Among the various online selling channels available today, Instagram has evolved as an ever-growing platform for businesses to expand and reach more customers. As of September 2017, it was reported by Instagram that their user count was over 800 million. Around 80% of those users follow at least one business profile. Thus, the need for smart online selling strategies for this platform now is greater than ever.
If you want more and more people to see your content, you must use effective hashtags. Here are a few useful online selling strategies using hashtags to grow your business:
Use branded hashtags – Create a catchy and short hashtag exclusive to your business or product and use it with all your posts to associate your content with your brand. It can be your brand name itself or something related to it. Such a branded hashtag will lead to efficient social media promotions that will widen your customer reach.
Tag your stories – On Instagram, you can also tag accounts and use hashtags on stories. Stories with a certain hashtag in it get automatically compiled to be displayed as search results, based on factors like popularity and engagement. Hence, use your branded hashtag enough so that Instagram is led to compile a set of your stories for that hashtag. This might take some while to achieve so you have to be patient.
The choice of hashtags – Now, if you’re stressed and confused about which hashtags to brand and use, you may take a look at what your biggest competitors are using. You may also look for the most obvious hashtag related to your product or service. However, keep in mind that this is only for inspirational purposes. Do not blindly copy others’ hashtags.
Encourage your followers to use your branded hashtags – Increase the use of your branded hashtag by encouraging your followers to use them. You may do so by asking them to post with your hashtag, coming up with a strategy to give discounts to whoever shares photos of their purchased products using your hashtags and creating campaigns around those hashtags.