When used correctly, your hashtags can increase the engagement on your post by over 10%. That might not seem like a lot, but it’s important — why? Because posts with higher engagement are ranked higher on feeds thanks to the algorithm’s love for highly engaging content!

Hashtags can be one of the greatest tools in your Instagram tool belt — if you know how to use them.

So, today, we’re sharing 5 ways to improve your hashtag strategy so you can reap the benefits of this engagement boosting tool!

Do your research

It may sound ridiculous to have to do hashtag research, but we promise it’s worth it and really requires minimal time and effort. Think about hashtags that are on-brand for you, and take a look at the results that come up when you search it. Are the results (the photos/graphics that populate under that hashtag) on-brand, too? Do you think you could rank in the "Top" tab for that hashtag? If not, keep looking.

Be mindful of density

“Density” means the number of times that a hashtag has been used. When you’re doing your research, you’ll see this number. The heavier the density, the easier it is to get lost in the hashtag group. When it comes to hashtags, your goal is to be featured in the “Top Nine” posts for that hashtag, so choose less-dense hashtags! We suggest choosing ones with 20,000-500,000 posts, and no bigger.

Use all 30, always

You get to use a maximum of 30 hashtags on every single Instagram post, so use ALL 30! On every post! Just ONE hashtag can improve your engagement, so imagine the results you’d get if you committed to using 30!

Don’t default to hashtag-generators

Have you ever heard of shadow banning? Essentially, it’s Instagram’s way of making your content practically invisible to your audience — and it happens often because of hashtags. If you’re slapping up the same hashtags, again and again, you’re sure to get shadowbanned, this can also happen if you're unknowingly using banned hashtags. Using generators can cause this problem, especially because you’re not actively choosing the hashtags for yourself.

Choose specific, relevant hashtags

Just because it’s Friday, doesn’t mean you should slap on every #TGIF hashtag you can think of for all of the reasons we mentioned above — it’s oversaturated, it won’t help your content perform any better, and there’s no way you’ll show up on that #’s top nine unless your Kim Kardashian — and even she might not! Choose hashtags that are relevant specifically to your brand, your industry, AND the content you’re attaching it to.

Now that you know our top tips, we're going to share the absolute TOP hashtag mistake that you can make. So, here it is: not using any hashtags at all. We know we’ve said it already, but it’s worth repeating, hashtags are an incredibly valuable tool to increase your reach, impressions, and engagement! Don’t undervalue their importance!