How to get more followers on Instagram with a hashtag campaign in 2023 [updated]

Tips 5-minute-improvements Article

Apr 13, 2022

Violet Rich

And if you pick the right keywords for each post and Reels, then their effectiveness, coverage, and engagement increase by 45-300%!

After that, you'll be seeing a higher number of likes, orders, and followers. Of course, this will not happen in an instant, but if you keep experimenting with hashtags to find the right ones, you'll eventually get more Instagram followers and orders through Direct messages or via the website.

Why are Instagram hashtags important for marketing?

First, let's take a look at Instagram hashtags and explore why they are so important for your Instagram marketing strategy.

What is an Instagram hashtag?

Hashtag is a keyword in your content caption. Hashtags are used to classify messages by topic, to search for any posts on this topic, and to brand any content.

Why are hashtags important?

Hashtags are, in fact, Instagram's sorting process, its semantic core.

With the help of keywords in captions to photos and videos posted daily on Instagram, the platform delivers the right content to the right people. Hashtags help viewers who are most interested in viewing your post to find it.

Should all hashtags be visible?

No. No one wants to read through thirty different hashtags, or even six, just to get to the content.

Large blocks of hard-to-read text "for the machine" look visually unattractive.

Because of this, many brands prefer to hide most of their hashtags, strategically placing them under "Read More." Other brands send hashtags in a separate comment to the message, but then hashtags significantly lose search efficiency (this is how the Insta-search engine works — messages play the most important role, then comments).

How do I hide hashtags in a caption?

Don't want to post hashtags in the comments? Don't worry.

You can hide hashtags in the header:

1) by writing a title longer than three lines or

2) adding 3 to 5 "punctuation" line breaks.

Place the text cursor at the end of the title and click Return.

Don't forget to add a dot, dash, asterisk, or tilde to keep the line in place. (If there are no punctuation marks, Instagram may treat this as random extra space and remove these line breaks when posting.)

Why do we need hashtags in 2023?

They have always been needed, and nothing has changed. In 2023, they are even more necessary, because there is only more content every day. And to make it sell without hashtags will be difficult to do.

Although Instagram promised to add semantic search through the text of posts, this did not happen, and most likely will not happen because Instagram is not Google and will never become like Google. Instagram needs an accurate search by photo and video content, not by texts, and to highlight specific words in the caption that define what your content is about for convenient search. And for this they came up with hashtags.

Hashtags are the best way to categorize your posts and videos. They help you reach your target audience, and more importantly, they help the target audience find you. These users are more likely to interact with your post because it's exactly what they were looking for.

Best Instagram hashtags to get more followers for Instagram companies, brands, businesses

Whether you are a social media manager in a company, a small Instagram business owner, an individual entrepreneur, a beauty master, a creator, or a designer you can use the following hashtags to increase your visibility on Instagram.

• Hashtags of products or services. Companies use product hashtags for messages related to their product and service offerings. Usually, these are common things, for example, #barbershop or #makeuptutorial.
• Hashtags in niche industries. These hashtags are used to denote the specific work you are doing, and they are narrower than the hashtags of your product or service. Example: #curvyfashion.
• Branded hashtags. Branded hashtags help create a community focused specifically on your brand or business. It could be a slogan. It can also be the name of a specific product that you offer or even the name of your company.
• Hashtags of the campaign. If you place sponsored ads, you can use a unique hashtag to track campaign-related activity. We will consider this point separately later in this article - just continue reading.
• Hashtags of user content. This type of hashtag is created specifically for your customers. They are different from hashtags of products, brands, and campaigns, because you, the company, cannot influence what is published. Other people can visit this hashtag to see unfiltered and non-sponsored photos of your product.
• Instagram community hashtags for your industry. These hashtags are great for attracting the attention of other Instagrammers who are doing what you are doing. For example, if you create content, then you could write to #instagramcreators.

Best Instagram hashtags

All of these hashtags you can find with a professional hashtag generator.

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How to use hashtags on Instagram in 2023?

Using hashtags on Instagram is a relatively simple process, but you'll want to stick to a few rules to make the most of the hashtags. We have compiled best practices on the following frequently asked questions.

1. How many hashtags can I use on Instagram?

Thirty hashtags is the maximum number you can use.

The average is 11, with half of Instagram accounts using from one to three. You can use more or less depending on your Instagram marketing goals.

2. Should I add hashtags to every Instagram post?

Yes! Each hashtag is a direct path from your product to your potential customer's screen. Try to choose hashtags as narrowly or niche as possible. The fewer posts a hashtag has, the more likely it is that people who follow it will see you. Also, if the topic is very specific, people are more likely to interact with your post.

3. All my posts are similar. Can I use the same hashtags over and over again?

No. Instagram's algorithm can punish you for constantly using the same hashtags by pushing your posts down so they don't show up for those tags. Therefore, you need to generate a new group of hashtags for each new post.

In the Inflact hashtags generator there is an update, which allows you to work with hashtags professionally.

More importantly, Instagram may block your account for using identical hashtags because it can give the impression that you are sending spam to users - or, even worse, that you are a fake Instagram bot user. Thus, you need to alternate your hashtags so that they are as relevant as possible to a particular post or video, even if they are similar.

4. Are there any hashtags that I should avoid?

Yes. Instagram maintains a list of banned hashtags. However, they do not publish this list, and there is no authoritative source.

Some of them are intuitive, such as hashtags that are offensive or promote self-harm, while others, such as #push-ups and #mustfollow, are not so obvious. If you have any doubts about your hashtags, look for this hashtag on Instagram itself.

If the posts with this signature do not appear in the search, it means that it is likely banned.

Now that you know what is possible and what is not, let's take a look at the best hashtag campaigns on Instagram in recent times.

Instagram hashtag campaigns to get more followers and boost engagement

Investing in hashtag campaigns is your golden ticket to the social media marketing big league. With a well-organized and conducted hashtag campaign, you get so many opportunities:

• Exponential reach

More than half of the world's population is connected to social media channels.

Influencer marketing, content with advocates, and additional partnerships with prominent marketers increase your reach, create quality content, and expand your target audience base to a potentially huge audience. Hashtag campaigns also boost SEO ratings for better accessibility and user engagement.

• Branding is improving

Hashtag campaigns are the type of campaigns that can take your branding to a whole new level. An advertising campaign with hashtags can also help expand the reach of your branded content. If you manage to run a good campaign, it will become a popular topic for media coverage, adding fuel to the fire of brand awareness.

• Getting user content

hashtag campaigns, in particular, thrive only on user content, or UGC. This type of content has a double advantage: You don't have to sweat developing additional content to promote the campaign.

• Mass sales

Hashtag campaigns turn out to be a great idea for a social media marketing campaign that brings more people into your sales funnels, generating more leads. In addition, good hashtag campaigns have demonstrated better prospects for return on investment and are worth the blood and sweat spent.

The best hashtag campaigns in recent years on Instagram

Diverse #MyCalvins by Calvin Klein Instagram

The idea behind this popular Twitter hashtag campaign was to post photos of Calvin Klein's underwear with the hashtag #MyCalvins. The campaign went viral even though there was no incentive to publish these images.

The popularity of the campaign was supported by images of celebrities as part of this hashtag campaign.

Sexy #balibody hashtag campaign by Balibody Instagram

In an era of social media dominance, Bali body founders David Osterlu and Laura Foley built a makeshift empire that is worshiped by many. The last time we checked, the brand's Instagram account has 1.4 million followers — no small feat!

The accumulation of a significant number of followers on social networks has become the key to the success of Bali Body. Thanks to their followers, some of the world's largest content creators have jumped at the opportunity to work with the brand and publish their pictures of tanned bodies under the hashtag #balibody, which allows their content to be seen by a larger audience, but they themselves strive to be represented on Instagram Bali Body, which allows their content to be seen by a larger audience.

The same can be said about micro-influencers. Bali Body also publishes content from smaller content creators, encouraging those with fewer followers to use a branded hashtag, as they see that by tagging a brand, they may also have a chance to be featured on the brand's Instagram.

Instagram Nike's iconic slogan as a hashtag

Nike uses its slogan #justdoit as a hashtag, which inspires people to relate to the brand by gaining 15,857,590 posts using these hashtags.

Please note that Nike recently had a PR problem due to a negative popular hashtag. Their favorite slogan was adapted and used in a different context. People who disagreed with their epic campaign involving NFL player Colin Kaepernick used the hashtag #justburnit to demonstrate their outrage. This is a good example of how a hashtag can influence people by showing their voice, especially in exposing the negative behavior of social media users.

Funny company #PutACanOnIt from Red Bull Instagram

Red Bull has received the prestigious Shorty Award "Best Use of a Hashtag" for its #PutACanOnIt campaign. Although the hashtag was created by Red Bull, it was inspired by a photo found on Twitter by the company, in which the photographer holds a can of Red Bull over a Mini Cooper to make it look as if it was a Red Bull car with a trademark.

placed in unique locations when people all over the world started creating their images with Red Bull cans placed in unique locations.

How to run a hashtag campaign

1. Identify your audience

Your target audience is one of the most important factors. Who are they? What will amuse them, entertain them, benefit them, make them think. In general, what will hook them and get them to make content with your hashtag.

2. Set the size of your budget

You should also identify the financial resources you can invest in hashtag campaigns, which will depend on your marketing budget. Can you hire an influencer to represent your hashtag on social networks? Or how much money can you spend on Instagram advertising your hashtag? Or maybe you want to make a mass mailing to users by automating direct messages.

3. Study your brand and competitors' brands

Measure your brand's current impact. You will use this information for post-campaign analysis. The impact metric should include your existing followers, as well as sources and contributors. Your real-time impact can be measured using a monitoring tool. This will provide important information such as reach, participants, influencers, impressions, and more. Measure what kind of involvement you get with your posts and stories now, so that you can compare at one month, half a year, and a year after the start of the hashtag campaign.

Beat competitors

To check what hashtags and posts bring the biggest engagement to your competitors’ accounts, use Instagram Profile analyzer.

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4. Determine brand keywords

Find the most popular words your brand is associated with and make a list. Search for these keywords in the social media channel where you will be running the campaign. Knowing these keywords can help you come up with relevant hashtags, concepts, and copy for the campaign.

Use Instagram Search and Profile Analyzer to get all the possible information about your competitors' accounts.

5. Set goals for your hashtag campaign on Instagram

Your campaign team should define campaign goals using hashtags before developing a campaign strategy and content. You can easily get carried away with introducing innovation and creativity into your campaign to the point that its key business metrics and metrics may become unclear.

You need to figure out the purpose of your hashtag campaign, which may be to raise awareness of a new product, increase the number of followers, or encourage consumers to download your app. Various indicators, such as the number of followers, mentions, and RT, will inevitably improve as a result of a successful hashtag campaign. However, it is vital to define your goals, as it is extremely important to develop an effective and reliable content strategy.

6. Create your Instagram hashtag that resonates with your audience

A good hashtag is a vital element of any hashtag campaign. Without an effective hashtag, there will be no connection between the created content and your account.

However, creating a hashtag that resonates with your audience may not be easy. If your contest has a certain time frame and you want to come up with a catchy and unique hashtag, then it should be:

short

memorable

relevant

rare

Tips to use Instagram hashtags in 2023

Here are 4 tips you can use to make sure your hashtagged content resonates with your target audience:

1. Inform through your current channels — Send messages directly to your audience (for example your account followers), post messages on other social media profiles, print them in the menu, your price list, in a banner on your website, flyers, or posters to inform the audience about the existence of your current campaign.

2. Bring in a celebrity or influencer to spread the word — If there is any way to hire an influencer for a campaign, this should be one of your first steps to spread the word about your campaign.

3. Target trending hashtags — Find trending hashtags in your industry with a hashtag generator and make sure you create attractive content for them. These hashtags can sometimes be associated with an event, holiday, or some viral content. For example, events such as royal weddings or the Super Bowl bring together a large audience.

4. Disconnect your hashtags from the network — This is a common tactic to increase initial engagement. The easiest way to spread the word about your hashtags is to create a cool offline event that will encourage and attract people to take photos and post directly on Instagram. Think about special invite-only events, invite a celebrity, or perhaps create a unique product or packaging, so that selected customers will be the first to see it or buy it.

5. Ask people to tag you and get a reviews - Some brands, such as Mercedes-Benz uses this strategy in a very productive way. The only thing is that it only works if your brand is aimed at the long-term preservation of this hashtag and creating a community around it. If done correctly, it can be very helpful for your outreach efforts and getting help from the community to help you spread the word. Start by adding something like this to your bio: "Mark #MeUndies to get a chance to be featured in our account"

How to check if hashtags work in your Instagram account: 3 ways

Various analytics are possible on Instagram after switching to a professional profile. Go to the Settings menu or click the "Edit" button on the main account page. After changing to a professional profile, the Statistics menu will appear in the feed.

Method 1: Check statistics under publications in the Instagram feed

There are no difficulties with how to view the statistics of posts with hashtags on Instagram. Select the desired publication where you included hashtags and click "Statistics." In the "Impressions" section, there are views by hashtags, there will be a corresponding mark.

Method 2: Look at impressions from hashtags for Instagram videos

Unfortunately, you can't do a selective analysis of hashtags for Instagram in this way. Even with advanced settings, it is impossible to know exactly which phrase worked.

Method 3: Check hashtag impressions in promo mode

If you don't want to link your bank card to your social media account, do the testing manually. Choose different combinations of keywords for each entry. Keep track of which of them the audience responded to more actively. And then you will find out by experience what works best for promotion in your particular case.

The best hashtags for Instagram business in 2023

Here are some copy-and-paste hashtags to use in your business profiles to promote posts and reels.

The hashtags are published in groups with 20 keywords in each.

Fitness hashtags Instagram

Fashion hashtags Instagram 2023

Makeup hashtags Instagram 2023

Food Instagram hashtags 2023