Instagram hashtags may be essential for business owners and social media experts. However, there are limited tools to check its efficiency. Yes, it allows you to tap into the power of the Instagram community and reach a wider audience while simultaneously allowing you to monitor the performance of your posts. But how do you know if it’s working?
Instagram may also give you a general insight into the performance of your post, but it can’t track how your hashtags perform. Besides that, Instagram can’t tell you which among your hashtags trend at a given time.
Most social media experts use third-party apps like Hashtag Expert to get insights on their hashtag analytics. However, newbies might not know what kind of data they need to gather and how these chunks of data can aid them in decision-making.
If you want to know how your social media content hashtag performs, you're in the right place. This post will discuss why you need to track your hashtags and what specific metrics you need to consider. You’ll also learn tips on correctly measuring your hashtags' performance. If you’re ready to learn all these, hop in!
Never miss another story
Why Is Tracking Instagram Hashtag Performance Necessary?
There are various reasons why you must track the performance of your Instagram hashtags, but here are some of the most important ones:
- If you want to track the effectiveness of your Instagram hashtag, you need to know how many impressions it's getting. That's because a hashtag that gets thousands of impressions is likelier to get more likes and comments than those that only get a hundred. A better impression also means more exposure and more brand familiarity. So, if you want many people to see your content, then it's essential to know how well your hashtags perform.
- You'll know what works and what doesn't work for your brand’s social media strategy. Suppose you're trying to figure out how to grow your Instagram account. In that case, this crucial information will help you make more informed decisions about future content creation and marketing campaigns.
- It allows you to see which user-generated content is performing best so that you can replicate or optimize them based on their performance metrics. If a post gets more likes than usual but not enough comments, then perhaps there was a mistake made by the one who wrote it. Or maybe something was missing from the post's caption that otherwise would've gotten more engagement. The only way to know is through analytics data.
Learn more about the benefits of Instagram hashtag monitoring in this post.
What Are the Key Hashtag Metrics You Should Track?
Getting lost in a sea of metrics in the digital age is easy. But there are specific metrics you should be tracking to ensure your Instagram hashtag strategy is working. Here are a few of these crucial key performance indicators (KPIs):
Trending Hashtags
Trending hashtags are a great way to understand what's happening worldwide. They can help you determine whether your content is relevant and timely. They can also help you track brand perception over time. If you use these Instagram hashtags, your post will likely rank higher in the Instagram feed.
Difficulty Level
This metric will show how well a particular hashtag performs when used in a post. More often than not, apps measuring this collect data from your account and let you know the odds of your post performing with a specific hashtag group. This will alert you to transform a difficult hashtag into an easy one.
Post Count
Post count or post volume measures how often your hashtag has been used in posts since you created them. This is a good indicator of your hashtag's popularity with your target audience. You can use this metric to compare different campaigns or hashtags and see which ones get more traction with your audience.
Reach and Engagement
Reach is how many people saw your hashtag in their timeline; engagement is how many people interacted with it. If you want your Instagram hashtag to succeed, you must measure both of these things to know what's working and what's not. It’s best to gather real-time data reflecting these metrics.
Users
This indicates the number of users that have used the hashtag in their posts. This metric is important because it shows how many people engage with your content. It is one of the most revealing metrics that your post might go viral.
If you have more users using your hashtag, there is a high chance that it will be one of the trending or best hashtags. Consequently, your post and brand will also most likely get known by more people.
.jpeg)
Tips on How To Measure Your Hashtag Performance
This may be a no-brainer, but the first step to measuring your hashtag performance is ensuring you're using the right tool.
Plenty of tools will allow you to measure your hashtag usage and performance, but not all of them are created equal. Some don't offer enough features or are too expensive for what they do, while others may be too basic for your needs. You must find one that works well for you and your business to understand how your hashtags are performing over time fully.
Once you've found a tool that works well for you and your business, it's time to dive deeper into measuring your performance. To optimize the use of Instagram hashtags, check out these tips for measuring it:
Get a Hashtag Tracking Tool
One of the first crucial things you can do to track your hashtag performance is to use a hashtag tracking tool. This will help you see how often people have used your hashtag, where they're using it, and what kind of engagement they're getting. It can also help you get an idea of how many people are using your hashtag concerning other hashtags that might be similar.
Examples of these tools are RiteTag and Hashtagtify. The former offers instant hashtag suggestions for text and images on mobile and desktop. On the other hand, the latter is best for generating hashtags on Twitter posts. If you want more retweets from Twitter users, use this Twitter analytics tool.
Apart from these two, here are other best-rated Instagram hashtag tracking tools:
Locobuzz
This AI-supported media monitoring tool boasts of its social listening and analytics functionalities. It can help you generate powerful and authentic Instagram analytics data on a solo view platform. This makes the accomplishment of multiple tasks on a one-dimensional analytics tool seamless. It also helps in easy hashtag monitoring.
Sprout Social
This powerful Instagram hashtag analytics tool empowers its user with highly intuitive Instagram publishing and scheduling features. It also comes with real-time monitoring to help improve engagement. This influencer marketing tool is best for large organizations with strict guidelines. It comes with built-in editing functionalities and a centralized media library.
This allows you to analyze Instagram data and profile levels quickly. It can also dig deeper into one’s Instagram data through metrics and interactive data. With this tool, you can boost your brand’s conversion rates over time.
NetBase
This brand management tool also offers Instagram hashtag analytics functionalities. It can generate insights, historical data, sentiment analysis, and hashtag tracking trends. It can also help you narrow your search on specific Instagram channels like keywords, hashtags, and other information relevant to your brand.
NetBase can also help you explore who talks about your company. This hashtag tracker can show you trending people, topics, subjects, and terms. You can also get insights into the reasons behind these trends, whether they’re negative or positive sentiments. You can improve your Instagram posts with the data you gather from this tool.
Brand24
One of the best functionalities of this tool is its capacity to generate 100 trending Instagram hashtags based on predefined keywords. You can use these hashtags to improve your product reach while furthering brand awareness.
You can also use this tool to know how your hashtag is faring and to decide whether to include it in your marketing campaign. With this, you’ll have insight into how you’re chosen hashtag unfolds on Instagram.
This tool provides sentiment analysis and hashtag tracking analytics, including crisis prevention, customer feedback, and reputation management. With sentiment analysis, you can determine how specific content resonates with your target market. You can change it when it’s not relevant or when it’s what your market is looking for.
Iconosquare
Iconosquare is a well-known social media analytics tool that allows you to monitor and measure your Instagram account's performance. You can use this tool to track if your profile is complete. It will also show many likes, comments, and shares a specific post has received.
It also lets you see who has commented on the most recent posts, check out where your followers are worldwide, and even find out who has recently unfollowed you. This tool is great for brands who want to ensure they use Instagram effectively and efficiently.
Input Your Hashtag
Once you’ve chosen the tracking tool for hashtag analysis, the next thing to do in measuring your hashtag performance is to input your hashtag into the tool’s search bar and see what comes up. Do not use any filters or advanced search options. You want to see what people say about your brand or product without filtering out anything.
Give Your Hashtag Some Time
Before you start tracking your hashtag's performance, give it some time. The more time you give your hashtag to grow organically, the more accurate your initial results will be.
A hashtag is as effective as the number of users that use it. So, if you want your hashtag to be successful, give it time to grow. If you're trying to build hype for an event or product launch, consider creating a campaign around your hashtag and promoting it across social media platforms.
If you wait too long, however, you could miss out on an opportunity to capitalize on the spike in popularity that hashtags often experience when they first launch. Simply put; if you don't want to wait too long before measuring your hashtag's performance, ensure you give it enough time for people to use it.
Analyze Key Metrics
Hashtags are an essential part of any good Instagram marketing strategy. But, if you're not tracking the performance of your hashtags, you can't measure if they're working for your brand or not. Here are three crucial metrics to keep an eye on:
- Reach: How many people saw your posts? This metric allows you to track how many people saw your post through the hashtag. You can use this to determine if it successfully reached your target audience.
- Engagement rate: How many people interacted with your posts through the hashtag? This is an important metric because it measures the effectiveness of your posts in engaging users, which is crucial for building brand loyalty and expanding reach beyond just one person's followers, especially if you have a small following.
- Impressions: This shows how often people saw at least one of your posts--even if they didn't interact with it. It's essential to keep track of impressions because they show how much exposure each post receives, which could help you see what type of content gets noticed by more people than others.
Create Reports
Creating reports for your hashtag is a great way to learn about the performance of your campaign. The metrics and data you collect will not only count your hashtag mentions but can also help you decide how to improve your next campaign. The data you gather here will also significantly help you in brand monitoring and digital marketing.
You can automate reporting with a monitoring tool, but it's a good idea to review your reports from time to time manually. That way, you'll see how things go over weeks or months.
.jpeg)
Use What You’ve Learned To Launch Your Next Hashtag Campaign
Now that you better understand how hashtags work, you’re ready to launch your hashtag campaign. First, make sure you're using the right tools. Your analytics software can tell you how many people have seen your hashtag, what they're saying about it on social media, and where they're coming from.
If you don't have access to that stuff through your analytics software, consider using Google Analytics or another free tool like Klout or Social Bakers to understand better how many people are talking about your campaign online.
Next, look at what's happening right now with your hashtag. Are there any spikes in engagement? Are there specific times when people are more inclined to use it? This will help you make decisions about whether or not it's worth continuing with this particular campaign.
Here are other tips to make sure you get the most out of your next hashtag campaign:
- Make sure your hashtag is straightforward and easy to understand. If you can’t explain what it means in simple terms, people will be confused and not use it. Also, come up with exciting event hashtags.
- Make sure it’s short enough so people can easily remember it but long enough that there’s room for expansion if necessary, like “#hashtag” and “#thebesthashtagever".
- Pick a topic that will resonate with your target audience--you want them to feel like this is something that applies directly to them.
Discover the Benefits of Archive App Today!
So you know your target audience and have a great idea for content. Now, you must take the next step. With Instagram, you can reach millions of people with your message. All you need is the right strategy.
First, be sure you're using the right hashtags to get noticed by other users who share similar interests. Then, post regularly, so people don't forget about you. Finally, engage with others in the comments section--this will help build trust between your brand and its followers.
But don't just stop there. Make sure you're tracking your content performance with analytics. Analytics are critical for making the most of your content marketing strategies. They give you deeper insights into how your posts and content are doing so that you can adjust your strategy as needed.
To add extra punch to your Instagram marketing efforts, you must complement your analytics tools with Archive app.
With Archive, you can save and repurpose content that's already been posted on Instagram, allowing you to create better ads that generate more revenue. You'll also be able to leverage these contents to turbocharge your brand growth. So what are you waiting for? Get in touch with us and make real progress in your Instagram marketing campaigns!
Instagram hashtag monitoring is crucial for effective social media marketing and hashtag strategy. For more information and useful tips to help you with your social media campaign, visit us at Archive today!
FAQs on How To Measure the Effectiveness of Instagram Hashtags
Does Instagram have hashtag analytics?
You can track Instagram hashtag analytics using a hashtag analytics tool or the native app. To check through the latter, you need to do the following:
- Open a specific post.
- Click “View Insights.”
- Swipe up to see a complete data page for a specific post, including reach, follows, profile visits, and an inventory of where and how the users discover your post.
- Take a look at the impressions metric and find the tab that says “From Hashtags”. This tells you the number of people who saw your posts and profile through your hashtags.
How will I know if a specific hashtag is trending?
The steps in knowing how a hashtag is trending depend on the analytics tool you’re using. You can do the following:
- Check the app’s Explore page
- Use the autocomplete feature
- Utilize social listening tools like Brand 24
- Follow some relevant hashtags and top influencers
- Explore other websites with a hashtag list
- Use mobile applications and search for trending hashtags
How do you research popular hashtags?
Here are some tips for conducting Instagram research:
- Know and understand your audience.
- Always remember the golden rules in hashtag marketing: Keep your hashtags relevant and popular.
- Research and post about relevant topics.
- Study your competitors.
- Choose one to two consistent branded hashtags, 10 to 15 category hashtags, and a couple of specific, location-specific, and trending hashtags.
- Use more related hashtags.
