Ain’t nobody got time for brainstorming new hashtags every time you post!
Question: How long does it take you to select your hashtags when you post on Instagram?
If the answer is anything other than ‘about as long as a Reels video,’ then you need this article in your life!
Because, don’t get us wrong — hashtags are super duper important. They’re what expands the reach of your posts, attracts your ideal audience and gets more eyes on your ah-mazing content.
But, if you’re brainstorming new hashtags every time you post, you’re likely wasting loads of valuable time and energy. Not only that, but it means you’re probably not being as intentional with your hashtags selection as you could be!
That’s exactly where Plann’s hashtag collections come in. By spending a small amount of time upfront brainstorming sets of targeted hashtags that are relevant to your business, these are always ready to add to your posts with the click of a button.
Read on for everything you need to know about hashtag collections — including how to choose then, how to save them and how many to use!
Pick your hashtag themes
You can store unlimited different collections of hashtags in Plann (you can find this in the ‘hashtag’ section. We recommend using as many of these as possible, to cast a wide net to attract new followers.
The best way to do this is to have set ‘themes’ for your hashtag collections! There’s a few different ways you may choose to do this:
You can store unlimited different collections of hashtags in Plann (you can find this in the ‘hashtag’ section. We recommend using as many of these as possible, to cast a wide net to attract new followers.
The best way to do this is to have set ‘themes’ for your hashtag collections! There’s a few different ways you may choose to do this:
Separate hashtags by industry:
This is a great way to segment your hashtags if your target audience is made up of people from a diverse range of career backgrounds.
So, for example, at Plann, our user base is made up of small-large business owners, solopreneurs, creatives, blogger/influences and social media managers. So, we have a hashtag set to represent each of these industries!
Separate hashtags by location:
If you service a particular area, it’s an excellent idea to have hashtag areas targeting those locations. Say, for example, you operate out of Byron Bay, you’d want to use some hashtags like #byronbaylife and #byronbusinesses, as well as those for neighbouring areas like Ballina and Mullumbimby.
The same goes if you’re an online or global business with customers (or, potential customers) from all over the world. For example, if your target audience is female entrepreneurs, you may use hashtags like #girlbossau #createcultivatenyc and #londonentreprenuers to hit as many of your major cities as possible!
Bonus tip: make sure you’re also changing up your geotags when you post too, to target different locations!
Separate hashtags by content themes:
You’re likely posting about a range of different topics on Instagram — especially if you’re using Plann’s strategy tool (psst…if not, you should be!)! So, it’s wise to have a hashtag set (or, a few) to go with each of these different content themes.
Say you’re a vegan beauty brand, you might have a set of hashtags on self-care, another on sustainability, another for veganism and so forth! If you’re not sure where to begin, we recommend using our in-built strategy tiles as a starting point!
Separate by objective:
You might also choose to have some sets of hashtags around the objectives of your post. For example, if you’re announcing a new product, you may have some product launch related hashtags. If you’re trying to inspire your followers, you could have some more #inspo style hashtags and so forth.
Stuck on these? Head to the ‘content prompts’ section in our strategy feature to get the inspiration flowing!
Separate by size
Lastly, it’s a good idea to have some sets of popular, mid-size and niche hashtags at the ready — as it’s best to use a mix of all three when you’re posting!
Here’s our rule of thumb when it comes to judging hashtag popularity.
1M+ MENTIONS: UBER POPULAR
Using a hashtag with over 1M mentions will be hard to get noticed unless your engagement rate is spectacular enough to land you in the top 9 grid!
500,000+ MENTIONS – COMPETITIVE
A competitive space but with great content and great engagement, you’ll get good traction here.
250,000+ MENTIONS – MEDIUM
With great content you’ll get targeted interaction in a hashtag of this size!
250,000 MENTIONS – NICHE
Use smaller tags (even below 50k!) for pointy, targeted niches that could see your content being seen over a few days – rather than a few hours!
To find out how many mentions a hashtag has, simply open the Instagram website and search for the rough hashtag (ie #cats). Instagram will show you the amount of mentions it’s had (aka. How many people have used it)
Find your hashtags
Okay, so now that you know what types of hashtag collections you’ll need for your account. So, how do you go about actually finding the hashtags to go with them? There’s a few different strategies you can use:
Search for them on Instagram:
Head to the search bar on your account and type in a sample hashtag — for example, ‘#contentcreation.’ This will bring up a dropdown menu of other similar hashtags related to that search term, as well as how many posts they’ve been mentioned in. You can then also click on these suggested hashtags to see even more related hashtags and so forth!
Look at what others are using:
Another great way to find strong hashtags to use is to check out what others in your industry are using. You can do this by looking in the caption or first comment of your posts. Just be sure to not completely rip off hashtags from one of your competitors — just cherrypick a few to create your own unique collections
Use a hashtag research tool:
There are a few online hashtag generators you can use that allow you put in a hashtag, and it will spit out a bunch of related hashtags. For Display Purposes is a free one, while Flick costs a couple of dollars per month. These can be really handy for brainstorming! But, keep in mind they can be a bit hit or miss when it comes to giving you relevant, targeted hashtag suggestions.
Make small sets
Once you’ve got your hashtags, it’s time to put them into your collections. Now, we know because you can use up to 30 hashtags per post, it’s tempting to put all 30 in your collections.
But, we actually recommend you still to smaller sets of around 10-15 hashtags. The reason being, this makes it SO much easier to mix and match your hashtags. Word on the street is, the Instagram algorithm doesn’t like it when you use the same sets of hashtags over and over again.
Having these smaller sets makes it easier to cherrypick a few hashtags from 2-3 different collections so you’re using completely unique sets every time. Smart, right!?
Create your ‘master sets’
We all have those times where we really need to pull out the big guns with the hashtags — maybe it’s for a big product launch, or just a caption or image you’re particularly proud of.
That’s where your ‘master set’ will come in! This is a collection of your highest-performing hashtags, usually across a selection of different content themes.
Think of them as your holy grail, reserved for occasions where you really need to get your content seen. We recommend having a couple of different master sets that you can choose between for when the occasion arrives.
Not sure what your best performing hashtags are? You can find these in the ‘results’ section in Plann! On the ‘activity’ tab, scroll down to the bottom where you’ll see ‘best performing hashtags.’ Select week, month, 3 months or lifetime and it will show you your ol’ ye faithfuls!
Mix it up!
Now, you’ve got a selection of hashtag collections for different occasions locked and loaded. All you need to do is click the little hashtag icon down the bottom when you’re creating and plan to mix and match the hashtags of your choice. Hit schedule and you’re ready to release your hashtag magic into the world!
Want more help with hashtags?
Grab our ultimate hashtags cheat sheet, where we hash out everything you need to know about growing with hashtags.
Grab your free hashtags guide
