Instagram is the king of hashtags. There’s no better platform to market your YouTube video than this millennial-friendly goldmine. Using hashtags strategically is one of the best ways to give your video an extra boost. There’s so much more to hashtag marketing than simply picking a few keywords and scattering them across your posts. This is how you use hashtags the right way to increase your engagement, get more views and subscribers fast.
1. A good rule of thumb is to balance your hashtags into four types
For example, if you have a sneaker store called “Max” and your post promotes white sneakers, here’s are the type of hashtags you should be using in your post:
- Branded hashtags that are exclusive to your YouTube channel (#maxfashion #maxshoes #maxsneakers)
- Targeted hashtags with 10k-90k mentions (#whitelook #whitesneakers)
- Medium hashtags with around 100k-500k mentions (#sneakerstore #customsneakers)
- Broad hashtags that have 500k+ mentions (#fashion #sneakers)
Instagram lets you post upto a maximum of 30 hashtags per post.
2. Make sure you keep switching up your hashtags for every post.
If you copy-paste the same hashtags for all your posts, your account may come across as spammy and Instagram could decrease your post’s visibility. What you can do is create around seven different groups of hashtags for each day of the week. Mix and match these hashtags for every post and rotate them through the week.
3. Use the Instagram search bar to look for hashtags in your niche
Follow these hashtags to keep a tab on what your competitors are posting. Hashtags that you follow will pop in in your feed and make it easier for you to stay on top of trends. A clever tactic is to like and comment on the top 10 posts that pop up in your search bar every hour. This will draw people in your niche to your page, increase engagement and open up your chances to form new collaborations.
4. You can also use the Instagram search bar to find the most popular hashtags in your niche
For example, if you type #beach on the search bar, the dropdown menu will show other trending hashtags like #beachlife #beachday #beachbody. You can use these hashtags in your post caption to increase visibility.
5. Use websites like Display Purposes and Hashtagify to give you a list of high performing hashtags
You can also type in your keyword on Google to populate popular keywords. Pick out long-tail keywords that show up at the footer of your search engine results page.
6. Make a list of the top brands and influencers with a large social media following in your niche
Find out what industry-specific hashtags they’re using. Pepper these hashtags in your posts and compete with them fiercely in this space.
7. Use “days of the week” hashtags
Here are the top hashtags for each day of the week:
Monday: #mondaymotivation
Tuesday: #transformationtuesday
Wednesday: #wednesdaywisdom
Thursday: #tbt
Friday: #tgif
Saturday: #saturdaynight
Sunday: #sundayfunday
8. Use hashtags in your profile bio
Limit it to 1-3 hashtags as you don’t want your bio to look cluttered.
9. Location hashtags are highly effective in increasing your post’s visibility
Make sure to include them in your Instagram stories as well. For example, if you’re posting from a bar called Veggie Bar in Melbourne, you can use the hashtag #melbourne and #veggiebar in your stories and a few geographic-specific hashtags in your posts like #veggiebar #seemelbourne #visitaustralia. This will make your story pop up in the explore page.
Hashtags are an invaluable asset to your marketing strategy. It is especially useful when you’re just kickstarting your YouTube channel or if you’re feeling a bit stuck and need to give your videos an extra boost.
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