Episode 16
Sydney: [00:00:00] Welcome to episode 16 of Mompreneur Mastery. Today. I want to talk about hashtags because Instagram is constantly changing. If you've been around for even like a year, you will have noticed new features, different. Algorithms, all the things changing all the time and it can be hard to keep up with. So I just wanted to go back to some Instagram basics that might've changed since you started using the platform to market your online business. I don't want you using outdated tactics and wasting your super valuable time on things that are not going to get you the results that you're looking for. So this is going to be a series. If there's a feature or a tactic or anything that you have a question about. Send me a message over on Instagram at socially dot yours dot strategist and let me know, and I can answer your questions in a podcast episode.
So, like I said, this first episode [00:01:00] in the series, it's going to be all about hashtags. They are not as powerful as they used to be. So it used to be that if you had the right hashtag strategy, You can get a ton of non follower, views and engagement. Just based on that, it was, it was a lot easier to get new followers and engagement from people that weren't already aware of your content, just based on the right hashtag strategy. And Instagram is moving away from that and they're moving more towards SEO search engine optimization. So the rules have changed quite a bit around hashtags. Now they're more for categorizing than they are for increasing reach and followers.
When I first started using Instagram, I would have hashtag banks for myself and my clients because it just saved a ton of time. I would have one hashtag bank for like each content pillar, and then depending on which. Content pillar, the post I was [00:02:00] sharing would fall under. I would just copy and paste the hashtags for it. Quick and easy into the end of the caption. If you don't know what content pillars are, if you're not familiar with that concept, I talked about them in a previous episode that I will link in the show notes. So that you can use those to save time and make sure your strategy is on point.
Now, if we're talking about how to use hashtags today for the maximum effect like I said, the rules are going to be different.
The best way to use hashtags now and end of 2023 for Instagram posts for your online business. It's not really about how many you use or if you put them in the caption or in the first comment. It's really about making sure that they are super specific. To the post that you are sharing. And making sure that they have the right amount of mentions.
For example,
when [00:03:00] I go to make a post about this podcast episode on my Instagram, I'm not going to use hashtag like content audit or content repurposing or anything that is not specific to this post. It will hurt my reach. It will hurt my engagement.
You don't want to do it.
The main questions people normally have around hashtags are how many should I use? Instagram has a maximum of 30 and different experts will tell you different recommendations. But it all depends on what you're posting about and the hashtags that you're using.
Don't use extra hashtags just to reach that 30 limit, make sure that.
They're specific to your posts specific to your industry. Specific to.
Your niche.
And don't have. Either too few mentions or too many mentions. So I wouldn't [00:04:00] focus too much on the hitting a certain number being below a certain number. Other than that 30 limit, I would focus much more on how relevant it is to what you're talking about in your content.
What I mean when I talk about hashtag mentions is if you click on a hashtag on Instagram you can see how many posts have used that hashtag. If you use a hashtag that doesn't have a lot of mentions. It means no, one's looking at it. And it's not showing up in feeds and no, one's going to find that post basically. And now if you use one that has like a ton of hashtags, like super popular ones, You're going to get lost in a sea of a whole bunch of posts and it will not bring you new followers or new engagement from non followers. So the sweet spot in mentions is when you're researching for hashtags. Is to try and find ones that have between a hundred thousand. And 500,000 mentions right around there [00:05:00] is usually perfect. Where if it gets good engagement rate, it can still end up on the explore page. To get you new followers and new engagement from non followers.
Now if you are not sure how you should be looking for hashtags at all. There are a number of search engines, like hashtag generators out on the interwebs hashtag stack. Is one IQ hashtag. Flick.tech has one. I think. You might have to pay for that one. Honestly, I just like doing it in Instagram though, because it's a lot easier to see the mentions. Some of those other ones. I can't remember if you're able to sort them by mentions, but that is just so key. So I like being able to just find some on Instagram. Because it's so easy to see the number of mentions and it's just so important for your hashtag strategy. To use ones with the right amount of mentions. I will honestly look at people in my industry and see what [00:06:00] hashtags they're using and then click and see how many mentions there are.
And while I don't have hashtag banks anymore, I use metricool as a scheduler and to get like analytical reports. And it will save my hashtags for me they'll auto-populate once I start typing a keyword. So it was very easy for me to find ones. If I know that I've already done the research and have the right number of mentions.
I can easily pull those hashtags for metricool.
In addition to searching out competitors and seeing what hashtags they are using. You can just do a keyword search in Instagram for the topic of your post or for your industry or for. Your target audience and see what hashtags are out there and check the number of mentions. Now the types of hashtags you want to use, if you just have no idea what to put in a hashtag you want to use terms people are searching for. People would use when they're [00:07:00] searching on Instagram for something
I try to have mine cover three basic. Categories. The first one being the industry. So I'm Instagram strategist. I will. I'm always talking about Instagram and like every post. So it makes sense to reuse those hashtags. Second would be your target audience. I work with mom business owners. So I have a couple. Hashtags around that.
Now. I use the term mom prenuer.
That hashtag has a ton of mentions. So I don't use it. But mompreneurs, I think is around 600,000. It's somewhere close to that range that I mentioned earlier, or mompreneur life. Was an option. If you go into Instagram and just start typing a hashtag to do research on it'll give you suggestions of similar ones and you can see other options , that might have the right number of mentions that would be better for your hashtag strategy. And then the third category that I always use [00:08:00] is post topic. Like I said before, you want to make sure your hashtags are so specific to the topic of the post that you are sharing right then and there.
Other hashtag categories, you might want to consider are location. Hashtags. If you have a brick and mortar operation or if you do local events that's definitely something you would want to look into and include in your hashtag strategy. If , there's a particular theme or a holiday coming up, include those.
Sydney: Now I know that I said to keep it post specific. And then I mentioned industry and target audience. But those are pretty similar for every single post. So definitely include those too. And also keep in mind that I also said that Instagram is moving away from hashtags as. Tools to find new content. And more toward SEO keyword based searches. So make sure that you are also using these terms in your content, both in text, on graphics, in your reels [00:09:00] and your captions. All over is going to help you make sure that new people who are searching for these terms are going to find your content.
Another question I get about hashtags is. Should it be in the caption or in the first comment? And as far as the algorithm is concerned, it doesn't really matter. Some people like it in the caption. Some people like to do it in the comment for aesthetics. It doesn't matter. I will say if you do put them in the comment, you need to either do it like right after you hit share or if you use a scheduler and planning your posts out ahead of time. Make sure your scheduler. Is able to post that first comment for you with the hashtags that you want. Otherwise they're not. Not gonna do you a damn thing. They will not be helpful at all.
But other than that, it's really personal preference.
And although hashtags aren't as. Powerful as they used to be. They're [00:10:00] still a great tool. .
I like following certain hashtags. So I can see what. Questions people in my target audience are asking, would other post topics are getting a lot of engagement. So I know how best to help my audience with my content. You can certainly use that to inform your own content strategy.
I mentioned before I use metricool as my scheduler and for analytic reports.
One of the. Analytics that metrical does is on hashtags. It will tell you which ones are most valuable, which ones are getting you the most reach the most likes, that sort of thing. So if you haven't checked out metrical I would definitely look into it. Can save you a ton of time on hashtag research and make sure that you are only using the ones that are going to get you, that, that reach, that engagement that you really want.
So that is that on the most updated trends and tactics for Instagram hashtags. Let me know what other hashtag questions you have or what other Instagram features. [00:11:00] Or general questions you have in what covered in one of these episodes. Things like maybe what to put in your bio. Or what posts you should pin to your profile? What to put in your highlights? How many highlights you should have things like that. You can find me on Instagram. ,I am at socially yours dot. Strategists and DME your questions there. Thank you so much for listening.