Those who use Instagram know what hashtags are, the real power of this social network. The first social network among the famous ones to use them was Twitter, and then landed on Instagram and also on Facebook.
Often their use is misunderstood or completely wrong, for this reason we are here to explain how to use Instagram hashtags at best and without making mistakes. If you follow the advice, you will also be able to make your photos and profiles more popular.
- What are Hashtags
- How they should be used
- The most popular hashtags
- Forbidden hashtags
- Possibility to follow them
- How the algorithm works and what is shadowban
What are hashtags?
Let's start from the beginning, what is a Hashtag? It is essentially a label (tag) preceded by a hash (hash) and serves, in a nutshell, to put a content in evidence.
The purpose of hashtags, in fact, is to get to as many people as possible a content based on its theme. For example, searching for #natura will bring up a bunch of photos that contain the hashtag #natura and which are, in fact, images of a natural landscape (we'll get to later on how).
Let's take an example: if you are about to take a nice hot bath in a small and cozy tub, you could use the hashtag #Relax. In this case, anyone looking for or following that hashtag will find all Instagram photos and videos related to relaxation.
How they should be used
The hashtag is always preceded by the symbol hashtag (#) and the word never has space: knowing how to use the right Instagram hashtags allows you to increase views, likes and comments. They can be inserted both at the beginning of the post, and in a normal sentence, and at the end and also in the comments.
The use of hashtags, however, must be targeted and make sense: #Relax, #nature, #stadium are a great way to share your photo, but not all words are suitable for tagging. Here are two practical examples.
In the first case, although there are tags that are not really "wanted", the post is fine both in a internal context (therefore for the fans of Bari), both in a external context (therefore fans or sportsmen in general). However, there is a totally meaningless tag that not only does not highlight the post in any way (I challenge anyone to go look for #non) but also risks break down the priority of the post, a sort of penalty that the Instagram algorithm automatically applies.
In the second case, however, there is a post that has been able to use hashtags in a way simple and effective, although he only relegated them to the final part of the post.
There are various types of hashtags, called "Community hashtag“, Which allow people to be directed towards a specific theme, for example” #whatieatinaday ”or“ #cosamangioinungiorno ”.
So you can find all the lunches or dinners of people who like you like to share their recipes, but also give advice and inspiration for a new dish. Another category is "Branded hashtag"And consists in sponsoring you, or if you have a company profile and publish a photo of your company you can put as a hashtag" #Mybigcompany, or anything that relates to your activities, in short, you can indulge yourself obtaining excellent results.
Possibility to follow them
For some years Instagram has allowed not only to follow users and pages but also some hashtags. In fact, if in the search bar we insert a hashtag like #chimerarevo, in the page that opens we will be able to decide if follow that hashtag. This means that whenever someone posts content with that hashtag, the post there will appear in the home as happens for all our contacts followed.
The most used hashtags
For every type of photo there are thousands of hashtags, just think that for a photo that depicts a natural landscape we could use #natura, #nature, #naturepic, #natural, #naturephotography, #naturezza and a thousand other terms.
To become real experts you will have to peer a little among your followers and notice how they use hashtags and which ones are the most frequent. Alternatively you can consult this list of best Instagram hashtags or rely on apps that you find in the Android Play Store or the Apple App Store.
The fundamental point, however, always remains the same: use only relevant hashtags. Using highly sought-after hashtags could be good but also bad.
If we were to talk about a technological topic, using hashtags like #popularpic would only be counterproductive. Much smarter would be to study the tags that use i competitors and looking for the audience you want to reach.
It is not uncommon, then, that Instagram blocks the display of the results of certain hashtags that "they do not respect community guidelines".
Using these hashtags not only there is no result (as the posts are hidden) but there is a high risk of being penalized by the portal algorithm.
Forbidden hashtags
However, all that glitters is not gold. Instagram, of course, also applies some kind of filter to its contents, "banning" a series of terms (this list is also quite small as they are only English terms and there are no references to terrorism) which, for obvious reasons, they cannot be used. The reason is simple, many of these terms are enough "Pushed", provoke hatred and racism e they are simply not suitable to a public platform such as Instagram.
Repeated use of prohibited hashtags could push the system to ban, temporarily or permanently, the author of the posts.
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The Instagram algorithm
Instagram bases all content sharing on hashtags and for this reason it applies some quite stringent restrictions. Over time, in fact, users have created hashtags "like catcher" and "follower catcher" which have as their only intent to exchange likes and followers in an uncontrolled way. Although it may be a "harmless" action for many, developers and investors are not of the same opinion and, for this reason, it was necessary to apply some restrictions.
Given the abuse of users, Instagram has set a tolerance period that provides up to a maximum of 30 hashtag per post, limit beyond which part one automatic verification of the software aimed at analyzing if the hashtags used are really related to the post. The control is based on a scan of the frame by the Artificial Intelligence which, thanks to technological progress, is able to easily recognize the subject of the photo and, therefore, to understand if hashtags used are really inherent to the content. In the event that the results of the check are negative, the system will still allow you to publish the photo, omitting, however, all the part of the caption (even the various aphorisms inserted before the tags). This is why I would like to repeat that they should only be inserted context-related hashtags.
In recent days Instagram has further enhanced its algorithm significantly changing its sharing system. In fact the number of hashtag tolerated, despite the maximum limit remaining 30, decreased sharply, around ten, also penalizing those who use non-inherent tags. I have done some tests in the last few days and the results are very interesting.
In this photo, which portrays the Bari seafront, I have inserted very specific hashtags (such as the city and regional ones) which, in fact, have ensured that my photo was viewed by Apulian users or Apulian enthusiasts. To the right is the search result for the hashtag #bari and, as you can see, my photo results in the list.
The situation changes when I go to insert two tags out of context, the classic tags that only serve to spam as many people as possible their photo in search of likes, "likeforlike"And"followforfollow".
The system, which recognized the two offending tags, applied a Shadowban, that is, it has significantly decreased the priority of my post which, as if by magic, disappeared in #bari, as well as in the other hasthag. From this situation I noticed two very interesting things:
- The number of likes and followers has actually increased, this is because the shadowban has been applied only to first tags;
- Lo shadowban it is not definitive. In fact, by eliminating the offending tags, within a few minutes the system assigns the photo its old priority and this game can last indefinitely.
Conclusions
As we have seen the world of hashtags is immense and, if used correctly, they can lead to satisfying results within a few weeks. Instagram's engine and algorithms are constantly evolving so in a few weeks the system could overturn, again, everything we talked about.
We hope we have been helpful and that these tips have been useful to you. You can learn more about the topic and strategies of your company or profile by consulting our following articles.
