Instagram Hashtags: Definition &. Types Why it is Important & How to use Instagram Hashtags India

Ever notice that you never run out of hashtags for your posts and reels on Instagram? For every sun blown picture, there’s a #sunkissed hashtag and #TB for your throwback stacks every Thursday. 

Before Instagram adopted a business platform strategy, these hashtags were extensions of their captions to express their emotions like #goodday, #bestfriends etc. Now, Instagram can help your platform reach higher through hashtag strategies and gain more visibility by using trending hashtags. 

What Are Instagram Hashtags

Instagram hashtags are metatags prefaced by a hash symbol (#). These can be a combination of letters, numbers, symbols etc., often used in blogging sites and social media platforms for better reach. These hashtags help to cross-reference related content sharing a theme or topic of interest and are clickable, directly taking you to the medium of discussion. 

These hashtags have been in use ever since the prehistoric times of the internet and used in group chats conferences and rose to a cultural phenomenon on blogging sites leading to social media hashtags. 

You could add a hashtag in your caption or story, and if yours is a public profile, your profile is visible when people search for that hashtag. Like pages, you can also follow hashtags on Instagram for related content in your feed and separate hashtags of reels for people to find the reel audio. 

Why are Hashtags Important 

Hashtags can break or build your brand depending on the correct usage. According to Instagram Usage research, at least 88 percent of brands use hashtags for their posts and notice an increase in engagement than the ones without hashtags. These hashtags are used for the sorting process. A million posts are uploaded every day from different genres; these hashtags help Instagram sort the content according to a common theme of interest. 

You could use a common hashtag such as #blueskylover, and a million posts will come up with the same hashtag as it is a common term, which can boost your following. But, as a brand, when you aim for engagement, use appropriate and specific hashtags for the theme so that your target audience can directly engage with your post and reach a general audience. Instagram algorithm even suggests using at least 30 hashtags per post for more engagement and visibility. 

Types of Instagram Hashtags 

Hashtags are crucial for communication and reach on a larger platform, and every niche has a different set of reach on Instagram, so using these hashtags at the end of your posts will reach a lot more people than expected.  

• Product/Service Hashtags – Companies use their product or service images on Instagram and tag their product names for hashtags. Example- #onlinestore, #onlinestorefreesetup 

• Industry Niche hashtags – Hashtags related to the industry the brand belongs to, like marketing or cosmetics. For example- #handwovendenims, #purplehairday. 

• Brand Hashtags – These are the essential hashtags for your brand to grow on Instagram; add your brand name and slogan at the end of every post. Example #Bikayi, #Bikayistore 

• Campaign Hashtag – When you’re running a sponsored campaign or advertisement, you can use a separate set of hashtags to track anyone who’s engaged with the campaign. 

• User Generated hashtags – These are the hashtags that allow people to directly access your profile where they see your content without any sponsor, just unfiltered content. 

• Community hashtags – Instagram has community hashtags that help people reach more visibility, like #dogsofInstagram. 

• Cultural Hashtags – Cultural movements such as Black Lives Matter, feminism, Pride Matters all have hashtags on Instagram. You can use these hashtags to share information about the campaign, provide support and make your company stance clear. 

• Location Hashtags – These are great to spot target audiences in the nearby area and provide an instant location to an audience looking for the same. 

These are some of the Instagram business hashtags needed to improve your post reach. However, individuals with private Instagram accounts use personal, daily and holiday season hashtags for fun. 

How to Use Instagram for Brands in 2022

Best Trending Instagram hashtags for 2022

#love (2.1B posts)

#instagood (1.5B posts)

#fashion (1B posts)

#photooftheday (988M posts)

#art (888.6M posts)

#photography (864.7M posts)

#instagram 828M posts)

#beautiful (792.1M posts)

#picoftheday (692.8M posts)

#nature (696.4M posts)

#happy (670.9M posts)

#cute (659.7M posts)

#travel (613M posts)

#style (606.3M posts)

#followme (592.5M posts)

Popular Hashtags for 2022

These hashtags have arisen with the use of brands and creators on Instagram, and using these hashtags can help your content be amongst those creators pages for more visibility. 

#brandpartnerships

#tiktokcreator

#reelstrends

#2022trends

#2022predictions

#igreelstips

#viraltrends

#genzmarketing

#2022goals

#2022socialgoals

#trendingsound

#engagementtips

#instagramnews

#2022calendar

Hashtags to Use for More Likes and Follows on Instagram

#instadaily

#LikesForLikes

#FollowMe

#love

#LikeForLike

#LikeForLikes

#FollowForFollow

#instalike

#LikeForFollow

#FollowBack

#PhotoOfTheDay

#FollowForFollowBack

#PicOfTheDay

Best Practices  to Use Hashtags on Instagram

1. One can use up to 30 hashtags on each post, and our recommendation is to use all of them as the Instagram algorithm follows them. More doesn’t mean better, but rather cover all the areas of the niches. 

2. Try and use hashtags on all your posts, and make them as narrow to your niche as possible. That way, people can see your post at the top with those hashtags than the general ones. 

3. Make sure your hashtags are rotated and not the same every time; Instagram might flag your account for repeated hashtags and spam. 

4. If you do not want to crowd your caption space, type the hashtags after a gap in the caption or add it in the comment section, people could press on that for further information. 

5. There is also a list of banned hashtags regarding drug abuse, self-harm etc., which Instagram has forbidden due to apparent reasons, so make sure your post doesn’t contain those. 

Instagram uses hashtags to similar group content so regular users can engage with your content whenever you use them. Never underestimate the reach of a single hashtag, as it can help you reach people with a similar niche and develop a good following.