I probably should’ve called this blog “how not to use hashtags” but I thought I’d try and stay away from negativity straight off the bat.
As everyone would be clearly aware of, Instagram has become the new playground for hashtags. The lone swing now creaks in the wind on the Facebook hashtag attempt (and fail), and while the slide is still warm at the Twitter park, the new attraction for hashtags is definitely Instagram.
And boy is it a busy playground.
Screams, shrill and high in the air and lines of little feet waiting in turn are an everyday occurrence. If every hashtag on Instagram was represented by a child’s scream our ears would be eternally ringing and begging for the mercy of silence. The lines for the most popular hashtags such as #instafood would snake around the corner, down the street and into the next suburb.
To get straight to the point, Instagram is overloaded with hashtags and everyone is to blame.
Before I’m bombarded with “hashtags are great!” “hashtags are what make Instagram work” “Hashtagkittyhashtag” etc. … I totally agree! Hashtags are GREAT on Instagram. They are the connecting funnel that links users together, and using them appropriately is great for both business and personal use.
However, what I’m going to talk about here is inappropriate use. I’m talking about the captions like:
“Today I went to the beach. #beach #sun #sand #yellow #sky #blue #swimmers #bikini #hot #imhot #sawcuteguys #water #lifegaurds #sharknet #salt #towel #umbrella #wedrove #noon #sunny #australia #aussielyf #blondehair #tanning #coconutoil #sunburn #friends #atesandwiches etc. etc. etc.”
It’s just completely insane! It’s the death of English education all over again after it only just survived “LOL” and “LMFAO”! Does no one remember the point of a narrative? Beginning – middle – end. Tell us a story! These paragraphs of pointless hashtags really have absolutely nothing to do with what you want to share. Attempting to get as many likes as you can through using as many hashtags as you can possibly think of is not only an extremely adolescent way of thinking, but also detrimental to the quality of your posts.
RELEVANCE is a big issue with these hashtags too. Just because something loosely associated with what you’re posting about doesn’t mean you should hashtag it.
The best hashtags artists out there (yes I called it ‘artistry’ because it’s becoming such a rarity), are the ones that imbed relevant hashtags into the story they want to tell. For example:
“Today I went to the best #aussie #beach ever! Sooooo many #hotguys and #lifegaurds, almost forgot to put my #coconutoil on for the all-important #tan 😉 #lovelife.”
Ok, so that’s still a little adolescent, but do you see how the hashtags are utilised WITHIN the actual caption to create a story people can connect too – and then there’s one at the end to summarise the purpose of the photo (which hopefully was be a mix of the protagonist sun baking with some ‘hot guys’ in the background, but picture quality it a whole other topic)?
Instagram users, and especially businesses, need to start putting more effort into their use of the platform and be more concise with their messaging. Sure you might get a few more likes for adding that #blondehair hashtag, but are those likes going to make any difference to your business? Are the people you want to get through your door going to come just because you hashtagged #sunny?
No, they’re not.
Start thinking of Instagram as a story board with all these little snippets of your business’s story to be told to the world. You want people who will take up reading your whole story to engage with your post, not just the ones who’ve glanced at the cover and enjoyed the colours you’ve used.
Use hashtags smartly and sparingly. Think of it like search engine optimisation, pick your key hashtags and use them in your caption. If you do use a ‘loose’ hashtag (EG: “My #cat loves tuna. #whatafatty”), make the loose hashtag a summary of your feelings towards the situation, or a funny comment about what you’re sharing. That’s sort of what hashtags were intended for on Instagram, not to be used like a long pointless list of dot points.
Now, what you actually post in terms of content-type on Instagram is up to you. It’s always a good idea to experiment with a few different things and see what your audience reacts best to. Maybe you thought they’d love those pictures of your hands – turns out they’re all feet people! Just give your target audience a good enough reason to hit that ‘follow’ button.
If you’re stuck with social media you can always hire us to write a social media strategy for you. If you think you’re going pretty well right now then good luck and I look forward to seeing some awesome story boarding on your business pages, link me if you feel like showing off!
