- August 9, 2022
- Kaitlyn
8 Tips on How To Grow
on Instagram Organically
What’s the answer to growing your Instagram organically? Hashtags and engagement. “Hold up. Hashtags are still a thing?!” You’re probably thinking. Well yes, actually. They’re quite crucial if you want to grow your account and business/side hustle! Did you know that it’s more than just #girlboss under your photos? You can create a community of loyal ideal customers and clients just by using hashtags and engaging. Take it from someone who’s grown Instagram accounts from 1k-60k organically with the help of targeted hashtags and engagement!
Table of Contents
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What is a Hashtag?
Hashtags are used by social media apps to categorize different digital content. It’s like a mini search engine within the app. They also help categorize different content for the algorithm, so if you want to show up on your ideal customer/client’s feed, they’re pretty important.
How Important are Hashtags?
Simply put, if you want to get the best reach possible, they’re very important. Like I mentioned earlier, they help the algorithm for each social media platform, so use the right hashtags and you’ll get the best results.
How Many Hashtags Should You Use?
It depends on what your goal is. Instagram recently recommended to use 5 hashtags in your post. From experience, I think if your goal is simply to curate to your followers and grow that community, then 5 is great. If your goal is to grow your following, 27-30 is my recommendation.
For LinkedIn and Facebook, however, the best amount to use is about 3-5. That’s because they have groups. Groups are where you’ll be doing most of your engagement from, unlike Instagram.
Which Hashtags Are Most Important?
Hashtags are important for all platforms, but if you were to focus on one, I would suggest Instagram. Because they don’t have any groups, people will be using hashtags to engage with others while the algorithm helps show your posts to the right people.
Did you know that Pinterest and YouTube are technically search engines? Because of this, keyword research is put in place of hashtag research. But we’re just focusing on hashtags right now!
Where Should I Put Hashtags?
Social media isn’t an exact science. Depending on the person/platform, you may hear different things. From my experience, any social media/search engine LOVES consistency.
It doesn’t matter where you put your hashtags. It just matters that you’re consistent.
If you’ve been using hashtags in the caption for a few months and then randomly switch to adding them in the comments, the algorithm may not like that and you won’t get as much reach as you potentially could.
Should I Use the Same Hashtags for Engaging and Posting?
Nope. You would use posting hashtags for the post you’d want to show up on your clients feed. So if I was wanting to work with a wedding photographer, I would use #weddingsocialmediamanager or something along those lines when I post my photo.
Engaging hashtags are used for what your ideal client or customer would use on their post. If I was wanting to engage with a wedding photographer on Instagram, I would search up #weddingphotographer.
What Are Instagram Pods?
Instagram pods are groups of people that will like each other’s post. If you post something you tell the group, then they go like and comment and will post an emoji when they’re done so YOU can do it back to them when they post. This is meant to increase engagement so you will have a higher likelihood of showing up on the Top column on hashtags and on the Discover page.
Are they worth it? Everyone has a different opinion. I personally don’t think so. I think they’re a waste of time and energy when you could be actually engaging with your ideal customers, not just hoping that you will show up on their page.
But if you want to try it out, go for it! There is no right or wrong answer to social media, just tips! And experimenting is GOOD!
Want to Learn More on How to Grow Your Instagram Organically?
If you’re wanting to become a social media manager or DON’T want to hire one and want to learn for yourself, our eBook teaches everything you need to know on creating a custom engagement and hashtag strategy. Learn how to execute an Instagram hashtag and engagement strategy that works best for you. It also teaches you the why!
If you want to become a social media manager, I HIGHLY recommend The Virtual Savvy Vault courses. It not only taught me how to become a social media manager but how to create targeted ads, a website, copywriting and so much more!
Grow your Instagram account, traffic and sales today, not just with bots and rando’s, but with your ideal customers!
As always, feel free to email me at hello@strivehustles.com if you have any questions!
Itís difficult to find knowledgeable people about this subject, but you sound like you know what youíre talking about! Thanks
Thank you! This is my full time job so I really consider myself an expert on the subject. I’m very glad you found it helpful!