Many people have criticized the use of hashtags and their overuse, but when used effectively, hashtags play an essential role in the digital marketing sphere. Ideally, Hashtags help you to keep track of a trending topic. Thus, you have to keep updating specific hashtags to stay informed.
With your Instagram account, you can generate your hashtags to promote a service or product.
No doubt that it will give you an advantage in the digital clutter because followers will identify what you are offering. You could be unsure whether to adopt hashtags or not, but the reasons below explain why they are essential:
Competition
Competition is a crucial aspect in the business environment. If you are running an enterprise, you must understand the competitors around you, the product or service they offer and how they promote them. Hashtags can help you to research about what the competitor is posting and their regularly used hashtags.
For instance, if you are a freelancer dealing in graphic design, you can search for competitors in this field and find out about the common hashtags they are using.
You will also find the trends in the audience response and establish what works best. Generally, hashtags are dynamic, meaning that a trending hashtag today could be obsolete in the future. You can only keep your brand viable by staying alert to the changes in the hashtag trends.
Branding and Visibility
A significant percentage of Instagram users have adopted the use of hashtags to achieve branding and visibility goals. They are very effective for expanding audiences and boosting brand awareness, especially for startup businesses.
Your followers will spot the relevant hashtags while looking for the brand. Conversely, they will locate your brand in your posts while searching for particular hashtags. This process wins you customers as you gain new followers.
You can also create a hashtag if you own an established business. Whenever you host an event or a customer buys your products, encourage them to use the hashtag.
Developing a unique hashtag will give you the autonomy to dominate it with your brand. As you post, keep including the hashtag to your brand because it increases visibility. As more users keep associating the hashtag to your business, your brand will grow.
Promotion
The ability of hashtags to help businesses put up targeted campaigns is what has made them very common in many social media platforms.
They are regarded as word-of-mouth promotions, according to Tweetangels. For example, if you promote your product in a post, your followers will repost using the same hashtag, their followers will do the same, and the chain continues.
Therefore, your campaign will be greatly visible, and your existing followers will help you reach the targeted audience through the hashtags.
Hashtags are also used in giveaway promotions. For example, you can hold a contest by asking followers to post pictures with a particular hashtag where they can win a prize. If you run a jewelry business, the Valentines season is a perfect opportunity to hold giveaways. Interested couples can share their story or post photos and win.
Activism
Technology has enabled people to search for information at the click of a button. Breaking news is now at our fingertips. Due to this seamless transfer of information, political movements have adopted the use of hashtags to chart their causes.
This concept is similar to event promotion. Participants in a course, for example, a fundraiser, will post using the hashtag and followers will repost it. An example is the #MarchForOurLives in Florida, where activists and victims of the shooting were agitating for safety and gun control.
Some businesses have stringent policies against participating in politics, while others have stated their political positions. Customers tend to incline towards a particular brand because of the political factions they support. For your brand, use the hashtag that is appealing to the majority political clout.
Localization
The introduction of Instastories has brought a new shift in the use of hashtags. Today, marketers can effectively sell their products locally using geographical tags. If you want to reach the state, national and regional audiences, you simply have to tag neighboring and famous cities.
Customer Input
Through hashtags, you will receive feedback from customers about the products and services that you offer.
This information will guide your future decisions. Customer comments and reviews have a significant impact on your business. Never ignore the feedback because most of it is genuine. The hashtags help you to reach a large pool of customers with different ideas and opinions.
They will also tip you about trends in the market that you may have missed. You will also learn about customer reactions regarding events and promotions that you organize. Depending on the responses, you may decide to hold more events or change tact.
Cross Promotion
Hashtags used on Instagram can be used in other social platforms. If you recently hosted an event, it is likely that the hashtag is still relevant for other platforms. Apart from Instagram, the conversation about your business will be extended into other areas. This is a great advantage in your efforts to improve audience engagement. For example, Nike created #NikeiD, which was shared throughout on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.
Creating Relationships with Followers
Hashtags have a unique way of building relationships. Since people enjoy posting about events, life achievements, and lifestyles, you can grab the opportunity to speak to them. You will be exposing your business to a wider audience as well as improving customer engagement.
A good example is where you can create a certain hashtag on a client’s photo posing in front of a new car. You will definitely be connected to the customer and get exposed to their followers.
Conclusion
The above-mentioned are among the many reasons why you should consider using hashtags on Instagram. They have massive advantages for the growth of your account.
Today, Instagram handles are increasingly being used for business purposes. If you want to build an empire, the greatest tool at your disposal is the hashtags. You will be amazed at how fast your customer base can grow within a few weeks.
