Guide to Using Hashtags on Instagram for Businesses

Since we know that hashtags play a key role in your company’s marketing and sales strategies, we’ve put together a short but detailed article with some best practices for using hashtags on Instagram for business.

Why is it important for businesses to use hashtags on Instagram?

First of all, hashtags are tags that allow you to associate an image with certain terms. The image is then catalogued into a certain group of images and will appear in the search results related to that search term.

That makes hashtags an indispensable element in your strategy for positioning your brand on social media and something that should be included in your marketing tactics. But in order for them to work appropriately, you’ll need to follow certain best practices to have the best possible impact.

Best practices for using hashtags on Instagram for businesses

Below, we provide a list of the most common practices for using hashtags:

How many hashtags should you add to your posts?

Although various experts and studies don’t show one definitive answer to this question, one recent study from Hubspot showed that at around 8 hashtags there is a noticeable increase in post views. However, there is no significant difference between 8 and 30 tags, the maximum number of hashtags allowed in a post description.

However many hashtags you use, it has been shown that even just one hashtag on a post increases engagement by 12.6% over those that have no hashtags, according to Later.

Is it possible to hide hashtags?

If you don’t want your hashtags to be visible in the caption of the post or if you want to use the space for more text, another option is to hide the hashtags in the comments.

When a post gets a large number of comments, it is unlikely that the hashtags will show first, allowing you to hide them from view.

Keep terms that clients search for in mind

Some companies will invent their own hashtags, but doing so without a strategy to back it up can make your post look less organic.

For example, if you’re a soda company and you invent a hashtag such as #CansAreCool, not many people are likely to search for that term. On the other hand, if that hashtag is part of a campaign, in which it’s mentioned in other content, or in which clients and users are encouraged to upload a picture of a canned drink with the hashtag, then it would make sense to include it in the brand’s marketing strategy.

If not, it’s usually recommended to use terms that people generally use to refer to your brand or that are trending in the industry.

What types of hashtags should I use on Instagram?

Ideally, each hashtag you add to a post should be well thought-out and have a strategic goal. But they are also subject to common use and how popular each term is.

That means it’s recommended to combine hashtags from different popular categories. You can find this information by entering a hashtag in the Instagram search, which will show under each term the number of posts associated with that hashtag.

You can also see which hashtags the competition are using to understand what terms are most-used in the industry.

How can you tell whether the hashtags you use on Instagram are working?

Although it’s not possible to analyze the traffic on each hashtag, the metrics that Instagram for Business provides allow you to see the total number of viewers of a post that reached it because of hashtags.

Once your hashtags are aligned with your marketing strategy, it’s time to take it to the next level.

How can I complement my Instagram digital marketing strategy?

Optimizing posts will help to increase users’ interest in contacting you about your products or services. To manage the new flood of messages without having to hire more customer service agents, you’ll need a platform that brings together conversation automation tools.

Zenvia Conversion allows you to integrate your Facebook Messenger, Instagram Messenger, and WhatsApp channels so you can have a panoramic view of the incoming messages your business receives, and even the multiple messages the same user may send via different channels. On top of that, Zenvia Conversion’s conversational channels allow you to automate conversational flows so your agents don’t waste time on repetitive tasks.

Other tools  that Zenvia Conversion provides that will help you improve your relationship with your clients and increase your sales include:

• Automatic notifications that indicate the estimated wait time before a client will receive a response from an agent.
• Customer satisfaction surveys sent by bots as soon as a client ends a conversation.
• Reports to see how your customer service agents are performing and during which hours it would be a good idea to add more support for your team.
• Integration with your virtual store to provide information about products to your potential clients as quickly as possible.
  

Are you ready to take your sales and marketing strategy to the next level? You can start today by trying Zenvia Conversion’s free demo. Click here to get started.