Hashtags – love them or hate them, they can be a great way to grow your Instagram following.

Adding hashtags to your photos ensures they can be found by anyone searching for those specific hashtags. Think of hashtagging as SEO for Instagram – when you use the right keywords, you increase your chances of being found.

Pros and cons of using hashtags

With a targeted hashtag strategy, you’re more likely to:

• Grow your followers
• Get more likes per photo
• Increase visibility & engagement
• Discover more accounts to follow
• Observe your competitors

However, you may also experience:

• Spammy comments
• Unengaged followers

Some ‘bots’ trawl hashtags and automatically like and comment on photos. While these bots can be annoying, they are often a small frustration compared to the benefits of using hashtags.

Our advice? Experiment with different hashtags and see if the results are worth the extra admin.

How to use hashtags on Instagram

You can use a maximum of 30 hashtags per photo.

Post your hashtags below your caption. Hashtags too close to the caption may distract your followers and appear spammy.

After you’ve uploaded a new photo, spend 10 minutes liking and interacting with other accounts using the same hashtags. The more you engage with like-minded accounts, the more likely they are to check out your profile and follow you. Just watch out for competitors.

Mix up the hashtags you use on each photo. Try not to use the same ones every time. Use a variety and always make sure they are relevant to the image you’re sharing.

How to find new hashtags

Below we’ve rounded up some of the most popular eCommerce hashtags as of February 2017. However, new hashtags are added every day and you never know which ones are going to take off next.

The best way to find new hashtags is to spend some time on Instagram each day. Keep an eye out for interesting keywords and make a note of any you’d like to try.

You can also try Instagram planning tools such as Webstagram and Iconosquare, although from our experience manual research tends to produce more relevant results (and it’s free!).

Generic eCommerce hashtags

ecommerce

ecommercewebsite

ecommercebusiness

ecommercetips

ecom

onlineshop

onlineshopping

onlineshoppingaddict

onlinestore

onlineretail

B2B

B2C

webstore

Platform-specific eCommerce hashtags

shopify

magento

woocommerce

bigcommerce

Business hashtags

entrepreneurlife

smallbusiness

onlinebusiness

smallbiz

smallbusinesslove

Creative business hashtags

mycreativebiz

creativebusiness

calledtobecreative

creativeentrepreneur

creativepreneur

New Zealand business hashtags

nzbusiness

networknz

aucklandbusiness

nzmade

supportnzbusiness

madeinnz

newzealandmade

madeinnewzealand

Australian business hashtags

businessau

smallbusinessaustralia

australianmade

startupaus

sydneybusiness

perthbusiness

brisbanebusiness

melbournebusiness

Hashtags in your niche

Conduct your own research to find the best hashtags in your industry. For example, if you sell clothing you might use hashtags such as #mensfashion and #womensapparel. Or, if you sell skincare products you might use hashtags such as #skincareroutine and #beautylover.

Final thoughts

As with most social media strategies, finding success with Instagram hashtags comes down to trial and error. Experiment with different keywords and techniques until you find a combination that works for you.

Happy hashtagging!