I am going to be discussing the use of hashtags on Instagram and on other social media websites. I will be researching their use and effectiveness on these different platforms, where to place them and the number of hashtags to use. I got most of my information from https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/hashtags-twitter-facebook-instagram but also from @Brock11Johnson on Instagram and from the visiting artist lecture from Steve McLeod.
Hashtags are used primarily on twitter for users to see trends and gain an insight into what people are mostly talking about. Users on twitter are not private so any post can be seen and read by all users.
Hashtags are used by almost every user on almost every post on the site. Using hashtags on Instagram is an effective way to gain more interaction and views on your posts and videos. I personally like to post my image with a caption, then add the hashtags to a comment below the post so it does not detract from the caption and make it look too busy. If the comment is added below the post within 30 minutes, they apply to the post in the same way as if added to the caption. THis is according to @Brock11Johnson who is an instagram marketing entrepreneur. They also suggest adding 30 hashtags to your posts for maximum reach and engagement, and those hashtags should be related to what it is the post is focused on. The more specific they are, the more likely the engagement that you will have will be based in your sector or interest, which is more valuable than using a hashtag such as L4L (Like for like) as the person is more likely to follow you and be more engaged in the future, according to Steve McLeod.
Hashtags are used in a similar way to Twitter however because some users have a private profile, the trends that are shown cannot be traced as the original post cannot be viewed. I don’t think that using hashtags on Facebook is particularly effective for this reason.
