072: Quick Tips on Hashtags for Instagram

LaptopLauraCopywriting, Podcast [listen here!]

#INSTAGRAM

Today’s quick copy tip is about Instagram and specifically using hashtags with Instagram. Learn more about my Instagram page and more importantly my dog Tuck!

A few exciting highlights include:laura petersen instagram laptoplaura

  • When did Instagram begin?
  • Learn some fun facts about the history of Instagram!
  • Quality use of hashtags
  • Scroll down to the bottom to read the transcript from this episode!!

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Great Quotes:

  • “My goal is to write and publish a vegan cookbook by the fall of this year.”- Laura Petersen
  • “You want to pick hashtags for what you or your page want to actually be known for. ”- Laura Petersen
  • “It needs to be relevant; it needs to make sense.” – Laura Petersen
  • “It’s all about testing and playing with it, seeing what works.” – Laura Petersen

Host: Laura Petersen
podcast@copythatpops.com

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Wanna Read or Search today’s episode? Here’s a rough transcript!

Laura: Hi everyone!

Welcome to copy that pops! I wanted to jump in with a quick tip today!

Let’s talk about Instagram. First I’ll give you some fun facts about it’s growth and history, then we’ll talk about how to grow your own account using hashtags. So, what year did insta start?

Guess!

It’s mid 2017 as I record this and I would have guessed like 2013. But nope! It was 2010!

  • Instagram launched on iPhone in October of 2010 and had 1 million users by December. Wow!
  • Just one year into its existence it hit 10 million users — that puts us at fall of 2011.
  • In April of 2012 it launches into Android, acquiring 5 million android users to add to its then 30 million on iphone AND it’s acquired by Facebook for about $1 billion dollars.
  • Flash forward to last month…April of 2017….

Guess how many users Instagram has now?….100 million? 300 million? Nope, nope… about 700 Million users.

Instagram is on track to hit 1 billion users very soon.

So, are you on Instagram? I am! I love the visual nature of it and on my own page I share a mix of selfies and pics with others, vegan food, and traveling or working remotely. Oh, and my dog! He has his own hashtag ChillAsTuck.

I’m @LaptopLaura if you want to come say hi! Let me know you heard the podcast! I also started a new page for just vegan food bc i’m really loving cooking and experimenting with healthier plant-based foods. My handle there is @NuttyVeggies…and my goal is to write and publish a vegan cookbook by fall of this year! Hold me to it! And hit amazon best seller too!

Actually, you know that i’m about to release my course on how to hit ABS….and once that’s up and running i was thinking to write and publish the cookbook really publicly and invite others to join me in like a challenge to write, publish, and hit best seller on a book in 30 days or 45 days…Does that sound interesting? DM me on instagram to tell me if so! Okay…so back to hashtags…What is a hashtag?

Well, it’s really just a descriptive word that tells the search engine what the photo is about. Then, if someone searches for that word (or phrase), they can find your photo!

How else would instagram know your photo is of a basket of red juicy strawberries at your local entrepreneur chamber of commerce breakfast? You have to tell it! So you may use hashtags to describe it like:
#Strawberries #juicystrawberries #juicyfruit #summertime #chamberofcommerce #networking #ilovefruit

There are so many options! What to pick? Well, my first tip is around what you want to be found in. If you post a photo of fruit at an event but your page is all about business, you likely want to do fewer hashtags focusing on healthy eating and more on networking. On that note, you’d likely want the photo to have more than just the strawberries in it!

Maybe get other participants in there and tag them…or your name badge from the event…or your laptop in the background….something that is relevant for business so you attract the right audience.

Then, to drill down further, what hashtags do you write?

I’d start with things you think you would search for and be happy to discover you photo. It needs to be relevant and make sense. So your photo of you and business networking friends eating strawberries could start with things like:

#networking #smallbusiness #(the name of your city and state) #squadgoals

But if you wanted to do more, my next tip would be to search a hashtag or a person who is similar to what you want to attract, and see what hashtags they are using. You’ll get insight into new hashtags you hadn’t thought of! I just searched “entrepreneur” just now and clicked on some posts I liked to get new ideas like

#entrepreneurlife #startuplife #businesswoman #entrepreneurmindset #thinkbigger

Now, as you type a new hashtag in a post, you will see it pop up with how many times that tag is being used. Some are as few as a couple hundred, some are tens of millions! Which are best?

I personally like to pick ones that are in the 10,000 to 50,000 range because it shows they are active and used, but there aren’t so many that my posts will get as buried. It’s that idea of niching down. You want to niche down, but still make sure there is activity to make the use of that tag worthwhile.

This isn’t a hard and fast rule for me, because I still use tags that have more or less activity than that range…it’s all about testing, and playing with it, and being active.

How about how many tags to use?

Some argue that it looks spammy to have too many tags. I’ve heard the rule of “pick 8.” To me, I use hashtags naturally inside the text of what I write like: Loving this #businesswomen pic with my buddies @MelissaSueTucker and @EphiphanysHorn while #networking in #SanDiego.

Then I’ll add more hashtags after what I write. I’m not an uber pro on Instagram yet, so I’m honestly still testing and playing with it. But as a user, I’m not really bothered by hashtags. They make sense in Instagram. And less so in Facebook and Linkedin…so the platform matters.

Hope these tips and shares of my personal experience are helpful!

Find me on Instagram @LaptopLaura and @NuttyVeggies and lemme know you listen to CTP podcast and I’ll follow you back! 🙂