Instagram is a great iOS and Android app available to photo enthusiasts. One of the things that make it great is the interaction that one can build through images, with friends and new contacts alike. To build these new connections, hashtags play a very important factor.
Not sure how to get started with Instagram? Check out our earlier article How to get Followers on Instagram before you proceed.
Hashtags are used as a way for people to tag (label) their pictures. After taking a picture and editing, a green checkmark will allow you to continue the process of posting your image. On the next screen where you type your caption, this is where you will start tagging.
You should know first, to start using the Instagram hashtags feature your profile needs to be public. If a user is private their tagged pictures will not show on the public stream for any of the tags.
Hashtags are applied before any word with the # sign; each hashtag should be separated by a space like #hashtag1 #hashtag2. For example, I took a photo of some basil I planted not long ago and the tags I used when I posted the pic were “#basil #organic #herbs”. Adding those three labels will introduce your image to those three different public pages or labels, where other people can find it.
Instagram uses a set of rules that you should also be aware for tagging your pictures.
• Private users’ tagged photos will not appear publicly on tag pages.
• Numbers are allowed in hashtags. However, special characters, such as $ or %, will not work.
• You can only tag your own photos, not other users’ photos.
• The limit on the number of tags you can use on a photo is 30. If you include more than 30 tags on a single photo, your comment will fail to post.
• Older versions of Apple iOS do not support tapping on hashtags. Instead, search hashtags by navigating to the Profile tab > Search Instagram > Tags.
How to compose your caption with hashtags.
This is an area open for discussion.
For example you can type something like this: “This is the #delicious #sweetbasil I planted a few weeks ago. #herbs #organic #basil #green” or you can also type normally and add your hashtags at the end, “This is the delicious sweet basil I planted a few weeks ago. #delicious #sweetbasil #basil #herbs #organic #green”. Just remember the no more than 30 hashtags rule.
Once your image is tagged, people will use the “Explore” feature in Instagram to search for images. The icon is the second from left to right, and looks like a compass. By default Instagram will show you the most popular pictures of the moment on that screen. On the top of that area, you will find a field that says “Search users and hashtags”. Pressing on it will allow you to select between the two. Press hashtags to start, and type in dogs, art, food, a brand name, etc. You don’t need to type the hashtag “#” sign before the word here.
After the search is done, the app will return your result with the number of images in that category. Instagram will also save your last 15 searches for your convenience.
Now that you know how to use them, let me explain why you want to start adding them to your pictures.
Most of the pictures that we take using Instagram, represent something that caught our eye or that we enjoy. It’s almost certain that other people will find that image interesting as well. Sharing our images with hashtags will help others to find them and build an audience around your interests.
It’s not mandatory to use hashtags for your posts. But for someone beginning with the service, not having tags makes it very difficult to build an audience of people looking for images they like. If you don’t have any friends using Instagram this is particularly true, because you will be adding pictures to a pool that no one can find through search. I believe this is perhaps the biggest reason people stop using the service, because they might be thinking, what is the point of taking pictures if only I can see them and no one is giving me feedback via a comment or like.
And this might be ok too, if you just want to snap pictures and share them privately with your Twitter or Facebook followers.
If you already have taken many pictures, but they didn’t include hashtags, you can go back and add a comment yourself on the image with your hashtags. Doing this will reintroduce them to the public search pages for that hashtag. Soon you will start noticing notifications coming in of people liking your photos.
In my case, I am very passionate about “#vector #illustration”. Through Instagram I found incredible talented individuals to connect with, they have inspired me and push me to learn new techniques in the process. Also many childhood friends share their family pictures and everyday life, which is always a bright note in my day!! By the way, my Instagram user name is @kenmata
I hope this will clear what hashtags are, and will get you started using them and having even more fun with your Instagram pictures.
Tip: Want to follow Dave Taylor on Instagram too? You can find him by searching for “d1taylor” in the Explore portion of the program.
my picture does not appear in the hashtag. i face this problem before 10 days and i didnot find any solution . plz if u know how to solve it just let me know as soon as possibe.
best regards
Thanks for the article – One question, if i change my instagram settings back to private will my previous hash-tagged photos disappear from public feeds or will they stay available and only new posts will remain private?
Great article.. Since I changed from Apple to Android, I was wondering if anyone here knows if there’s a similar keyboard like the one in the pic (Instagram main keyboard with # and @ sign when uploading)for Android?
just don’t use offensive hashtags like “#sex” than all the hashtags in the grouping work again…if you already posted it you have to delete it and upload it again without offensive hashtags included
that’s all you have to do!!!
I’m not sure what you guys are talking about with the “Instagram feed”. Are you subscribing via an RSS reader?
Can someone tell me how many photos we expect to see on the Instagram Home feed? I know that depending on who we are following, we will only display the most recent photos of those we are following and our own most recent photos. But what is the definition of recent? 1 week? 2 weeks? Longer? Does anyone know the answer to this?
Thanks
I can’t see my photos in those feeds i use for hashtag…
After testing and asking friends to use different phones it does indeed appear that not a single hastag is working when using an Android phone. The photos being tagged with an Iphone are working.
When searching for the user name the same photos uploaded with the Android phones ARE being found. As I am showing Instagram pictures live on the net amongst a group of workmates whilst they are on holiday I am using a workaround. I am allowing 10 work friends to use the same Instagram account on their own phones. Then by setting up my website to look for username “xxxxxxxx” it is showing the pictures. However it only needs one bright spark to mess this up as anyone of the ten could fall out with the other nine and hijack the account.
Worringly there do not seem to be many posts about this. One would have thought with all the traffic people would be up in arms about this and Instagram would put a prio 1 on the fix.
As people with the same problem may also arrive here I urge more to post if they have the problems. The hashtags do show up as a picture caption correctly and appear identical to the ones set on iphones but when searching for the hashtags created on Androids they are not showing up.
A question: Can anyone using a Samsung Galaxy S3 to get a hashtag to work. (I mean to be found when searching for that hashtag).
5th January 2013
Good article. Though I cannot find one explaining why my galaxy s111 no longer supports the hastags on instagram. At first it did…and true to your article it made instagram that more fun and colourful to use. I loved it ! Then one day the hashtags seemed sketchy at best, not working then working. I knew and could check by my likes. Then one day they did not work at all. Contacting IG was futile. They thought I had compromised my site. I deleted my account and restarted one a week later to no avail. So I. Deleted again. After a couple months I opened up a new one again. Same scenario. ! My tags don’t work ! I am not private..not compromised…what gives ? Do you have an idea ? Thank you, Luci Bella
I have a Droid incredible phone and when I use a hashtag in a post, the post never shows up on the tag pages. I’m new to IG but understand how to use hashtags…I’m just confused as to why none of my tagged pics show up for others to find when they search for a specific hash tag.
So my IG is public but all of a sudden when i try to add more hashtags after my initial post (and I’m within the limit).. the pic doesn’t show up on the tagged feeds at all?? I can’t find any valuable IG support from them directly maybe u have some thoughts? Thanks!
I’m curious, why does Instagram show no results for the hashtag #iphoneography even if you tag your own pictures with it?