How good is your Instagram hashtag strategy? As the year draws to an end, we have identified the top Instagram tactics that would serve you well in 2021.

Instagram Hashtags categorize your content and make it easy to get discovered by users. They are free, display less of a learning curve, and reach out to the people relevant to your business. They help you to gain more followers, increase engagement, and reach and spread the word about your brand.

Hashtags are an alternative option to engage and grow organically the number of Instagram users who otherwise may not be interested in paid impressions. In 2019, 37% of the US adults were Instagram users (35% in 2018), with 1 billion active users. By 2023, the US would be home to 125.5 million active users. With the decline in the speed of organic impressions, hashtags remain the vital element to drive social marketing campaigns organically.

Now that we have understood what hashtags are and what they do, let’s explore how to utilize hashtags to reach your relevant customers on Instagram.

Evaluate Hashtags as an Extension of your Keyword Research

#1. Research Your Hashtags

Researching hashtags before utilizing them is crucial to your Instagram advertising strategy. It allows you to use more appropriate and focused hashtags to enhance your chances of attracting potential audience groups with engaging social media content.

Refer to what Instagram influencers are using and how brands that you compete with use hashtags in your marketplace. People involved in similar material will scan certain hashtags and will be more likely to find your stuff. It’s a perfect way to guarantee the topics to meet suitable readers.

Some of the hashtags group that you need to get involved with are; community hashtags, brand hashtags, audience descriptive hashtags, product descriptive hashtags, niche hashtags, location hashtags, even hashtags, and curator’s hashtags.

#2. Implementing in the Right Way

Depending on the research you focus on, the right amount of hashtags to use varies from 5 to 30. TrackMaven research showed that using 11 hashtags in each article is perfect for improving Instagram interaction. Ideally, it’s up to you whether you settle on 3-4 hashtags or 30 carefully picked.

#3. Competition Analysis

It’s online advertising’s everlasting dilemma; you want a broader scope, with more competition? Or can you choose a smaller niche one that does not cater to an audience as large, but is more likely to be used by people searching for that particular content? Niche or location-based hashtags make you stick out for the most important audience. Using a combination in each post.

#4. Keeping a Swap File
Compile a brand-relevant hashtag list. When posting new content, consult the list, and pick suitable hashtags without restarting extensive analysis. Also, mark how many occasions you’ve used each hashtag.

#5. Experiment with your Hashtags

Varying hashtags helps to attract a larger and more varied audience. Using various hashtags in each post helps you to check out different hashtags to see which ones bring you the most interaction. For effective implementation of this method, keep track of ‘Post Insights’ and ‘Post Impressions’ under Instagram ‘Insights’.