Hashtag mistakes that are LIMITING your Instagram exposure
Posted on 16/11/2020
Struggling to grow your Instagram reach through hashtags? You might be making one or more of these popular hashtag mistakes without you even knowing it. But don’t worry! They’re all super easy to avoid.
I’ve tried and tested all the mistakes below and trust me, they didn’t work in my favour. Minimising these mistakes helped me to increase my reach per post significantly and gain more followers through hashtags.
1. Using hashtags that do not actually match your content.
When someone searches for a hashtag, they’re clearly wanting to see related posts. So if someone searches #sunset, and your photo of a restaurant meal comes up, do you think they’re going to click on it? This is essentially a waste of a hashtag.
Instagram also has a high artificial intelligence. It’s smart enough to know that even if you have high enough engagement to rank in the hashtag, if the post simply is not related to the hashtag, it won’t rank you.
2. Not diversifying your hashtag groups.
For example, if you use quite specific hashtags where they all have under 100 posts, that means no one is searching for them. Therefore, your post won’t be seen through hashtags. Or if you’re only using really broad hashtags with over a million posts, e.g #food or #dinner, your posts still won’t be seen by many as so many people are posting under these hashtags every minute. Your post will simply get lost. Don’t just type in a bunch of hashtags, actually research each one and their size.
Use all 30 hashtags that Instagram allows you to use in one post so that you can maximise your potential reach. These are the numbers that have worked for me —>
3. Continuously using the same hashtag groups.
If you use the same hashtags over and over again (especially if you post regularly - like everyday), Instagram might significantly reduce your reach. Trust me - this has happened to me when I used the same hashtag group twice in one week, I then received 0 reach from hashtags. Even worse, Instagram could even temporarily block your account as this repetitive behaviour mimics bots and it could think you’re spam.
It’s best to never use the exact same hashtag group twice. If you really want to grow your account, you should be putting in the time and effort to research/experiment with what hashtags are working and which ones aren’t.
4. Forgetting to use LOCAL hashtags.
As food reviewers, this is absolutely crucial! Our main target audience are people who live in our local area, who are going out to eat and looking for new places to visit. Therefore, if we’re not using hashtags such as #melbournefoodies or #newyorkbrunch we’re not tapping into the local market who we ideally want to follow us.
5. Not using them!
Hashtags are essential in content discovery and growth. If anyone tells you that they don’t look ‘cool’ or it’s better that you leave them out - don’t listen to them. Although in my personal opinion, hashtags do look better and make for a more clean post when you put them in the first comment on your post (instead of in the caption).
Be sure to use them in your stories too, I always notice that I get a few extra views from hashtags when I do. My pro tip here is to hide them under gifs or location tags - no one will ever know!
Hashtags definitely still work in 2021, just make sure you are avoiding these popular mistakes!