hashtag and related hashtags below it. If you are using the app, once you click on the hashtag, you will receive suggestions of more hashtags as well.

Find some good hashtags for your niche and the type of posts you write. Keep them stored on your phone or computer’s notepad to copy and paste, as needed. Grouping your hashtags will help you copy and paste them more effectively when they are needed.

Method #2

Another way to find hashtags on Instagram is to look for posts by other Instagrammers in your niche. You can find these by searching for niche hashtags or the profiles of other bloggers on Instagram.

Once you find posts in a similar niche to your own, check out the profile of the Instagram account. If the profile has a significant following, check out their posts and hashtags they frequently use. Then, check out the density of the hashtags and determine if they will work for your niche, then add them to your list.

Method #3

Finally, if you feel like you need some new ideas, use a hashtag finder to identify hashtags for your posts. Write down some that you would like to give a try and check out the content and density of those hashtags.

Something I struggle with is the content of a hashtag. I post about goal setting, but when I look up specific goal hashtags, the subject is often fitness goals. Keep alternative meanings or interpretations of hashtags in mind as you search.

Use Tailwind to Plan and Schedule Your Instagram

I have been using Tailwind to schedule some of my Instagram posts and I have been pretty impressed with some of the features, including the hashtag finder that is included in your post text editor. Before I even begin typing a post, Tailwind makes some suggestions that I have used in the past, as you can see from my post below.

As you begin typing your caption, you will notice the hashtag suggestions change to fit the content of your post, as seen below.

If you will notice, your suggested hashtags are color-coded to help you choose the best ones based on their density. As I mentioned before, I would only choose 1 or two orange hashtags. The rest of your hashtags would be green, light blue, and maybe a couple of grey ones.

Start selecting hashtags and Tailwind will continue to suggest more hashtags that may fit your post. Only select hashtags that will work for your post and remember to stay on-brand. Click on the “X” to the right of the hashtag to remove any tags from the suggestions.

If you want to know the exact density of a hashtag, you can hover over it to get the exact number. This is a great way to verify the density of hashtags.

If you don’t like the suggested hashtags for your post or run out of hashtags, click the button under the square hashtag that looks like a “shuffle” button and you will be able to refresh your list. You can also save hashtags to list and insert them quickly by tapping the hashtag button, shown in white on the image above.

Other Useful Features

Tailwind also offers additional features, including cropping your images within the Tailwind post creator. This is a fairly new feature and is great for people who post on the fly or whenever they have a free moment.

If you are working on creating a theme for your feed, there is also a button to view your posts as a 9-grid to ensure that your posts will have the look you are going for once they are published.

If you haven’t tried Tailwind for Instagram, you can do so with 30 free Instagram posts and see if you like it. In all honesty, I have tried a number of apps including Plann, Later, Hootsuite, and Tailwind. Tailwind offers the most features and is constantly adding features and analytic data to help you grow your Instagram.

Right now, I am using a combination of Hootsuite and Tailwind for Instagram scheduling. I am still experimenting with both, but Hootsuite just can’t come close to all of the tools and features that Tailwind has. Not yet anyway.

Master Hashtags and Grow Your Instagram Following

Hashtags are the most important marketing tool to get your Instagram posts in front of your audience. Which hashtags you use and how you use them will directly impact your Instagram following.

I hope that you have enjoyed this post. It is the final one in my Instagram series this month. Next month, I will be writing posts on how to make money blogging throughout the month.

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