Instagram has grown astronomically to be one of the largest social media networks in the world with more than 800-million active monthly users. Its growth is largely due to the appealing features it continues to launch.
And now, you can follow hashtags! Watch Coralie’s latest video here, where she explains how you can use this to your advantage and boost your exposure on Instagram!
You’ve always been able to post hashtags and search hashtags on Instagram, but now you can follow a specific hashtag like you would follow another person or business.
Why is this important?
Well, being able to follow a hashtag means you can better track things you are interested in or topics specific to your industry. You can keep a closer track of competition or stay on top of the latest trends. But more importantly, this is an opportunity for you to appear in more feeds.
The higher your reach, the better your chances are at growing an engaged audience and growing your business.
So how does this work?
Let’s say you have a new restaurant in Victoria and want to get the word out, but you are fairly new to Instagram and only have 50 followers. If you include the hashtag #yyjfood, people will be able to search that and see your posts. Now, if someone follows that hashtag, you can appear in their feeds even if they don’t follow you. This is a fantastic opportunity for exposure.
So, make sure you include hashtags in your posts and choose them carefully. Look them up ahead of time to see if they are commonly used, and make sure they are not being used for other meanings or purposes than what you’re intending (this does happen from time to time!).
You also want to make sure they are not too common, such as #food, or your post will merely be a blip in the radar and is less likely to be picked up by the algorithm and appear in other people’s feeds. Also, if your business is specific to a location, a generic post that targets people elsewhere in your country or the world will be irrelevant and won’t help you.
Check it out and let us know what you think!
If you have any questions, or want to discuss your social media with us, contact us anytime.