So you’re new to Instagram. You want to grow your followers and likes but aren’t sure where to begin when it comes to hashtags. Think of hashtags as the electric lines that power the city, without the lines, the city wouldn’t have any power going out. Without your hashtags, nobody is being drawn to your account. By implementing hashtags on your post in addition to tagging appropriate profiles, your account can begin to grow, thus bringing power to a whole community.
What is a Hashtag?
Hashtags are essentially links that will lead users to your images. For example, if someone wanted to see a bunch of pictures of cats, they could simply type in “#cats” to see all of the images with #cats tagged. The more hashtags you use, the more opportunities you give users to find your picture. On Instagram, hashtags are displayed by most popular and by most recent, so the more you post, the more often your pictures will be found under that one specific hashtag. Hashtags are your only chance of random users viewing your images with the exception of using your location. For dentists, locations don’t seem to work too well if you choose your office as the location; however, using the city you live in can attract people from all over the city.
How to Choose Which Hashtags to Use
When it comes to hashtags, you need to think quality not quantity. There are plenty of hashtags out there that users use to gain likes, but they are not the traffic you want for your practice. When growing your Instagram account, you want followers and likes from potential patients or fans of your work, not from other Instagram users who are just trying to grow their account. Use your hashtags wisely. Instagram only allows 30 hashtags per post. Use hashtags that are relevant to the work you are posting. For example, for a cosmetic dentistry before and after photo, you can hashtag: #cosmeticdentistry #dentistry #porcelainveneers #teethwhitening #dentalimplants #beforeandafter #dentist #dentists etc. Hashtag topics you think would drive users to your account so you can grow organic followers. We don’t recommend using the most popular hashtags like #like4like because the high popularity will push your photo from most recent, quickly down the page, leaving your photo seen by no one.
How Do I Display Hashtags?
Instagram is great for people who don’t care about formatting their captions, fortunately, there is a loop around the no “enter” key. Simply type up your caption in a word doc, or notepad, and at the end, use a form of separation (like 5 periods) and below it, post all of your hashtags in a large chunk. This will be more aesthetically pleasing to the eye. Once done, copy and paste your caption into your Instagram post and you will see that the formatting has stayed. If you aren’t a fan of putting your hashtags in the caption, you can always post it in a comment underneath for the same results.
Tagging Important Hubs
It’s always a good idea to tag popular pages you might want your account featured on. One of the most popular dental pages out there right now is @cosmeticdentists. Tag popular pages or even other dentists you want to network with and maybe you will start a conversation or be featured on their account. The possibilities are endless.
Contact Dental Affiliate Today
If you are still struggling to understand hashtags, please feel free to get into contact with our social media experts at Dental Affiliate. Contact us today with your questions!
