2020 Hashtag Tips

Taylor Talks Newsletter - 8/10/2020

Hello hello hello from Pennslyvania. I am surrounded by moving boxes in my new apartment as I type this! A subscriber had a good question so I wanted to post and talk about it here. Question: Can you please give some tips on hashtags and how to increase reach?

I don't everything about Instagram but here is what I have learned over the years.

Hashtag 101 - Basics

If you don't know about hashtags...here is what you need to know:

1. There is a limit of 30.

2. Post it in your caption on comments. They say it does not matter where you put them but I get more reach when I post them in my comments.

When putting hashtags in the caption, leave enough blank space between them and the text to make it look less spammy. If you place them in the first comment, make sure you have already copied them.

Paste them IMMEDIATELY after publishing to get visible right away.

You want to make sure everyone sees your post as soon as it goes live. If you wait too long to paste your hashtags to your comment, then you risk having your post clogged by newer posts that have gone up after you published yours.

3. Don’t use shadowbanned hashtags - they can affect your visibility. It is a real thing. I swear. I use Triberr Shadowban Tester to check all my posts.

Hashtag Strategy: Overview

1. Use niche-specific hashtags that have 10 - 100x more posts than you have followers. The more popular ones will have your post buried amongst millions of other users because only the famous accounts will get endorsed and seen.

For example, I am a vegan law student. A good hashtag to use is #lawstudentproblems or #blackveganblogger NOT #student #medicalstudent or #vegan.

Note: You want your posts to have mostly niche hashtags! You want to reach the right audience. This will increase the amount of followers and engagement you get a day.

I like to use industry and community hashtags too like #vegansofig

2. Don’t use hashtags that have millions of posts under them - your post will get lost amongst newly published pictures.

3. Avoid generic hashtags that are irrelevant to you and have heaps of posts under them. 4. When looking where to travel or what restaurant to visit, people also browse for inspiration on hashtags and not just geo-tags. So make sure to always include a hashtag of your location whenever you publish a post

Hashtag Strategy: Detailed There are several ways you can search for hashtags. Here are some things I do:

• ​Type in your niche or field of interest in the search bar on the Explore page of Instagram. I do this every time before I post. It works!

• Use the related hashtags feature on Instagram when you browse desired hashtags. For example, if I am posting about home decor, I would search #homedecorinspo...from there will be related hashtags. I click on those to see if it is a good hashtag to use.

• Visit your competition and check out what hashtags are they using and what is working for them! Be sure you are looking at a competitor that knows what they are doing!

• I have 80% niche-specific hashtags on my post - those that are strictly related to your field of knowledge.

• I have 15% moderate Industry hashtags on my post - those that are kind of related to your field of knowledge and have a moderate audience size.

• I have 5% broader Industry hashtags on my post - I don't have a lot of these...maybe 1 or 2.

• You can use location-based hashtags if they are relevant.

WHAT I ALWAYS DO

After I publish the hashtags, I click on them and start engaging on each of them for 1-3 hours. These accounts/people usually comment and follow me! This increasing my visibility under those hashtags. My sister works for me so I have her engage for 3 hours a day.

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