Social media analytics, like Nicholas Cage’s career, can be inspiring, confusing, and infuriating at the same time. Instagram analytics, thanks to the new algorithm, are more anxiety-inducing than ever.
What hashtags you should use? And how many?
When preparing an Instagram post, hashtags are key to attracting likes and comments. Finding the right hashtags, however, can become a wild goose across Instagram and into different hashtag tracking apps. Crowdbabble delivers the hasthags your followers are engaging with the most right now, within an app you already use: Hootsuite.
Find Your Followers’ Favourite Hashtags
Crowdbabble for Hootsuite gives your posts the best chance of getting to the top of your follower’s feeds by delivering actionable insights: the most engaging hashtags, filters, and posting times. Brand managers can use Hootsuite in tandem with Crowdbabble to beat the new algorithm and engage their followers.
Step 1: To access the most engaging hashtags, first add Crowdbabble to your Hootsuite dashboard. Click the app button, search for Crowdbabble, and add a new stream.
Step 2: Then, login to Instagram to get analytics for that account. This is your new analytics helm: the Now view delivers the information you need when you’re writing a post, while the 30 day view provides a snapshot of how those posts are performing.
Step 3: Go mining for hashtag gold.
If you scroll down in the Now view, you will see Hashtag Performance. These are the hashtags that you’ve used that your followers have responded to the most with likes and comments. Five hashtags are listed by their likes and comment per use, with the most engaging hashtags at the top.
In the example above, #toronto is the most popular among @kmeyerto’s followers. Of all the hashtags the Instagram user has included in her posts over the past 7 days, #Toronto has the most likes and comments per post. Crowdbabble is the only Hootsuite app that provides hashtag data unique to your followers. Based on this example, #Toronto would be a good one to choose for your post; it’s already a favourite among your followers and gives your post the best chance of succeeding.
Your Top Hashtags This Month
In the 30 day view, Hashtag and Filter performance shows something different: a longer view of the likes and comments for the hasthags you’ve used, over the past month. If you want to add multiple hashtags to a post, this is also a good source: you can choose a hashtag that your followers have connected to in the past, as well as one from the Now view.
Here, #costarica was the most engaging over the past month, with 25 likes and comments on average per use.
Now you have two great hashtags that your followers are guaranteed to engage with, based on their previous behaviour. The likes and comments the hashtags will attract will help push your content to the top of their feeds, making it more visible to your followers.
Add in Long-Time Favourites
To get even more hashtag inspiration, you can check out the main Crowdbabble app outside Hootsuite. After you sign up and add an Instagram account, you can access performance data for not just 5 hashtags, but the top 10 hashtags your account has used for any time period. Building on the 30 day view in the Hootsuite app, in Crowdbabble you can explore the hashtag analytics for any time period. Let’s use @DaisyRidley as an example.
In the Content tab of Crowdbabble, you can view your hashtag performance in more detail. Two graphs are provided: most engaging hasthags and most used hashtags.
By comparing the two graphs, you will be able to see the gaps in your hashtag strategy. The above example shows that @DaisyRidley could maximize engagement by choosing #bluerey more often, as opposed to the lower-performing #rey. Crowdbabble also pinpoints which comments are the most liked and the most commented on.
If you choose a longer time period, you can find hashtags that have attracted high engagement consistently — adding to the two you found in Crowdbabble for Hootsuite. In the Content tab of the main app, you can find hashtags that have been favourites of your followers over the past 6 months, or even the past two years. Choosing a hashtag from a longer time period can help boost your post’s engagement, especially when you pair it with hashtags that your followers have liked and commented on more recently from Hootsuite.
Create a New Engaging Hashtag
If you want to strike out in a new direction and not reuse hashtags that perform well, Crowdbabble.com can provide suggestions. In the analytics dashboard for your Instagram account, in the same Content tab, Keywords provides data on the engaging keywords for your followers. Some keywords just won’t work as hashtags (#skipping?), but others can be hashtag gold. Let’s look at the keywords that people used to engage with Crocs.
Crocs could use some of these engaging keywords as hashtags to engage in topics that their followers are interested in. Most keywords can be turned into hashtags that your followers will love.
The Most Engaging Number of Hashtags
So far, you’ve found four great hashtags using Hootsuite and Crowdbabble: one trending now, one that’s performed well over the past 30 days, a long-time favourite, and a new one made with engaging keywords. But how many hashtags should you use?
In the Content tab of Crowdbabble, in the same hashtags panel, two graphs to answer the question. First, you can see the number of hashtags you have been using. Second, you can compare that to the number of hashtags your followers engage with the most. Finally, below the two graphs, Crowdbabble shows you the number of hashtags your followers like and comment the most.
Choosing hashtags for Instagram shouldn’t make you anxious anymore. With Crowdbabble and Hootsuite, you know which ones to use and how many to youse to succeed.
May the #HasthagForce Be With You
By finding the most engaging hashtags and the number to use with Crowdbabble and the Hootsuite app, your posts will live up to their potential on Instagram. By using Hootsuite and Crowdbabble together, you can find many great hashtag options that your followers already respond to.
Choosing hashtags your followers will love will attract more likes and comments, pushing your content to the top of their feeds where they have the best chance of seeing it. Using Crowdbabble and Hootsuite in tandem, you can give your content the best chance of beating the new Instagram algorithm.