Everyone is on Instagram these days.
That’s an excellent sign for you’re an Influencer, business owner, or just about anyone looking to build a long-lasting brand in 2021.
No matter who your target audience is, they are likely scrolling away on Instagram.
So how do you get your content to the right people and stand out among the masses?
You use hashtags! 👌
Hashtags help you get your content in front of the right potential customers on Instagram
Standing out amid 1 billion active users per month is no small task, but then again, if it were easy, everyone would do it!
It’s really important for you to control how Instagram classifies your account since they decide who gets to see your content. Hashtags let you explicitly tell Instagram what your posts are about.
The main reason for using hashtags is to make your content discoverable by the right people.
Read that again. ☝️
You need to find the perfect hashtags in your niche for each post you make to maximize its potential.
If you are looking to update your Instagram hashtag strategy for 2021, then check out my top 10 places to find the best hashtags for your audience.
Investigate and copy similar niche accounts
When you’re first starting out with gathering Instagram hashtags, check what the successful accounts in your niche are using and copy them.
You can even use Google if you don’t already know many people.
Say you’re a florist; search for something like in “top flower store Instagram pages” and get this result.
Instagram accounts to steal hashtag ideas from are just a Google search away
Head over to Instagram and spend time going over their posts to see which hashtags you can also use for your content.
Open tabs using Instagram in your web browser
Looking at hashtag pages on your computer’s web browser allows you to do one of my favorite hashtag collection techniques.
Simply look at the content in the Top Posts that is relevant to your brand.
The Top Posts usually indicate the vibes of the content posted using that hashtag
When you see the list of hashtags the person used for their post, click each hashtag that is relevant while holding down the CTRL key (or CMD if on a Mac).
This will open each hashtag in a new tab for you to check out next.
Looking at the Top Posts can reveal a ton of great niche hashtags to use
Repeat this same technique with all the tabs you just opened.
When your browser looks like this then you should have plenty of hashtags to sift through
You should have a list of hashtags ready to try in no time (along with a lot of tabs to close 😂).
Use the autocomplete on Instagram
The autocomplete feature built right into the Instagram app comes in quite handy if you get stuck on where to start.
Let’s say you’re a brand specialized in selling bathing suits for women and accessories that are perfect for summer.
Head over to the search bar on Instagram and start typing a keyword like #summer.
You’ll get a dropdown with that hashtag but also other related hashtags that begin with that keyword.
A broad keyword like "summer" is going to show a variety of hashtags.
If you want a more focused hashtag selection, pick a hashtag out of the list and continue to type it out in your search bar.
Now we are getting closer to finding niche hashtags to use.
Now you have a list of laser-focused Instagram hashtags that you can potentially add to your content.
Find an Instagram Hashtag Generator
There’s one thing you’ve probably noticed with most hashtag tasks and strategies.
It can be quite time-consuming. 😩
Manually scouring Instagram for hours to find hashtags to put on your pictures, videos, stories, or reels can be a daunting task.
It doesn’t have to be such a time sink when you use an Instagram hashtag generator like Curate. Most hashtags generators are pretty simplistic but Curate uses your behavior to recommend hashtags.
There are numerous tools out there to help you out with various aspects of Instagram growth, but Curate is proven to be the best option for providing you with niche hashtags based on your content, audience, and preferences.
Tools keep you in check and analyze all of your hashtag related activity.
It will analyze your post history and hashtag utilization to see the best options for possible engagement and reach.
Using tools, you can save yourself hours of redundant activities that may or may not move the needle.
Browse websites with lists of hashtags
Sourcing for Instagram hashtags can be a tedious task that can take hours, if not days, to find the perfect set for your content.
It helps to start somewhere.
Instead of going through the hassle of thinking up hashtags from scratch to check out, you can get inspiration by using one of the many sites with lists of hashtags related to a specific topic.
Let’s take a look at one of these list type sites, TagBlender.
As an example, let’s say you are looking to promote a pet store on Instagram.
You could click the Animals section and see some hashtags that may get your creative juices flowing.
Most hashtags in these type lists are generic and should be used as a starting point.
Using hashtag list websites like this should only help with looking at popular hashtags for inspiration.
Nearly every list contains mostly hashtags that won’t help your impressions because they have such a high volume of posts.
Look at your followers and what hashtags they use
There is no better inspiration than looking at your top followers and seeing which hashtags they use relating to your niche or targeted audience.
You can even search for hashtags and see how many of your followers also follow that hashtag.
Quickly search for a relevant hashtag, and in the Tags section, you’ll find out if anyone you follow also follows that hashtag.
It helps to know who else follows certain hashtags.
Using your own followers will give you a plethora of hashtags to explore.
Plan for using time-based hashtags
Depending on the type of viewers you want for your Instagram account, time-based hashtags might be your go-to.
Time-based hashtags are particular to a specific trend happening at that period of the day, week, month, or year.
Some generic days-of-the-week examples of some you might have seen include; #tbt for throwback Thursday and #wcw for woman crush Wednesday.
Holidays are another great way to take advantage of a moment in time with a solid hashtag. 🎁
Don’t forget to append the year to many holiday and recurring date based hashtags for more niche hashtags.
Scan relevant Location pages on Instagram
If you run a local business, then location-based hashtags could be a gold mine.
Many times you can prepend or append your city to the hashtag to target your potential customers. Something like #newyorknails.
Adding a city name or abbreviation to common keywords can yield niche hashtags.
If you want to see some location-based hashtags that people are using, browse a location-based page directly on Instagram, and scan the top posts for relevant hashtags.
You are bound to find hashtags that mention the location to some degree.
Remember, using location-based hashtags are not the same as geo-tagging your posts, so be sure to take advantage of both!
Take advantage of a Chrome extension
While you browse Instagram, it can be easy to amass a huge collection of hashtags.
Typically you would have to copy and paste each hashtag into a list or spreadsheet, organize them somehow, send them to your phone to use when you post, and other tedious activities.
By using a Chrome extension, you can use tools that take care of the collection and organization of hashtags.
A Chrome Extension offers additional insights and organization as you browse.
Some tools will even post your hashtags on your content for you.
If you are spending a lot of time curating your hashtags then look for what tools are available to help you work smarter.
Create your own branded hashtags
Having to rely on finding hashtags can be time-consuming.
Hashtags can be super-saturated and hard for you to compete in early-on.
Here’s where branded hashtags come in. 💡
You can simply create your own hashtag and promote others to use it to interact with your brand and the community.
Let’s look at how Logitech pushes the #YesLogitech hashtags and how you can do the same.
Logitech promotes its branded hashtag front and center in their Instagram bio.
If you notice, the #YesLogitech is a campaign meant for their users to get featured on Logitech’s Instagram page.
At the time of writing, this hashtag is under 1,000 posts giving you a high likelihood of getting visibility from their brand and others interested in the same thing.
Being featured by other brands and getting noticed is a benefit of branded hashtags.
Starting a branded hashtag strategy is more of a long-term game, but if you can start a mini-community of like-minded people, then it will pay off big time for your brand.
The right Instagram hashtag strategy in 2021 isn’t the one that aims to reach people — instead, it’s to reach the right people.
You must regularly check your Instagram hashtags’ performance to know which ones are working and which aren’t.
When used effectively, hashtags can enable you to reach your target audience like never before and get maximum exposure on Instagram.