When it comes to marketing your campaign on Instagram, hashtags are an integral part in making your content discoverable by other users. By properly using hashtags, your startup will be able to expand its reach organically, and possibly even lessen the hassle of having to spend your money in order to reach a prospective consumer.
Considering there are over 600 million monthly active users on Instagram, and the fact that the social media platform is easily accessible to anyone with a smartphone or computer, the mobile photo and video sharing tool has become a valuable marketing tool for businesses.
In a previous article where we provided some insight on the 2017 app economy, we had mentioned that many users are using their smartphone for their digital media consumption. It was reported that roughly two out of every three minutes of a person’s time, spent digitally, is done from their smartphone, where Instagram is one of the leading social media platforms available.
According to Hubspot, based on their findings in 2014, 92 percent of marketers claimed that social media was important for their business. The same percentage indicated that marketing on social media generated a wider exposure for their brand. And, there are currently over 500, 000 advertisers using Instagram, specifically, to market their businesses. Start-ups should note—if this is any clear indication, the popularity of social media isn’t going to wane any time soon!
In this article, we are going to provide you some tips and tricks in regards to expanding your reach with hashtags, specifically. As well, we’ll give you with the best hashtags to properly market your brand on Instagram, focusing on specific niches.
Create a Branded Hashtag to Give Your Business a Unique Identity
While more established brands have a consistently high engagement rate due to their large following, and may not even have to market their content with an array of hashtags to reach the consumer, for startups, hashtags are essential.
Nowadays, hashtags aren’t just for categorization, they create conversation between users and brands, and if it’s big enough, can even be part of popular culture. Previously, in our last article, we had cited the fact that 70 percent of the most used hashtags on Instagram were branded. Having a branded hashtag gives your business and any of its campaigns a unique identity. They can often catch on and become a trend among a community, inviting users to take part in the action.
Here’s a tip. When creating your publishing calendar for your social media campaign, the best times to implement a branded hashtag are when you’re advertising: product launches, promotions, contests, sponsored events, or any affiliated initiatives.
More Energy. More Traction. More Durability. Everything’s better in 3’s. We're spending the day in the design lab – head to @PUMARunning to see the creative process behind the #IGNITE3. #ForeverFaster
A photo posted by PUMA (@puma) on
Jan 27, 2017 at 12:19pm PST
Take a look at Puma’s usage of branded hashtags on Instagram. Its latest brand mantra #foreverfaster, targets athletes and those interested in high quality footwear with a bold statement of outperforming their competition. The hashtag itself has a cumulative total of around 125,295 posts from Puma’s Instagram and other users. While it may not be an example of an extremely popular trending branded hashtag, their #foreverfaster campaign is a perfect example of a brand creating a unique identity for itself, separating it from its peers.
When creating a branded hashtag, make sure that it is catchy, that it leaves an impression, that it isn’t too lengthy, and, most importantly, that it is easy to read. A great start is by creating a hashtag based on your company name or through a tagline that more or less defines your business or its goals.
The Most Popular Hashtags
According to Websta, the current top 20 hashtags on Instagram are the following:
#love
#instagood
#photooftheday
#beautiful
#tbt
#happy
#cute
#fashion
#followme
#me
#follow
#like4like
#picoftheday
#selfie
#summer
#friends
#instadaily
#girl
#fun
#repost
While they are extremely popular among users and a great starting point, it’s likely that they may not be the best hashtags to use when marketing your business.
General Hashtags for Startups and Businesses
Using this excellent tool for finding relevant hashtags, called Display Purposes, here are some of the best hashtags for a startup business:
#business
#entrepreneur
#success
#marketing
#entrepreneurship
#startup
#money
#businessman
#entrepreneurs
#hustle
#grind
#businesswoman
#wealth
#successful
#businessowner
#entreprise
#branding
#millionaire
#socialmedia
#ceo
Use Specific Hashtags Relevant to Your Brand
By narrowing your focus using Display Purposes, you can target specific niches with these hashtags. Remember that each post accepts up to a maximum of 30 hashtags. Try to use only one or two hashtags in the caption that best represents the content, while adding the rest onto the first comment.
For male-oriented clothing brands:
#clothes
#menswear
#streetfashion
#fashionable
#accessories
#menstyle
#streetwear
#tshirt
#designer
#tshirts
#tees
#distro
#shirt
#clothing
#brand
#apparel
#clothingline
#clothingbrand
#branding
#logo
For a café or coffee roaster:
#breakfast
#coffeebreak
#cafe
#coffeetime
#coffeelover
#coffeeaddict
#latte
#coffeegram
#instacoffee
#caffeine
#latteart
#coffeeshop
#coffeeholic
#coffeelovers
#coffeelove
#coffeelife
#coffeeoftheday
#cappuccino
#cafe
#coffeemug
For a publication or magazine focusing on media and fashion:
#magazine
#editorial
#fashionmagazine
#vogue
#fashionphotography
#fashioneditorial
#media
#news
#press
#newspaper
#social
#journalist
#socialmedia
#television
#publicrelations
#tv
#marketing
#digitalmarketing
#culture
#history
Of course, depending on the industry, there are better choices among the selection given. Social media tools such as Display Purposes are one of many that you can take advantage of to find hashtags relevant to your brand. However, for best results, research what people are saying on Instagram and what hashtags your competitors are using to get an advantage.
The post The Best Instagram Hashtags and Strategies That Startups Should Know appeared first on AIRR Media.