Thank you all for the feedback and discussion you contributed during last Wednesday’s class. I know we’re all very busy these days; I appreciate your time and attention—I’m particularly happy to hear about your personal progress, and to know you are getting value from meeting in person.
As promised, this blog post is my follow-up on some of the points we discussed during class about Instagram hashtags.
How Many IG Hashtags Per Post?
Let me ask you a question: How many hashtags do you think you should you use in your Instagram posts?
That question regularly sparks quite a debate in the IG community. While Instagram has publicly stated that “adding 10-20 hashtags won’t get you additional visibility,” many experienced IG content creators have conducted experiments that have produced results that contradict this claim. Some have even reported that their post’s reach increased by as much as 600%.
The debate goes on, but here’s the thing, my friends: there really is no one-size-fits-all answer. The number of hashtags you should use in your post depends on a variety of factors, including your niche, audience, and engagement rate. So, experiment and do your own research to determine what works best for you!
My Current Approach
Personally speaking, at the time of this writing, I think if Instagram is allowing me to use 30 hashtags, I should probably use them all. I’m learning new things every day, but I don’t understand the logic of limiting my potential audience of followers to just three to five ways of finding my posts when I could give them 30 ways to find those posts.
So, if you’re looking for a starting point, I suggest using a mix of 30 hashtags, including 5 popular hashtags with 200k-1M followers, 15 moderately popular hashtags with 10k-200k followers, and 10 niche hashtags with over 10k followers. This mix will help you reach a wider audience while also targeting specific niches.
Hashtag Banking
Taking a bit of time to pre-generate collections of hashtags can be a real game-changer for productivity and organization. By creating a Hashtag Bank for each of your content categories, you can easily access relevant hashtags and save time on researching and typing them out each time you post.
For a basic hashtag bank, I suggest collecting hashtags in a mobile App, like Apple’s Notes App. After crafting an engaging caption for your Instagram Post, Carousel, or Reel, it’s easy to just copy and paste the appropriate group of hashtags at the bottom of your caption, or in the post’s first comment. (Opinions vary on which of these approaches is better. Again, do what works for you.)
Conclusion
The bottom line is this: Don’t rely on a set number of hashtags to determine your Instagram success. Instead, focus on experimenting, researching, and creating a system that works best for you. And, of course, don’t forget to leverage the power of “Hashtag Banks” to help you achieve your own Instagram goals.
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