- Competition
As with any business, it’s important to figure out who your competition is, what they offer, and how they advertise, so you know what makes your business the best choice. Instagram is extremely helpful because you can search for other businesses’ names and any hashtags that you know they use. Learning this information can help you gauge the audience’s responses to your competitors’ posts, giving you the knowledge of what works best and what doesn’t for your own social media marketing.
- Branding and Visibility
Branding and visibility are essentially the most effective uses of hashtags on Instagram. If you’re a new business, you can utilize hashtags to expand your audience and increase brand awareness. When users search for your brand, they’ll see the relevant hashtags you’re using; or when they search for specific hashtags, they’ll see your branded posts in the results. This usually results in gaining new followers and potential customers.
- Promotion
One of the main reasons hashtags have gained such a reputation on social media is because of their ability to help marketers and businesses create targeted campaigns. According to Tweet angels, “when it comes to promotion, think of hashtags as the ‘word-of-mouth’ method.” In other words, when you post about a promotion, then your followers will use that same hashtag, then their followers will use it, and so on. Hashtags create great visibility for a campaign and help you reach your target audience by using relevant hashtags that you know your audience is already following.