There are always many questions surrounding the importance of using hashtags on social media, but the truth is, the specific way you use hashtags could ultimately benefit your brand in the long run and meet your social media goals. Read on to learn 4 benefits to using Instagram hashtags.

Increase Exposure and Discovery

The main reason many Instagram users use hashtags is to increase exposure and your ability to land on the Discovery page. By clicking on hashtags, users are led to a gallery filled with the latest post that used that specific hashtag. Hashtags are a great way for people to find and follow users that post about topics they are interested in. A variety of brands use hashtags as a form of brand advocacy. Your audience can use branded hashtags to show off a new product or service and ultimately increase your brand exposure

Content Research

Hashtags can help you discover new ideas for content. By clicking a hashtag and seeing what the top post are, you can use these posts as inspiration and see what has been working for brands like yours. If there is certain types of photos or captions that are trending, considering creating the same for your brand. You can also find additional hashtags on the post that may not be as populated, but are still relevant to your audience.

Encourage Interactions from Your Followers

When your brand comes up with a hashtag, it’s important to encourage followers to use it. By increasing your mentions of hashtags you are also creating a new form of engagement. Tagged post are saved in search results and story posts that are tagged are saved to that hashtag for the duration of 24 hours. Hashtags are a great way to continue engaging you consumer base.

How Many Hashtags Should You Use?

 The answer to this is: it depends. It is recommended that users only use 1-3 hashtags within an Instagram caption, but you can enter up to 30 hashtags in the first comment. It’s important to not always use many hashtags in the first comment because your post can begin to look messy and look like potential spam.

Are you ready to create the perfect Instagram hashtags? Social Ape is here to help! Contact our team today to get started.