The Complete Guide: Instagram Hashtag Campaign

In light of recent updates to the Instagram Hashtag Search API, we’ve written this piece to help you think about how those changes can affect your future hashtag campaigns and, more importantly, how you can better position yourself in 2022 to realise your aims.

To what end do businesses employ hashtag campaigns?

This simple # symbol has become increasingly important in the marketing strategies of nearly every industry as the number of Instagram users and the frequency with which they are used both increased.

With this in mind, below are the primary functions of Instagram hashtags and the reasons why marketers will continue to use them:

• Introduce a brand-new item
• Boost exposure and interaction, and your number of followers will rise naturally.
• Share knowledge about an important movement
• Raise product visibility in the marketplace.
• Boost attendance at events and encourage others to become involved.
• Use hashtags to track what people are saying about your company online.
• Amass user-created material that relates to the company.
• See immediate outcomes like an increase in website visitors or revenue.

How do you start a hashtag campaign?

To reach and interact with your target audience on Instagram, you’ve probably given some thought to running a hashtag campaign employing one or more engaging brand keywords.

Having established the campaign’s goals and the value you hope to deliver, you can go forward with an executable strategy that consists of two stages: preparation and implementation.

Create a custom hashtag to represent your brand

The first and most important stage in organising a campaign is deciding on a hashtag or hashtags to use.

However, when preparing for the new hashtag campaign, it is important to keep in mind that the common practise of using hashtags frequently leads to overstuffing and overuse of the hashtags. And this ‘un aesthetic’ use of hashtags may have no effect on engagement, follower count, or anything else the campaign is trying to achieve.

According to a recent study by Mention, including more hashtags in a post does not boost its level of interaction. According to the data, the most popular posts typically have 5.44 hashtags.

Prepare your hashtag campaign’s content

After settling on a hashtag and a general subject for the campaign, it’s time to decide what kind of material you’ll be sharing or encouraging others to share using that hashtag.

Some advice is as follows:

• It may seem counterintuitive to focus on what the majority of Instagram users post about, but tailoring your strategy to the likes of cuisine, beauty, workout, celebrities, (nudes), exotic vacations, motivation, design, vintage, art, furniture, and the like is essential.
• Second, host a giveaway. It may not be the most original idea, but it has been proven effective time and time again.
  The OpenTable reservation software encourages users to post images of their meals using the hashtag #dishpics.
• Third, develop your own personal style; a particular, novel, and original picture or video format may have a significant effect on participation. Instagram users are particularly receptive to visually appealing material, so taking a novel approach to providing value through the design of your content may be a terrific recipe for success. Here’s how Oreo uses hashtag-specific marketing to reach its audience: Orea, a popular cookie company, has a distinct shout-out technique that involves using hashtags and greeting all of their fans. Here’s a sample of the kind of tweet that uses the hashtag to reach out to Mickey Mouse enthusiasts.
• Fourth, highlight user-generated content (UGC) — this is often the best and simplest content approach. Mercedes-Benz, for instance, acknowledges photographers by having them use the hashtag #mbphotocredit when sharing images of their vehicles.
• Mercedes utilises this hashtag to interact with photographers in a unique way, and then credits them when they repost their work on the company’s official Instagram account. There are currently 25,014 posts using the hashtag.

In what way should we implement the hashtag drive?

If you want your hash-tagged material to connect with your target audience, consider the following four recommendations.

First, let your present audience know about the campaign by using their preferred methods of contact: email, social media, and traditional print materials like menus, fliers, and posters.

Second, if you can afford it, hire an influencer to help get the word out about your campaign.

Third, focus on popular hashtags; research what’s happening in your field and use it to inspire your content. It’s not uncommon for hashtags to be associated with a certain occasion, holiday, or piece of trending media. Royal weddings and the Super Bowl, for instance, bring together millions of people all over the world. or major retail events like the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade or Prime Day. And be creative in your pursuit of an engaging image or video that may be shared with the individuals who follow these hashtags.

Four, using hashtags outside of social media is a typical strategy for increasing early participation. Making a fun offline event that encourages and inspires people to share their images and videos on Instagram is the best way to get the word out about your hashtags. Consider hosting exclusive, invite-only events, inviting a celebrity, or releasing a limited-edition product or package to a specific group of consumers.
Instructions for generating user-generated content with hashtags.

New features in Instagram’s Search API have brought this reality into sharper focus. Instagram has just instituted a 24-hour time limit on publishing photographs using generation hashtags. You may always check Instagram to see whether your hashtag has been used. However, if you utilise a third-party software like EmbedFeed, you can save all of your brand’s hashtagged material on a centralised dashboard for easy access and reuse.