Instagram hashtags are an effective way to build more post engagement in 2021. Did you know an IG photo with at least one hashtag would fetch you an average engagement of 12.6 percent? Therefore, if you have an online business, it is imperative to use the relevant hashtags for brand engagement. Hashtag use is essential to gain more followers and views, boost engagement, as well as, create a community surrounding your business. 

Instagram hashtags have evolved much since 2010, but the thing that has remained consistent is the significance of these hashtags. 

According to an article published on Huffpost.com, there are several ways to build engagement on Instagram, one of which is the use of hashtags. Instead of using the 30 standard hashtags, use intentional hashtags to help you connect to a wider audience. You may use the 30 hashtags, but do a little research to use the more specific ones related to your business. 

In this article, we will walk you through the six best tips to improve your Instagram hashtags in 2021. Here is how: 

1. Achieve the top results for a particular hashtag

When you look for IG hashtags, you may have seen ‘Top posts’, which are seen right at the top of the results page. Grabbing the top position for your hashtags is the best way to become discoverable by new Instagrammers. Just like appearing on the Explore page, it leads to a significant network impact that fundamentally helps in making your post viral on the photo-sharing platform Instagram. 

Now the question is how you grab the top position for a specific hashtag. The two key aspects that play a pivotal role in figuring out whether your IG post gains the top position for a hashtag are the rate of post engagement, how fast it gets the required engagement. 

As far as the best IG posts are concerned, they gain the top spot within a day of posting Instagram content. It means you need the required likes, comments to roll in very fast after you post on Instagram. When you manage to build much engagement after you post content on Instagram, it signals to the social app that your IG post is of the best quality and has engaging content. 

2. Focus on Instagram hashtag analytics 

You need to figure out how your hashtags performed in the previous posts to help you decide which hashtags to use for your future Instagram posts. You can use the native analytics tool of Instagram to gain useful insights from the data, though the insights have their limitations. Therefore, we recommend that you use some advanced analytics to gain key information related to the Instagram hashtags you use. With advanced tools, you can determine which IG hashtags are generating maximum likes, impressions, comments, and of course reach when it comes to your Instagram posts. 

Additionally, when you keep including new hashtags, you can precisely understand how these are performing for your Instagram content. With proper hashtag use, you can buy IG views and in increased numbers to build engagement. 

3. Include your hashtags in the initial comment

Though including hashtags in your IG posts is one of the super ways to build user engagement and get your content right in front of your followers, overuse of hashtags in the captions section will make your Instagram post looks spammy and messy. 

What you can do is add the hashtags in the initial comment to make the caption more important without affecting the required engagement you gain with these hashtags. Once you create, schedule, and post the first comment on your IG posts, you can improve the performance of the Instagram hashtags you use. 

4. Add some branded hashtag to your IG account 

You must thank the recent update as to how you can integrate clickable hashtags or usernames into your IG bio. It makes it much simpler to create an Instagram bio that helps in ensuring website visits. It is one of the best ways to make your IG bio more effective because you can use the hashtags for pushing your IG community, accentuating your branded content, and publicizing IG campaigns. 

The process is simple. All you need to do is add a # sign before a word in your Instagram bio so that it becomes a clickable link automatically leading the visitors to the hashtag. Try this technique and you will benefit when it comes to hashtag performance and improvement. 

5. Motivate your audience to follow your branded IG hashtag

Instagram made a huge update in 2018, when it mentioned that you could follow hashtags, implying that you can stay updated on several topics or for that matter, communities. You can do so by following a hashtag relevant to your interests. 

As far as following a hashtag is concerned, it means following a profile of an Instagrammer. When you discover a hashtag that you want to follow, all you need to do is open the hashtag page and simply tap the follow button. 

When it comes to businesses and brands, this method creates opportunities galore to help you appear in your audience’s feed. For instance, when you have a branded hashtag for your company, you need to invite the followers to follow your original, branded hashtag. It means your IG content will show up two times in your follower’s feed, one time as your followers follow your Instagram account and again when they follow the specific hashtag. It means that you enjoy the double engagement. 

6. Include hashtags in your IG Stories 

When you include hashtags in your Instagram Stories, it means your content discoverable by new audiences on this social media platform. When people look for a hashtag, it means that these are quite popular. It means that people can see a set of tagged stories on the search results page and that includes yours. You may add up to 10 hashtags for each IG Story, and that includes one clickable hashtag sticker. 

Conclusion 

Use Instagram hashtags strategically to reach out to your customers, discover content related to you created by your audiences, and develop long-standing relationships with influencers on Instagram. Use these tips to improve your Instagram hashtags and build super engagement.