The 2024 Most Popular Instagram Hashtags To Grow Your Audience
With over 1 billion monthly active users, Instagram has become a go-to social network for brands looking to reach a wider audience and build their online presence in 2023.
By using tailored hashtag suites and understanding the power of targeted searches, brands can increase the visibility of their content, reach a new audience, and boost engagement with their followers.
In this guide, we'll show you how to find the best Instagram hashtags for your posts and how to effectively leverage them to stand out from the competition in 2023.
Instagram hashtags? Are they still trending?
In 2023, hashtags on Instagram are not outdated. Quite the contrary. They're still one of the most effective ways to increase the reach and engagement of your account.
Hashtags help Instagram users easily find posts that resonate with them, based on their particular interests.
By using relevant and popular tags, you can reach a wider audience and thus get more followers and, ultimately, more customers.
While some of Instagram's features have evolved, hashtags are still an essential part of boosting your content's exposure.
Brands that know how to effectively use the best Instagram hashtags in 2023 will develop a significant advantage in growing their audience and engaging their community.
What's an Instagram hashtag?
A hashtag is a specific keyword or phrase preceded by the "#" symbol (such as #Food or #picoftheday). It is used on all social networks to categorize posts by topic or theme and make them more visible.
On Instagram, hashtags are clickable. By clicking on a tag, you are automatically redirected to the search page displaying all Instagram posts containing that hashtag.
3 benefits of using hashtags on Instagram in 2023
The use of hashtags on Instagram has grown exponentially over the past few years.
By properly using hashtags within their posts, brands can increase awareness, reach new audiences, boost follower engagement, showcase their brand personality, and create a community around their products or services.
Let's break down the key benefits users should consider when building their content strategy in 2023:
Instagram hashtags increase visibility and reach
When used correctly within a post, Instagram hashtags can help increase exposure for businesses by displaying their content to new followers who are actively searching on those keywords.
By using popular hashtags in each of their posts, businesses can make them more easily found and accessible to users who may not be familiar with their content.
This can help brands expand their awareness beyond their current network of followers and find potential new customers.
Instagram hashtags increase engagement with target audiences
By using appropriate hashtags for their target audience, businesses can increase engagement (likes, shares, comments...) from Instagram users interested in their product or service.
Hashtags are effective tools for driving relevant traffic to your posts - users who relate to certain hashtags may be more likely to interact with your content, assuming of course that they find it interesting, fun or original.
Instagram hashtags showcase your brand's personality
Hashtags give brands the opportunity to show their creative side by creating custom hashtags that reflect their values or mission.
With dedicated hashtags such as #MyBrandIs, #ServiceWithASmile, or #WeLoveOurCustomers, businesses can showcase their personality, solidify their brand image, and retain existing customers.
Brands can use hashtag campaigns as an interactive way to connect and interact with their customers, encouraging them to post stories or photos about their product or service. By doing so, you create an engaged community around your brand.
Beauty brand L'Oréal Paris asked women to raise their voices and share posts about issues they care about, using the hashtag #WorthSaying.
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How to effectively use Instagram hashtags in 2023?
Now that you're aware of the various benefits of hashtags on Instagram in 2023, here are some tips for using them effectively in your posts.
1. Identify the most relevant hashtags for your brand
There are several methods to find the best hashtags on Instagram in 2023. Here are 4 of them:
Search via Instagram's search bar
The first method to find the best hashtags is to search directly through the Instagram app.
Simply type your keywords related to your content into the search bar and Instagram will suggest several popular hashtags related to your query. You can then click on each suggested hashtag to see the number of related posts.
In addition, suggestions for related hashtags will be offered automatically, once you've written the main hashtag.
Find inspiration from competitors
The second method is to get inspired by the hashtags used by competitors. Analyzing competitors' posts can provide valuable information about which strategies have been successful and which have failed, helping to enlighten your own thinking about your hashtag strategy.
Track popular trends and topics of the moment
To engage users, it's important to stay up to date with industry trends and topics that your target market interacts with on social media, on a daily basis.
Look for relevant events or news that may be related to your product or service. Create matching hashtags to increase your post's visibility and engagement rate.
Use a hashtag generator
The final method for finding the best hashtags is to use a hashtag generator. This online tool helps you enter keywords and then automatically generates a list of popular hashtags related to your topic.
Here is a non-exhaustive list of 5 Instagram hashtag generators:
1. Analisa is an Instagram hashtag generator that analyzes your text and recommends relevant hashtags for your post. It also offers the ability to track the performance of your hashtags in real time to adjust your strategy accordingly.
2. TagsFinder is an Instagram hashtag search tool that relies on a database of millions of hashtags. It also allows you to filter search results by language, country or city.
3. Sistrix is a digital marketing tool that integrates an Instagram hashtag generator app. It allows you to find relevant hashtags for your content and track their performance in terms of reach and engagement.
4. All Hashtag is an Instagram hashtag generator that generates relevant hashtags for you based on keywords, or on the URL of a post. It also offers a search function that allows you to find a popular hashtag related to your content.
2. Use the right number of Instagram hashtags
Although Instagram allows up to 30 hashtags per post, it is recommended to limit the number of hashtags. Indeed, using too many hashtags can give the impression of a spammy, insincere post that is simply trying to generate as many impressions as possible. This can even lead to a penalty from Instagram.
An Agorapulse study tells us that adding only 1 or 2 hashtags can increase the number of impressions by 15% on average. However, the volume of impressions decreases as soon as you insert more than 3 hashtags in your publication.
Of course, these statistics can vary depending on your brand, the profile of your subscribers, your publications, your industry, etc. So take the time to run your own tests to determine the ideal number of hashtags for you. Test one post with 1 hashtag, then another with 5-6 tags, and even another with no hashtag at all. Analyze and repeat.
3. Regularly monitor the performance of your posts
Successful hashtag strategies require constant monitoring and performance tracking. Keep track of how often each hashtag is used, which ones generate higher engagement rates, which ones don't work or which ones are outdated.
Indeed, the world of social networks is evolving at high speed. A trendy and popular hashtag today can become obsolete tomorrow.
Regularly monitoring the performance and statistics of each publication will allow you to make informed decisions and ensure that you continue to publish impactful and viral posts.
What are the most popular Instagram hashtags in 2023?
Choosing a popular hashtag that accurately reflects the content you're posting is key to maximizing exposure and engagement on Instagram.
For inspiration, here is the list of the 30 most popular hashtags on Instagram in 2023:
- #love
- #instagood
- #fashion
- #photooftheday
- #art
- #photography
- #beautiful
- #nature
- #picoftheday
- #happy
- #follow
- #travel
- #cute
- #style
- #instadaily
- #tbt
- #followme
- #repost
- #summer
- #beauty
- #fitness
- #like4like
- #food
- #instalike
- #photo
- #selfie
- #me
- #friends
- #fun