Hashtags are a great way to spread your posts beyond your following. Since Instagram first came around in 2010, hashtags have been in its blood. Found on the Instagram explore page is a search button where any Instagram user is able to search for people, locations, hashtags and more. If a particular person has an interest in something, they could find themselves searching up a hashtag of this particular thing. This person may have the intent to buy eventually so getting your post in front of them is important but, unfortunately, not guaranteed.
Since the added feature of Insta stories, you are now able to snap and tag quickly and easily. Now, when people search for a tag on Instagram, stories appear at the top of the page making this likely to be the first thing the viewer looks at/clicks on. According to Instagram, your account must be public in order for them to potentially show your post. On the Instagram page that talks about this, it gives no clue as to what posts they chose to post and why, however, some speculate that this has something to do with the engagement that your page has and the quality of your image or video. Of course, this is just someone’s thought that has neither been confirmed or denied by Instagram, they have merely said “If your account is set to public, and you share a photo or video to your story that contains a hashtag, location or location-based sticker, it may appear on that hashtag or location page.”
It’s important not to just hashtag words willy-nilly. You need to be creative but also tag things that people are likely to be looking for. The longer your hashtag, the less likely people will be to find it. Keep it simple and snappy. The hashtag used in the image above is long, however, would be a common search as when you take a trip to the top of the shard, this is what it is called.
Another thing to note – If you put a number or any punctuation within your hashtag, it will lose its link and won’t be searchable. The hashtag will end where you place the punctuation.