While posting photos on Instagram, at times, we include only one or two hashtags, and at other times we go out of our way to include as many hashtags as possible. So the question is – what’s the perfect number of hashtags?
The benefits of using hashtags on social media have been proven over time. The proper use of hashtags can improve your reach and engagement levels on social media. Often, to increase our profile reach, we tend to include as many trending topics in the descriptions of our pictures as possible. It’s the same from a marketing standpoint as well.
With different number of photo engagements each time, here’s what we found!
We all know that Instagram is primarily a photo (and recently short video) sharing platform. Instagram lets you include as much as 40 hashtags in your description. One might think that using the most popular and trending tags will boost your reach and engagement, but that is not often the case.
Hashtags on Instagram are often used to categorize a photo. Instagram uses hashtags to differentiate your photo from other photos on the platform. So, including proper hashtags for your photo is crucial to the success of its reach and engagement.
Hashtags on Instagram are similar to keywords in an article on a website for the purpose of search engine optimization. Keyword stuffing will ruin your SEO score, and it’s the same with Instagram photos. Like too many keywords in an article will be considered keyword stuffing, including too many hashtags will ruin your brand on Instagram.
There isn’t an exact optimum number of hashtags for each photo. However social media marketing experts suggest a number of hashtags around a dozen.
Whatever the number of hashtags you decide to use for your post, you should ensure that they are all related to your photo. Even one or two hashtags might be just enough to describe your photo and engage the audience if properly placed in the description alongside some additional text.
For example, major brands use only one or two hashtags for most of their photos. The popularity of most prominent brands on Instagram is directly related to the quality of their photos. The proper use of hashtags increases the reach of their marketing message.
It’s about the photo AND the Hashtags.
Being a successful social media marketer, we often tend to forget that at the end of the day our leads are actual people who use Instagram to look at beautiful photos and videos and to engage with their peers and favorite brands. People aren’t interested in seeing generic photos on their feeds that have nothing to do with the hashtag. So to reach them, try to think creatively.
There isn’t one single formula that will help you be the top brand on Instagram. It’s your photos that matter. Focus on them first and think about the hashtags second. Understand each picture you post on Instagram and use the hashtags that work out best for you. Include them in the description message itself rather than just tacking them on at the end. Social media marketing in sydney
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