The Importance of Hashtag Research
Start Your Hashtag Research Here
Step 1: Log into the Instagram app on your phone.
Step 2: Click the magnifying glass icon at the bottom of your screen.
Step 3: Tap the Search box that appears at the top.
Step 4: Tap “Tags” (third option for the left).
Step 5: You’re ready to begin your hashtag quest.
How to Spot Valuable Hashtags
There are several types of valuable hashtags you need to embrace: Heavy-Hitting hashtags, Specific hashtags, Local hashtags, and Branded Hashtags. It’s important to sprinkle all four types of hashtags into your posts.
Heavy-Hitter Hashtags
“Heavy-Hitter” Hashtags would be relevant tags that have a high number of posts associated with them. That means hundreds of thousands or even millions of posts. Why? Because they’re popular and they will attract followers, likes, and post engagement.
Examples of Heavy-Hitter Hashtags for Beauty & Wellness Businesses:
#wellness (37 million posts)
#positivity (23 million posts)
#beauty (383 million posts)
Specific & Local Hashtags
It’s equally important to weave in more specific and local hashtags. This will help to attract qualified leads located in your specific area in addition to attracting other local businesses for networking purposes. For example, if you own a salon located in Santa Clarita, California, you might use the following hashtags:
#santaclaritavalley (53,000 posts)
#santaclarita (487,000 posts)
#scv (263,000 posts)
#santaclaritahairstylist (5,000 posts)
#santaclaritahairsalon (5,000 posts)
Branded Hashtags
Every business should also create a Branded hashtag. This can be a short slogan, your business name, or something easily identifiable to your audience. A great example of a branded hashtag is #optoutside. REI coined the phrase “Opt Outside” and encouraged customers tag their adventures using #optoutside. Today, there are over 15 million posts associated with #optoutside. That’s all completely FREE marketing for REI!
Keep a Running List of Your Hashtags
Once you’ve done your research, we urge you to keep a running list of hashtags easily accessible on your phone. (Try using the Notes App.) That way, whenever you make a post, you can copy and paste a cluster of relevant hashtags into your post without having to rewrite them every time. Or, if you use a third party post scheduler such as Buffer or Hootsuite, you can also keep a hashtag spreadsheet on your computer.
The Key to Social Media Success
Your hashtags will go a long way to bring outside traffic to your posts. The other piece of the puzzle, however, is making sure you’re posting consistently. We recommend posting 2-3 times per week to keep your audience engaged. For any professional, and especially those in the wellness industry, it can be extremely difficult to find the time and bandwidth to create quality content on a consistent basis. That’s why we created Brandabl. Brandabl is the first ready-made social media content provider that makes marketing easy for the beauty and wellness industry. We provide stylish, curated social media content created with your brand voice and look in mind. With Brandabl, you won’t ever have to worry about what to post because we’ve got all the bases covered.
