We recently spoke with Rebrandly about the benefits of using tags and hashtags for business.
Using Instagram For Business: Tips From The Experts:
Tags & Hashtags
If you research how to use Instagram for Marketing, tags and hashtags are the elements that are most comprehensively explained. It’s obvious that you want to use relevant but popular hashtags to try to reach your target audience. However, Suzan French Gennace, President, PR & Social Media Strategist at FlackShack shared her tips for how to take hashtags even further when using Instagram for business.
Tag other users whenever you can, but also hashtag them. For example, a boutique owner selling an exact replica of a dress Beyonce wore in a video should @Beyonce (you never know, she MIGHT see it and respond-depending on how good the accompanying caption is) but because you want Beyonce’s followers to see the post as well, include #Beyonce, as well as other relevant hashtags and those which her fans use most often.
Don’t be shy about using hashtags, but list the bulk of them as a comment, not in the initial caption. They will still be seen/searchable, the caption won’t be drowned out by the hashtag and your post won’t look like spam. Research potential followers. Using the same example, there are likely dozens of women who love to dress like Bey and would be interested in your post about the availability of an affordable, knock-off dress. Find those potential customers by searching related hashtags. #Beyoncesdress reveals 23 public posts (23 potential new followers/customers), #dresslikebeyonce has 22 more, and so on. Follow these users, comment on their posts (don’t be too salesy in your comments), send a message and you may very well earn yourself some new business!
By targeting relevant and popular hashtags and following Suzan’s advice for tags and hashtags you’ll be knocking it out of the park in no time.