Instagram hashtags play an essential part in growing your audience on the platform. Using them can help you target your intended audience, build a recognizable online brand, and – most importantly – get more eyes on your content.
In fact, studies show that Instagram hashtags garner you 12.6% more engagement than posts that don’t use them.
For those new to the wild west of Instagram, maximizing your hashtag potential can be a bit of a learning curve.
Luckily, we’ve laid out all you need to know about hashtags for 2019, including the best apps and online tools to amp up your game.
Why do hashtags matter?
Using Instagram hashtags can gain you more engagement than if you were to avoid them completely.
They categorize your Instagram posts into niche sub-channels of content, helping you get your posts seen by the right people.
You can be as broad or as narrow as you’d like with your hashtags.
However, using a more generic, popular hashtag will result in higher competition between your post and the thousand (or million) others using it.
It’s recommended that you combine both broad and niche hashtags to optimize your exposure. This way, you’re targeting audiences that are smaller, yet with lower post-competition; and larger audiences with higher competition, yet fall under a well-known, popular hashtag.
When your post starts taking off under a certain hashtag, it can fall under the ‘top’ posts of that tag – further increasing your chances of being seen.
Top Instagram hashtags for 2019
Every year has its own wave of top, trending hashtags.
Since 2019’s most popular hashtags will differ from one industry (or interest) to another, below are the most widely used tags in some of the most popular genres of content.
For posts involving relationships, personal experiences, feel-good quotes and beautiful images, use:
#love, #life, #instagood, #motivation, #inspiration, #cute, #couple, #girlfriend, #boyfriend, #fun, #happy, #beautiful, #swag, #lifeisgood, #nature, #friends, #amazing, #beauty, #funny, #smile
If you’re a gym junkie who loves posting workout tips and healthy living inspiration, use:
#fitspiration, #instarunners, #fitnessgoals, #gym, #healthy, #fitfam, #fitfluential, #lookgoodfeelgood, #health, #fitnesstips, #fitness, #running, #yoga, #workout, #trainharder, #nopainnogain, #feeltheburn, #fitlife, #cardio, #noexcuses
For those who can’t resist taking photos of how awesome their food looks, use:
#foodporn, #hungry, #goodeats, #food, #foodie, #instafood, #yum, #foodgasm, #cooking, #brunch, #nomnomnom, #breakfast, #lunch, #delicious, #yummy, #homemade, #foodphotography, #forkyeah, #delish, #eatingfortheinsta
For posts on beauty, hair, and the latest fashion trends, use:
#ootd, #fashionista, #fashionable, #instafashion, #style, #photooftheday, #instahair, #outfitoftheday, #trendy, #whatiwore, #styleinspo, #instastyle, #currentlywearing, #shoppingaddict, #fashion, #instashoes, #modeling, #model, #fashionblogger, #instamakeup
Other generic hashtags (that can be used across most genres) include:
#tbt, #nofilter, #instapic, #instadaily, #igers, followforfollow #likeforlike, #repost, #picoftheday, #followme, #instafollow, #instacool, #instagramhub, #igdaily, #2019, #selfie, #photooftheday, #me, #instamood, #bestoftheday
The best hashtag research tools for your Instagram
Of course, the list of hashtags above are simply a reference point. You may find plenty other rising hashtags in your niche that can catapult your reach.
At the same time, there are a plethora of other content genres left unmentioned – each with their own specific set of community hashtags that help get these posts seen.
This is where the glory of online tools come in. Fortunately for Instagrammers today, there are plenty of Instagram hashtag research tools available to help them search, analyze, and generate the successful tags they need for their content.
Below are some of the best hashtag tools that’ll make your Instagramming journey a little easier.
1. Keywordtool.io
Keyword Tool is a free, highly-related online instrument used to optimize SEO and social media engagement.
For Instagram users, the service is useful for generating lists of trending hashtags relevant to their niche.
Using the “autocomplete” feature in Instagram’s search box (which generates users instant ‘search’ suggestions) Keyword Tool pulls thousands of recommended hashtags related to a specific word.
The process is easy: simply enter your keyword into the search box, and watch as the page creates an entire list of tags unique to your term.
The service suggests experimenting with a variety of related phrases and synonyms to optimize your list of relevant hashtags.
Keyword Tool also displays just how many posts are using a particular tag.
As a result, this allows you to determine the amount of post-competition in each hashtag as you curate your final list.
You can also search for keywords within your results. To do this, select the “Filter Results” drop-down menu, and simply enter your keyword in the search bar.
While a free tool, you can unlock even more useful features and expand your hashtag research by jumping onto their paid subscription service.
2. Hashatit
Hashatit works in a similar way to Keyword Tool, where you simply enter a keyword into their search bar to reap the most frequently used hashtags related to your term.
Unlike Keyword Tool, however, Hashatit displays the actual posts using your related hashtags.
This provides you the real-time option of viewing and tracking the content associated with your tags.
You can also filter out your results depending on what social media platform your use.
Alongside Instagram, you can view results for Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and YouTube – or all of these sites combined, if you wish.
Users are additionally provided with an embed code for website purposes.
If you’re tracking a specific hashtag for your business, you can display these real-time results on your homepage for visitors to share and interact with.
By signing up as a member for free, you can save the hashtags you track as “social boards”, allowing you to conveniently organize an archive of tags for future reference.
In addition to filtering out social media websites, members can also choose to filter out certain posts they deem irrelevant or offensive.
3. Hashtagify.me
Hashtagify is a multi-purpose marketing tool designed for users to not only explore new hashtags but also analyse the community trends within their niche.
By entering a keyword into their search bar, Hashtagify generates a web of hashtags that best relate to your topic.
The relevance of each tag is determined by the size of the text.
You can adjust the number of results you get using the toggle bar below.
You can also view the most popular and trending related hashtags.
But that’s not all; Hashtagify also has the option of viewing the top influencers related to your chosen keyword.
Additionally, you can choose to view either “all-time” or the most recent results.
Along with these analytical features, the tool also displays results for the top languages used for your keyword, the top associated countries, and the most commonly used spelling variants.
While their most basic services are available for free access, Hashtagify’s paid subscription allows for users to track their hashtag performance, track the social media activity of top influencers, and explore wider lists of related keywords and hashtags.
You can then extract your findings into CSV or PDF reports for business purposes.
As well as Instagram, Hashtagify is also available for Twitter users.
4. Hashtags.app
Unlike the other services mentioned, Hashtags.app spares you the task of having to curate your final hashtag list.
The website instantly provides users with groups of popular tags categorized by their niche.
All you have to do is simply copy the tags and paste them into your caption.
The categories range from fashion, to pop culture, to abstract artworks, providing you with a wide catalog of topics to choose from.
Hashtag groups related to community interactions, such as those encouraging mutual likes, comments and follows, are also available.
It’s quick, simple, and one of the easier tools to use on this list.
5. Focalmark
The Focalmark app is a great instrument for narrowing down a list of community-specific hashtags.
Using research from both the Instagram algorithm and its users, the app curates you an entire list of 30 active, trending hashtags under a particular niche.
Once downloaded, users only need to fill out the three categories provided: style, location, and camera.
Once you hit “Generate”, the app displays you a group of hashtags that are not only relevant to your topic – but to your unique location and camera type as well.
As a result, you’re targeting both the broad audiences of your niche and those within your local community.
Photographers may find the ‘camera type’ option useful for reaching out to like-minded enthusiasts.
Once again, this quick, easy way of generating a readily useable group of hashtags saves you the effort of having to create your own.
6. #Hashme
If you still prefer to curate your own hashtag lists, rather than copying a fixed set, the #HashMe app provides you with both options.
By entering a keyword into their search, the app generates you a list of the top related hashtags that are currently trending.
Just tap on the ones you’d like to use, and hit the “Copy” button to save your selection to the clipboard.
Alternatively, you can simply copy the top-ranking hashtags to save you extra time.
Along with the option of text input, you can also upload a photo to generate any relevant tags.
The app scans your content – and voila! You get an instant display of hashtags for the picking.
7. RiteTag
RiteTag is a one-of-a-kind tool that makes the Instagram hashtag game a whole lot easier.
The best part is – you don’t need to visit a specific website to use their services!
Just install the mobile app or the extension onto your browser, and RiteTag is ready for use no matter where you are online.
Unlike other services that require that you input text or image on their specific platform, RiteTag readily generates hashtags upon right-clicking existing texts or images on the internet.
For example: let’s say you’re scheduling posts for Instagram, and are struggling to find the relevant hashtags for your image.
You have the option of highlighting parts (or all) of your caption, right-clicking the text, and then selecting the “Get Hashtag Suggestions” option from the drop-down menu.
From here, RiteTag displays the best hashtags to use based on the topic of your text.
Simply select the ones you’d like to use, or copy all suggestions.
At the same time, you also have the option of right-clicking your image and generating hashtag suggestions from there.
While the default language used for this tool is English, you can customize these language settings according to your needs.
These hashtags are additionally color-coded according to their reach online:
- Green shows that your tag is popular, and can get your content immediately seen
- Blue signals that your hashtag is a seasonal one, and can get your content seen over time
- Red signals a bad hashtag, due to its content being oversaturated and highly competitive
- Grey also signals a bad hashtag, as very few people are following it
Using RiteTag for mobile
For mobile users, the RiteTag Instagram app generates you a list of active hashtags the moment you post a photo on Instagram.
A notification from RiteTag should pop up, displaying you your list of most effective hashtags.
Select the ones you’d like to use, and press “Add to photo on Instagram” when you’re done.
Doing this adds your hashtag as a comment to your Instagram post.
While it’s quick and convenient, the time between the initial posting and your comment is critical.
Posts will still appear on the hashtag pages no matter how long you wait before adding them in.
However, they will only appear according to the time the image was originally posted, and not when your hashtags were added.
If you like putting a bit more thought into your hashtags, you will find this a bit iffy – but it’s still an easy solution to get your hashtags on-the-go.
Ready to rock your Instagram hashtag research game?
There are plenty of ways to get discovered on Instagram. Among these are cross-posting, connecting with others, and tagging other brands, to name a few.
However, one feature that works well above the rest for any user, new or old, is the strategic use of trending, targeted hashtags.
No matter where you rank on the influencer charts, Instagram hashtags are a necessity for extending your reach and expanding your audience.
They help catalog your posts on the platform to get them seen by all the right people.
In short, the better you are with picking your hashtags, the better your reach will be!
Thankfully, with all the Instagram hashtag research tools available, finding the best hashtags for your brand has never been easier.
Gone are the days where you do the dirty work. Now you’ve got instant access to all highest-trending, most effective tags according to your niche.
You’ve got no excuses – start ramping up your hashtag game today!
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