Hashtagology: How to Grow Your Instagram with Hashtags

Hashtags have been growing and changing over the last several years.

Twitter first introduced them, Facebook and Pinterest played with them.

But Instagram uses them in an ingenious way, to connect whole communities around a single topic. In this post I'm going to give you several tips for using them, as well as 4 tools for researching them and if you scroll to the bottom, you can get my list of top 60 hashtags.

Hashtagology

I have defined hashtagology as “the growth of an instagram account through the study and use of hashtags”.

For exampel: If you want to attract followers who like travel, research the hashtag #travel, and related hashtags using the tools below and then:

• Like photos with the hashtag
• Comment on photos with the hashtag
• Follow the accounts that use the hashtag and are interesting to you
• Use the hashtag on your photos, so that accounts with similar interests can find your photos and engage with you
• Repeat with other hashtags for your niche/topic

A like (clicking the heart) on a post is helpful to the poster in gaining more exposure for their photo and account.

Commenting (3+ words) is even more helpful.

When someone comments on YOUR photo, be sure to like (heart) the comment and reply to each comment. This will raise your engagement rate, as you can double your comments just by replying to each person individually, which again will get your photo more exposure in instagram's algorithms.

Here are 4 of my Favorite Tools for Reasearching Instagram Hashtags

1. Hashtagify

Hashtagify is not an app, you have to view it on your computer, but it's free and is great for Instagram users as it will tell you what other hashtags are closely related to the one you type in.

On Instagram you're allowed 30 hashtags per post and if you have over 11, your post is more likely to be seen, so this tool is golden!

2. RiteTag

You can use the free one-week trial of RiteTag (online) to research which hashtags are considered hot, longlife, underused, or overused. On Twitter, you would only want to use 2 or 3 top hashtags per tweet, but on Instagram you want to use all of your 30 hashtags per post for maximum exposure. For instance #bloggers was not listed as a hot hashtag but #blogging was.

3. Later

Later.com is what I use to schedule my Instagram posts. I can upload the photos on the computer and get a preview of how they will look in my feed, move them around etc. Later gives me 30 images/month for free. But with the paid account, I can see the analytics of how my photos and hashtags are performing.

4. Iconosquare

A bit pricier than Later, Iconosquare will let you see how your photos and hashtags are performing as well as who your top engagers are, and gives you similar information for up to 5 competitor accounts. Iconosquare has a free 2 week trial, so you can see how it works and if it's worth it for your business.

Do you have another Instagram App that has helped you grow your account? Leave us a note below and let us know what it is.

Other posts you might like: 

• When an Instagram Account is Not Right For You
• Best Apps to Grow Your Instagram Account
• 3 Ways to Make Your Instagram Feed More Attractive

Don't forget to grab our FREE list of top 60 hashtags to use on Instagram! Click the button or image below: