How to Find Trending Hashtags on Instagram (5 Tips!)
Posts by Colin TanMay 20, 2023
Hashtags are all the rage these days, which means that trending hashtags are even more popular.
If you’ve been in the gram game for a while now, then you’ll know the importance of having the right hashtags on your posts.
There’s undoubtedly an art to finding trending hashtags on Instagram, and it takes skill, dedication, and time.
Finding the best hashtags is the secret to being successful with your brand and profile, so we think that it’s worth learning how to find trending hashtags on Instagram.
Let’s talk about it.
How to Find Trending Hashtags on Instagram
Let’s take a moment to talk about why you need trending hashtags to use on your Instagram.
You may already know that posts on the gram with hashtags get more engagement than posts that don’t hashtag.
While there is proven evidence out there, you don’t have to look for when you’re on the app – the proof is everywhere. It’s no secret that the key to success is to get the hashtag game right.
Perhaps the most important thing to remember with all of this is that you can’t just use any hashtags you want – it’s called strategy.
You need to get the balance right between using hashtags that are relevant to your content and hashtags that are popular.
1. Look at What Your Community is Doing
One of the first things you’ll want to do when trying to figure out the perfect hashtag formula looks at what’s going on in your community.
After all, finding those tags that your community uses a lot is going to help you solidify those relationships even more.
This is why we recommend checking out your audience and what they’re using based on the content they post and the niche they’re interested in.
Secondly, we recommend going for the complete opposite and hunting down your competitors. While this may seem counter-intuitive, it’s actually going to get you a lot closer to your goal than you realize.
Figuring out what hashtags your competitors are using is going to give you a leg up.
Lastly, we suggest going to those influencers that you have looked up to for such a long time and checking out what they’re using for their hashtag game.
If you check out some of the most popular influencers in your niche, you may just find some killer hashtags that will be perfect for your engagement.
2. Check Out Top Performing Posts
Another way to go about finding the best hashtags is to look at what hashtags are trending on top-performing posts.
These are posts that Instagram decides to feature on the explore page, and the fact that they have been chosen indicates that they are doing something right in regards to the hashtags that they are using.
Remember, when you’re doing this, you’ve got to make sure you’re choosing hashtags that are directly linked to your niche.
Don’t just pick a hashtag because it’s popular – make sure that it has a connection to what you’re trying to promote.
If you just use hashtags because they are popular, this may end up getting you in trouble with the gram because it will look spammy.
3. Find Relevant Hashtags
This is one of the best ways to approach your hashtags game because you get a lot of responses, and you don’t have to put in too much work.
This is where you type a word or hashtag that is directly connected to your niche or industry into the search bar and see what comes up as a suggestion.
If you want to make sure that the tags you choose are trending, click on the ‘tags’ section of the search bar, and the results will come up ranked in order from most popular to least.
You’ll also be able to see how many people have already used that hashtag.
4. Use a Trending Hashtag Tool
It always pays to lighten the burden a bit by outsourcing a bit of your hashtag strategy.
There’s nothing wrong with finding an expert in the field and getting their advice on how best to approach things.
Luckily, companies like Flick have been innovative enough to come up with an excellent way to find the best trending hashtags for your content.
They do this through their search bar feature, where you can look up any hashtag that you use or want to use, and receive data and analytics in return.
This is much more comprehensive than finding relevant trending hashtags in the search bar with Instagram – it gives you insights you won’t find anywhere else, and it can help you get ahead of the competition.
We love companies like this because they know how relevant hashtags are to your Instagram success.
5. Cross-Platform Hashtags
Why not explore what else is going on out there, and what people are really talking about.
This is when you go outside of Instagram to do a bit of market research on the rest of the internet to figure out what people are talking about.
This is going to help you stay ahead of trends, and hopefully predict what might be the next one.
While predicting what everyone is going to go for next is easier said than done, it is possible, and the more time you put into your external research, and better you’ll be able to figure it out.
This is a great way to sort your hashtag strategy out if you’ve got the time and are serious about your growth.
Final Thoughts
As you know, figuring out the best trending Instagram hashtags to use to promote your brand isn’t easy.
In fact, with all the competition out there, it’s downright difficult. It’s not impossible, though, and with our list of the best ways to find trending hashtags on Instagram, we think that it’s completely achievable.