Sunday 31 October 2021

Archery and Actual Hunting Are Not the Same Thing



Outside, in a wallow, without a stitch of makeup on.
Outside, in a wallow, without a stitch of makeup on.
Photo: Claire Lower’s Dad

When I first started training for my elk hunting trip, I thought my biggest obstacle would be my lack of upper-body strength, my tendency to be very inconsistent with exercise routines, or an inability to shoot an arrow with precision and accuracy. But it turns out that—just like with any other sport—training and being “out in the field” are two very different things.

Fitness-wise, I met all of my training goals, and then some. I got my draw strength up to 45 pounds, five pounds higher than the requisite 40 pounds. I dialed in my shooting at 25 yards, which meant I was confident I could shoot and not miss at that distance, and wouldn’t try to shoot any farther. I even set and met some other, secondary fitness goals (my ass got bigger).

None of that translated into shooting an elk.

Shooting an immobile target and shooting a moving animal are very different activities. Aiming a lethal weapon at an inanimate object doesn’t get your adrenaline going. You don’t have to worry about missing a very rare opportunity, and you don’t have to grapple with ending a life or worse, injuring an animal, only to have it bolt away and spend several hours (or days) in pain and terrified.

Bow hunting is fucking hard, both physically and mentally. To quote my buddy Kurt, it’s “hours of boredom punctuated by moments of sheer terror,” and that is the best you can hope for. Physically speaking, I was quite uncomfortable the entire time, which, as someone who works from home in her pajamas most of the time, was something I wasn’t used to.

The area we were hunting in Eastern Oregon was about a mile high, and very dry, with a mixture of hills, valleys, meadows, and wallows. I saw a total of four elk, three of which were cows, and one spike (meaning it was only about a year old, and its horns had not yet branched). No one had cow tags this year, and the spike was not only too far for me to take a shot at, but up on a steep hill and obscured by trees. (Plus, my buddy Kurt saw him before I did, so the first shot went to him.)



The rare and majestic forest Angus.
The rare and majestic forest Angus.
Photo: Claire Lower

We saw the spike on the first day, as we were walking back from the wallow to the car. (We also saw a herd of Angus beef cows while sitting in the wallow, which was mildly startling but quite charming.) Kurt stalked it for a bit, but it got spooked and bolted. Later, at the camp, I asked my new buddy Roy—a friend of my buddy Kurt—how long he had been hunting. “Thirty-five years,” he said. “And how many elk have you killed?” “Eleven.”

Oh.

Before that moment, I “knew” that elk hunting would not be “easy,” but I had been so focused on the fitness aspect of it, I really hadn’t thought much about the likelihood of encountering an elk, and all the other stuff that went along with that.

It was, for example, much colder than I thought it would be. It was freezing nearly every night when we went to sleep, and every morning when we headed out before sunrise. Frost would form on my bow, and I would sulk and swear that I was not going to do this again next year. But then the sun would come out and I’d warm up and chill out, until the bald-faced hornets and yellow jackets began to buzz around my head. (I avoided getting stung until the last day, when my right ear swelled up to twice its original size.)



Cold! And! Grumpy!
Cold! And! Grumpy!
Photo: Claire Lower

I also failed to consider the elevation. I didn’t get sick or feel especially tired, but I barely had an appetite the entire trip, which was a new feeling for me. I also didn’t feel like drinking, or ingesting any kind of fun substances. All I wanted to do was bury myself in multiple layers of clothing, dive deep down into two sleeping bags, and hopefully fall asleep before my body realized how cold it was.

On the second to last day, a herd of elk cows crossed the field, about 25 yards in front of our blind. My dad and I readied our arrows, and waited, hoping a spike or bull would follow, but that never happened. But just seeing the cows—which are improbable in size and stature—was enough to make me “get” it.

Hunting is boring, peaceful, frustrating, physically taxing, and sedentary all at once, and for some reason I want to do it again next year. Even though I didn’t kill anything, I learned that I am much tougher than I suspected, both mentally and physically, and discovered that I am capable of sitting still, without looking at a phone, for several hours at a time, which honestly seemed impossible before this trip. I don’t know if I would describe it as “fun,” but I do know that my dad and I have already made plans to go again next year. (We also plan to rent a van or trailer. The tent was just too cold.)

Beyond having a new hobby—one that I can share with my dad—elk hunting gives me a reason to keep going to the gym. I know that “being hotter” or “feeling good” don’t motivate me all that much, but—for some reason—a hunting trip does. In fact, with “the big trip” no longer looming, my gym attendance is not what it was a few months ago. I only went twice the two weeks immediately following the trip, but I’ve slowly increased it back up to three times a week. (The reason for the increase? I went target shooting in the field behind my dad’s house and found that my skills as an archer had degraded.)

It’s a little odd, and marginally unsettling, that the thing that motivates me to work out is the slim chance that maybe, if I go out into the forrest and sit very still in the cold while bugs swarm around my face, I might get a chance to shoot a large animal, and then eat that animal.

Maybe it shouldn’t be all that surprising. I may not be heavily motivated by vanity, but I am, and always have been, motivated by food.

   

The post Archery and Actual Hunting Are Not the Same Thing appeared first on RECIPES WELLNESS.



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Instagram Hashtag Generator: Full Guide, FREE Tool & Lists of Hashtags

Struggling to find the #perfect hashtag for your Instagram post?

That’s #relatable!

Most content creators on Instagram are in the same boat.

But there’s a quick way to fix this.

I’m about to show you how to find Instagram hashtags that will boost engagement and connect your posts with the #perfect audience.

So #followme to #instagood !!!

Instagram Hashtag Generator: Full Guide, FREE Tool & Lists of Hashtags

In this post I’ll show you how to find and use the best Instagram hashtags — no matter what niche you’re in!

And yes, the free tool and lists of popular hashtags are below!

In fact, I’ve added a glossary of 999+ hashtags below, so you have instant access to good hashtags for your next post.

But first… let’s back up and define what hashtags are and the different categories of hashtags.

Table of Contents

What is an Instagram hashtag?

Let’s start with the basics.

What’s a hashtag?

A hashtag is a word or a group of words beginning with a # sign.

If you’re American, you might call this a pound or number sign. Whereas other countries in the world refer to this (#) to as a ‘Hash’ symbol.

Hashtags basically function as keywords. You can click them to see more posts about the keyword.

Twitter was the first social media platform to introduce hashtags in 2007. Since then, many other social platforms have adopted them.

Now let’s look at the process of creating hashtags.

How do you add hashtags on Instagram?

Again, hashtags allow you to categorize Instagram posts into different buckets.

Here’s an example:

Say you want to see posts related to digital marketing. No problem. Just click in the search bar on Instagram and type in #digitalmarketing.

The search suggestions will supply you with a list of related hashtags.

When you click enter on #digitalmarketing, you get a page filled with Instagram posts about digital marketing:

You can use any term as a hashtag and search to get relevant results.

If you’re a digital marketer and want to make sure your posts show in this feed, you just need to add the hashtag “#digitalmarketer” to your post.

Then your post will automatically end up in this feed and be visible to anyone who searches the hashtag — or clicks the hashtag on another post

Keep in mind: it’s difficult to get seen via generic or highly competitive hashtags.

How to make finding hashtags (even more) simple

Think of the Instagram search bar as ‘Google’ and each hashtag page as a “Search engine results page”.

Just like Google, the posts on a hashtag’s results page depend on a number of factors, including:

  1. Quality of posts
  2. Number of likes, comments, shares and saves
  3. Number of followers of the account

…and other factors determined by Instagram’s algorithms.

Choosing the right hashtags has NO advantage when your posts aren’t good quality.

You’ll only gain juice out of your hashtags when your Instagram posts STAND OUT from the crowd.

You can use a professional tool or a free Instagram post maker to help you create stunning Instagram posts in minutes.

Apart from quality posts and the right hashtags, you also need to focus on your post captions.

Add a pinch of consistency and you’ll get solid engagement on all of your Instagram posts over time.

9 different types of Instagram hashtags

Today, Instagram boasts over a BILLION active users.

As a result, hashtags have grown in number too — and with that high quantity comes a huge variety.

So let’s take a look at the different types of hashtags used on Instagram.

1: Branded hashtags

Branded hashtags feature names of your organization, product or service.

Such hashtags are used every time you make a post about your social media handles.

Some examples of branded hashtags are #nike, #picmaker, #Instagram, #LouisVuitton, etc.

Here’s an example of Louis Vuitton using their branded hashtag on one of their posts, featuring a member of the South Korean boy band, BTS.

NOTE: #BTS is also another branded hashtag on this post.

2. Hashtags related to a product or service

This category is a subset of the first category.

Although your products and services are offered by your brand, you can create separate categories for them too.

Sometimes you can also choose already available categories for products and services.

For example, some of the product hashtags from Nike could be #shoes, #whiteshoes, #whitesneakers, etc.

3. Community hashtags

This is a great way to index your posts among already well-established hashtags or communities on Instagram.

For example, if you’re a musician, you can use hashtags like ‘#musiciansofInstagram’ to index your post among the community on international musicians.

Let’s go a step further and assume that you’re a musician in New York.

You could also use a hashtag like ‘#musiciansofny’ to index your post on that page.

The other way brands can use this is by developing their own hashtag.

Mindvalley, the brainchild of Vishen Lakhiani, uses community hashtags on all of its Instagram posts.

Here are some community hashtags they consistently use on their posts.

#mindvalleycommunity

#mindvalleytribe

4. Custom campaign hashtags

These are custom hashtags created to track campaigns run by brands on Instagram.

One example of this is #nationafriedchickenday by KFC.

Although this was not their brand hashtag, it was highly relatable to their core offering — fried chicken.

They used the hashtag to their benefit on all their Twitter and Instagram posts.

Now, that’s what we call smart usage of hashtags!

On the other hand, Coca-Cola inserted #shareacoke into their famous campaign.

5. Location hashtags

These hashtags are based on certain locations in the world.

It can be anything like #newyork, #california, #italy, #india.

6. Event hashtags

These are hashtags created for events and conferences organized around the world.

One good example of event hashtags is the ‘#olympics’ used during the Olympics. Based on the country in which they are hosted, these hashtags can be further split into multiple categories.

A good example is the upcoming Tokyo olympics.

The hashtag‘#tokyoolympics’ is already trending even though the event is more than two months away (at the time of this being written).

7. Day-based hashtags

There is a list of hashtags that are based on days of the week.

Even though most people reject these hashtags, one look at their popularity may nudge you to think otherwise.

Here’s a small list of the hashtags for Monday.

Here’s another example of hashtags for Tuesday.

With day-based hashtags, your opportunities are endless.

8. Month-based hashtags

After day-based hashtags, we have month-based hashtags.

Although each variant can only be used once in a batch of 30 days in a year, it’s still beneficial.

It depends on how you apply your creativity to use these hashtags on your Instagram posts.

Here’s an example of all the hashtags that are based on ‘#january’

9. Special day hashtags

These hashtags are based on a special day in a year.

These could be anything like International Earth Day, April Fool’s Day, St. Patrick’s Day, Thanksgiving Day, and even National Underwear Day. (Yes, we’ve got a special day to celebrate underwear at a national level!)

Here is an example of ‘#earthday’ used by Pinterest on one of their posts.

Another way to categorize Instagram hashtags

Apart from the above-mentioned way of categorization, here’s one more way to categorize Instagram hashtags.

While that looks at the function and internal meaning of a hashtag, here’s how you can do it differently.

1. High competition Instagram hashtags

Instagram hashtags that have more than 250,000 posts fall into the category of high-competition Instagram hashtags.

These are generic hashtags like #digitalmarketing, #marketing, and #sales.

Here’s an example page of a high competition Instagram hashtag:

This page has more than 15,549,561 posts, which puts it at the top of the competition.

2. Medium-competition Instagram hashtags

Medium competition hashtags are in the range of 85,000 to 250,000 posts.

#digitalmarketingtip is a good example of a medium-competition Instagram hashtag.

3. Low-competition Instagram hashtags

Any hashtag that has less than 85,000 posts is a low-competition hashtag.

#digitalmarketingspecialist is a good example of a low-competition Instagram hashtag.

Newbies on Instagram can try to compete for such low-hanging fruit (assuming their posts are good enough).

The best Instagram hashtag generator tool for finding hashtags

Below is the FREE hashtag generator tool! Enjoy and let us know how it works for you in the comments.

Here’s how to get started:

Step 1: Log onto All-hashtag.com

You can use this link to visit the website: all-hashtag.com.

Step 2: Enter your core topic

Once you are on the website, click on the ‘Generator’ tab.

You will land on the Instagram Hashtag generator page.

On this page, enter your core topics into the search bar:

For example, if your search topic is sales, you can enter “sales” in the search bar and click enter.

You will land on the results page for your search query.

Step 3: Copy the hashtags and paste them into a Google sheet

You can copy these results and paste them in your Google sheet.

Here’s how we created a Google sheet of relevant hashtags for our reference.

Step 4: Use different sets of hashtags for different posts

Once you have collected these hashtags, mix them up and use them in different posts.

The more hashtags you use, the more your ‘test set’ will increase over time.

Step 5: Test and analyze your results

Once you have put out posts with different hashtags, go to Instagram analytics and check the traffic you are getting from each set.

There are quite a few tried and tested ways to check the reach of hashtags on all your posts.

You can analyze your hashtag reach using Instagram’s built-in analytics tool.

All you need to do is set up an Instagram business account and you will be good to go.

The top Instagram hashtags in 17 categories

Link to popular Instagram hashtags in 17 categories (Google sheet)

You can use this Google sheet to get various hashtags for your Instagram posts.

Here’s a breakdown of all the categories inside this Google sheet, along with the top 25 hashtags from each category.

Tab 1: Top 99 hashtags of 2021

Here’s the top 25:

#follow4follow #amazing #sexy #red #model #design #friends #insta #bestoftheday #selfie #likeforlike #instagram #italy #paris #ootd #photographer #canon #architecture #follow #night #training #followforfollow #l4l #food #goals

Click this image to see the rest:

top 99 hashtags of 2021

Tab 2: Top 100 hashtags of all time

Here’s the top 25:

#love #instagood #fashion #photooftheday #beautiful #art #photography #happy #picoftheday #cute #follow #tbt #followme #nature #like4like #travel #instagram #style #repost #summer #instadaily #selfie #me #friends #fitness

Click this image to see the rest:

Tab 3: Top hashtags for Sales, Real Estate, Marketing, Digital Marketing

Sales top 25:

#sales #salesman #Salesforce #salestraining #salesfunnel #salestips #salesteam #SalesLife #salescoach #salesperson #salesmanager #salesk2 #salesrep #salesalesale #salespeople #salesjobs #saleswoman #salestrainer #salesmen #salespromotiongirl #salesfunnels #salesagent #salespro #salesdevelopment #salesleads

Real Estate top 25:

#realestate #realestateagent #RealEstateInvestor #realestatelife #realestateinvesting #realestatephotography  #RealEstateBroker #realestatemarketing #realestateagents #realestatesales #realestateforsale #realestateexperts #realestateinvestment #Realestatemiami #realestatephotographer #realestateinvestors #realestatenews #realestatedevelopment #RealEstateTips #realestateagency #realestategoals #realestatemarket #realestatedeveloper #realestatephotos #realestatephoto

Marketing top 25:

#marketing #marketingdigital #marketingtips #marketingonline #marketingstrategy #marketing101 #marketingagency #marketingplan #marketingsocial #marketingmultinivel #marketingtools #marketingteam #marketinglife #marketingdeconteudo #marketingguru #marketingderede #MarketingIdeas #marketingcoach #marketingconsultant #MarketingStrategies #marketingtip #marketingadvice  #marketingblog #marketingmanagement #marketingautomation

Digital Marketing top 25:

#digitalmarketing #digitalmarketingagency #digitalmarketingtips #digitalmarketingstrategy #digitalmarketingtraining #digitalmarketingstrategist #digitalmarketingtools #digitalmarketingconsultant #digitalmarketingexpert #DigitalMarketingThailand #digitalmarketingservices #digitalmarketinglife #digitalmarketingplan #digitalmarketingstrategies #digitalmarketingtip #digitalmarketingturistico #digitalmarketingcompany #digitalmarketingdubai #digitalmarketingblog #DigitalMarketingConsultants #digitalmarketingpanama #digitalmarketingblueprint #DigitalMarketingBusiness #digitalmarketingcourse #digitalmarketingnigeria

Click this image to see the rest:

Tab 4: Top hashtags for Finance, Fitness, Health, Travel

Finance top 25:

#finance#finances #financememes #financegod #financeandfelony #financeiro #financetips #financemarket #financeira #financebroker #financeworld #financecoach #financereading #financemanager #financefreedom #financefriday #financeavailable #financeblogger #financecars #FinanceGoals #financemajor #Financement #financeaccounting #financenews #financequotes

Fitness top 25:

#fitness #fitnessmotivation #fitnessmodel #fitnessaddict #fitnessgirl #fitnessjourney #fitnesslifestyle #fitnesslife #fitnessfreak #fitnessgoals #fitnessgear #fitnessfood #fitnessinspiration #fitnessgirls #fitnessbody #fitnesswomen #fitnessblogger #fitnessmodels #fitnesscoach #fitnessphysique #fitnessmom #FitnessTrainer #fitnesslover #fitnessaddicted #fitnessfreaks

Health top 25:

#healthy #health #healthyfood #healthylifestyle #healthychoices #HealthyEating #healthyliving #healthylife #healthybreakfast #healthyhair #healthybody #healthcare #healthiswealth #healthcoach #healthymind #healthyeats #HealthyDiet #healthandfitness #healthyrecipe s#healthandwellness #healthyskin #healthymom #healthfood #healthysnack #healthyhabits

Travel top 25:

#travel #Travelgram #traveling #Travelphotography #travelling #travelblogger #traveler #traveller #travelingram #traveltheworld #travelblog #travels #traveladdict #travellife #travelphoto #travelpics #traveldiaries #travelbug #TravelAwesome #travelpic #travelers #travelstoke #travelgirl #traveldiary #traveldeeper

Click this image to see the rest:

Tab 5: Top hashtags for Music, Love, Friends, Photography

Music top 25:

#music #musician #musica #musically #musicvideo #musical #musicislife #musicians #musicproducer #musiclife#MusicLover #musicallyapp #musicproduction #musicfestival #musicismylife #musicphotography #musicstudio #musicindustry #musiclovers #musicianlife #musicals #musicartist #musicvideos #musicaly #musicaltheatre

Love top 25:

#love #lovely #Loveit #loveyourself #lovelife #lovemyjob #lovequotes #loveyou #lover #loveher #lovehim #lovers# lovedogs #loveislove #lovefood #lovemylife #lovethem #Lovestory #lovewhatyoudo #lovecats #lovepuppies #lovenature #lovethissong #lovewins #loveofmylife

Friends top 25:

#friends #friendship #friendshipgoals #friendsforever #friendships #friendsforlife #friendstime #friendsnotfood #friendshipquotes #friendswithbenefit #FriendsLove #friendsinperson #friendsgiving #friendslikefamily #friendstrip #friendshipismagic #friendshipbracelet #friendsandfamily #friendstvshow #friendsday #friendsallovertheworld #friendsinbnw #friends4ever #friends4life #friendsarefamily

Photography top 25:

#photography #photographylovers #photographysouls #photographyeveryday #photographyislife #photographylover #photographyislifee #photographylife #photographyart #photographyoftheday #photographyy #photographylove #photographyaddict #photographyskills #photographybook #photographyprops #photographydaily #photographyisart #photographyaccount  #photographystudio #photographyday #photographynature #photographysoul  #photographystudent #photographyworkshop

Click this image to see the rest:

7 Instagram hashtag mistakes you should avoid

Mistake #1: Keeping your profile private

A private profile is one of the worst things you can do for your hashtag strategy.

If your profile is private, Instagram won’t index your posts on any hashtag pages.

Let’s assume that you have included the following hashtags on your post: #marketing, #sales, #future.

Instagram will only index your posts on the following hashtag pages if your profile is public.

Here’s an example of a public profile.

With a public profile, you can view all it’s contents even if you aren’t following it.

Now, here’s an example of a private profile:

Even if this account uses 100 different hashtags on all their posts, it wouldn’t be indexed on the hashtag pages.

Mistake #2: Using banned hashtags on Instagram

Instagram has a number of banned hashtags you should stay away from.

These hashtags are banned because Instagram users have termed them to be spammy or irrelevant.

One rule of thumb is to insert your hashtag into the “Instagram search bar” and see if it has been flagged.

For example, you might think that ‘#alone’ is completely harmless.

But once you run a search on Instagram, you will find that this hashtag has been flagged for inappropriate use.

Adding too many banned hashtags on your profile , may flag your profile as spammy.

Mistake #3: Being too generic with your hashtag approach

Hashtags like #digitalmarketing, #sales, and #marketing are QUITE generic.

These hashtags have a lot of followers and posts.

But, they also have strong competition at the top.

A good rule of thumb is to niche down and include hashtags that are highly relevant to your post.

Here’s an example of how Dain Walker, a Melbourne-based brand strategist uses a niche hashtag to his benefit.

Apart from generic hashtags like #marketing, #branding, Dain has also included low competition hashtags like #markeitngtips and #brandingdesign.

It’s a solid strategy to have a mix of hashtags that are high competition — as well as low on competition.

Mistake #4: Being generic with your Instagram posts in general

A common mistake Instagram content creators make is being highly generic with their Instagram posts. Instagram is crowded and highly competitive.

If you’d like to be successful on Instagram, stick to a niche and post content related to that. Here are some examples:

Dain Walker sticks to posts related to branding, digital marketing, and content marketing.

Marcus Filly is a fitness trainer and sticks only to content related to fitness.

Don’t be generic with your content strategy on Instagram.

Pick a niche or an industry — and stick to it.

That’s the only way to grow in a highly competitive platform.

Mistake #5: Not having a consistent posting schedule

Creating content on a consistent basis is hard.

Coming up with new ideas every single day is a challenge.

That’s when social media management tools like Post Planner come in handy.

It allows you to follow top accounts in your niche and generate ideas from it.

You can also use tools like Post Planner to plan posts beforehand and reshare old posts when you’re running out of ideas.

If you’re serious about your social media strategy, tools like Post Planner are a solid investment.

Mistake #6: Not using location-based hashtags

Location-based hashtags can be really helpful for your reach.

It’s true for businesses that operate on a local or regional level.

For example, if you’re a florist in New York, you can include hashtags like “#florist, #floristsofInstagram, #florist life”.

Since you’re a local business operating in New York, you can also include hashtags like “#newyork, #newyorkcity, #newyorkcity_Instagram” etc.

Add a mix of location hashtags to get the extra reach on your Instagram posts.

Mistake #7: Adding irrelevant hashtags

The most common (and ANNOYING) mistake on all social media platforms?

Spamming.

Instagram gives you the freedom to add 30 hashtags on every post.

But if you’re unable to come up with 30 hashtags, you shouldn’t add irrelevant hashtags.

Many social media marketers recommend not using more than 11 hashtags per post — to avoid appearing spammy.

Don’t add more hashtags and reduce your post relevancy.

By adding irrelevant hashtags, you risk spamming your Instagram account.

Do you have a favorite hashtag for YOUR industry? Please let us know about it in the comments below!

The post Instagram Hashtag Generator: Full Guide, FREE Tool & Lists of Hashtags appeared first on RECIPES WELLNESS.



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Hashtag Generator for Instagram? Heres a 2021 Guide (Tool & Lists Included)

Struggling to find the #perfect hashtag for your Instagram post?

That’s #relatable!

Most content creators on Instagram are in the same boat.

But there’s a quick way to fix this.

I’m about to show you how to find Instagram hashtags that will boost engagement and connect your posts with the #perfect audience.

So #followme to #instagood !!!

Instagram Hashtag Generator: Full Guide, FREE Tool & Lists of Hashtags

In this post I’ll show you how to find and use the best Instagram hashtags — no matter what niche you’re in!

And yes, the free tool and lists of popular hashtags are below!

In fact, I’ve added a glossary of 999+ hashtags below, so you have instant access to good hashtags for your next post.

But first… let’s back up and define what hashtags are and the different categories of hashtags.

Table of Contents

What is an Instagram hashtag?

Let’s start with the basics.

What’s a hashtag?

A hashtag is a word or a group of words beginning with a # sign.

If you’re American, you might call this a pound or number sign. Whereas other countries in the world refer to this (#) to as a ‘Hash’ symbol.

Hashtags basically function as keywords. You can click them to see more posts about the keyword.

Twitter was the first social media platform to introduce hashtags in 2007. Since then, many other social platforms have adopted them.

Now let’s look at the process of creating hashtags.

How do you add hashtags on Instagram?

Again, hashtags allow you to categorize Instagram posts into different buckets.

Here’s an example:

Say you want to see posts related to digital marketing. No problem. Just click in the search bar on Instagram and type in #digitalmarketing.

The search suggestions will supply you with a list of related hashtags.

When you click enter on #digitalmarketing, you get a page filled with Instagram posts about digital marketing:

You can use any term as a hashtag and search to get relevant results.

If you’re a digital marketer and want to make sure your posts show in this feed, you just need to add the hashtag “#digitalmarketer” to your post.

Then your post will automatically end up in this feed and be visible to anyone who searches the hashtag — or clicks the hashtag on another post

Keep in mind: it’s difficult to get seen via generic or highly competitive hashtags.

How to make finding hashtags (even more) simple

Think of the Instagram search bar as ‘Google’ and each hashtag page as a “Search engine results page”.

Just like Google, the posts on a hashtag’s results page depend on a number of factors, including:

  1. Quality of posts
  2. Number of likes, comments, shares and saves
  3. Number of followers of the account

…and other factors determined by Instagram’s algorithms.

Choosing the right hashtags has NO advantage when your posts aren’t good quality.

You’ll only gain juice out of your hashtags when your Instagram posts STAND OUT from the crowd.

You can use a professional tool or a free Instagram post maker to help you create stunning Instagram posts in minutes.

Apart from quality posts and the right hashtags, you also need to focus on your post captions.

Add a pinch of consistency and you’ll get solid engagement on all of your Instagram posts over time.

9 different types of Instagram hashtags

Today, Instagram boasts over a BILLION active users.

As a result, hashtags have grown in number too — and with that high quantity comes a huge variety.

So let’s take a look at the different types of hashtags used on Instagram.

1: Branded hashtags

Branded hashtags feature names of your organization, product or service.

Such hashtags are used every time you make a post about your social media handles.

Some examples of branded hashtags are #nike, #picmaker, #Instagram, #LouisVuitton, etc.

Here’s an example of Louis Vuitton using their branded hashtag on one of their posts, featuring a member of the South Korean boy band, BTS.

NOTE: #BTS is also another branded hashtag on this post.

2. Hashtags related to a product or service

This category is a subset of the first category.

Although your products and services are offered by your brand, you can create separate categories for them too.

Sometimes you can also choose already available categories for products and services.

For example, some of the product hashtags from Nike could be #shoes, #whiteshoes, #whitesneakers, etc.

3. Community hashtags

This is a great way to index your posts among already well-established hashtags or communities on Instagram.

For example, if you’re a musician, you can use hashtags like ‘#musiciansofInstagram’ to index your post among the community on international musicians.

Let’s go a step further and assume that you’re a musician in New York.

You could also use a hashtag like ‘#musiciansofny’ to index your post on that page.

The other way brands can use this is by developing their own hashtag.

Mindvalley, the brainchild of Vishen Lakhiani, uses community hashtags on all of its Instagram posts.

Here are some community hashtags they consistently use on their posts.

#mindvalleycommunity

#mindvalleytribe

4. Custom campaign hashtags

These are custom hashtags created to track campaigns run by brands on Instagram.

One example of this is #nationafriedchickenday by KFC.

Although this was not their brand hashtag, it was highly relatable to their core offering — fried chicken.

They used the hashtag to their benefit on all their Twitter and Instagram posts.

Now, that’s what we call smart usage of hashtags!

On the other hand, Coca-Cola inserted #shareacoke into their famous campaign.

5. Location hashtags

These hashtags are based on certain locations in the world.

It can be anything like #newyork, #california, #italy, #india.

6. Event hashtags

These are hashtags created for events and conferences organized around the world.

One good example of event hashtags is the ‘#olympics’ used during the Olympics. Based on the country in which they are hosted, these hashtags can be further split into multiple categories.

A good example is the upcoming Tokyo olympics.

The hashtag‘#tokyoolympics’ is already trending even though the event is more than two months away (at the time of this being written).

7. Day-based hashtags

There is a list of hashtags that are based on days of the week.

Even though most people reject these hashtags, one look at their popularity may nudge you to think otherwise.

Here’s a small list of the hashtags for Monday.

Here’s another example of hashtags for Tuesday.

With day-based hashtags, your opportunities are endless.

8. Month-based hashtags

After day-based hashtags, we have month-based hashtags.

Although each variant can only be used once in a batch of 30 days in a year, it’s still beneficial.

It depends on how you apply your creativity to use these hashtags on your Instagram posts.

Here’s an example of all the hashtags that are based on ‘#january’

9. Special day hashtags

These hashtags are based on a special day in a year.

These could be anything like International Earth Day, April Fool’s Day, St. Patrick’s Day, Thanksgiving Day, and even National Underwear Day. (Yes, we’ve got a special day to celebrate underwear at a national level!)

Here is an example of ‘#earthday’ used by Pinterest on one of their posts.

Another way to categorize Instagram hashtags

Apart from the above-mentioned way of categorization, here’s one more way to categorize Instagram hashtags.

While that looks at the function and internal meaning of a hashtag, here’s how you can do it differently.

1. High competition Instagram hashtags

Instagram hashtags that have more than 250,000 posts fall into the category of high-competition Instagram hashtags.

These are generic hashtags like #digitalmarketing, #marketing, and #sales.

Here’s an example page of a high competition Instagram hashtag:

This page has more than 15,549,561 posts, which puts it at the top of the competition.

2. Medium-competition Instagram hashtags

Medium competition hashtags are in the range of 85,000 to 250,000 posts.

#digitalmarketingtip is a good example of a medium-competition Instagram hashtag.

3. Low-competition Instagram hashtags

Any hashtag that has less than 85,000 posts is a low-competition hashtag.

#digitalmarketingspecialist is a good example of a low-competition Instagram hashtag.

Newbies on Instagram can try to compete for such low-hanging fruit (assuming their posts are good enough).

The best Instagram hashtag generator tool for finding hashtags

Below is the FREE hashtag generator tool! Enjoy and let us know how it works for you in the comments.

Here’s how to get started:

Step 1: Log onto All-hashtag.com

You can use this link to visit the website: all-hashtag.com.

Step 2: Enter your core topic

Once you are on the website, click on the ‘Generator’ tab.

You will land on the Instagram Hashtag generator page.

On this page, enter your core topics into the search bar:

For example, if your search topic is sales, you can enter “sales” in the search bar and click enter.

You will land on the results page for your search query.

Step 3: Copy the hashtags and paste them into a Google sheet

You can copy these results and paste them in your Google sheet.

Here’s how we created a Google sheet of relevant hashtags for our reference.

Step 4: Use different sets of hashtags for different posts

Once you have collected these hashtags, mix them up and use them in different posts.

The more hashtags you use, the more your ‘test set’ will increase over time.

Step 5: Test and analyze your results

Once you have put out posts with different hashtags, go to Instagram analytics and check the traffic you are getting from each set.

There are quite a few tried and tested ways to check the reach of hashtags on all your posts.

You can analyze your hashtag reach using Instagram’s built-in analytics tool.

All you need to do is set up an Instagram business account and you will be good to go.

The top Instagram hashtags in 17 categories

Link to popular Instagram hashtags in 17 categories (Google sheet)

You can use this Google sheet to get various hashtags for your Instagram posts.

Here’s a breakdown of all the categories inside this Google sheet, along with the top 25 hashtags from each category.

Tab 1: Top 99 hashtags of 2021

Here’s the top 25:

#follow4follow #amazing #sexy #red #model #design #friends #insta #bestoftheday #selfie #likeforlike #instagram #italy #paris #ootd #photographer #canon #architecture #follow #night #training #followforfollow #l4l #food #goals

Click this image to see the rest:

top 99 hashtags of 2021

Tab 2: Top 100 hashtags of all time

Here’s the top 25:

#love #instagood #fashion #photooftheday #beautiful #art #photography #happy #picoftheday #cute #follow #tbt #followme #nature #like4like #travel #instagram #style #repost #summer #instadaily #selfie #me #friends #fitness

Click this image to see the rest:

Tab 3: Top hashtags for Sales, Real Estate, Marketing, Digital Marketing

Sales top 25:

#sales #salesman #Salesforce #salestraining #salesfunnel #salestips #salesteam #SalesLife #salescoach #salesperson #salesmanager #salesk2 #salesrep #salesalesale #salespeople #salesjobs #saleswoman #salestrainer #salesmen #salespromotiongirl #salesfunnels #salesagent #salespro #salesdevelopment #salesleads

Real Estate top 25:

#realestate #realestateagent #RealEstateInvestor #realestatelife #realestateinvesting #realestatephotography  #RealEstateBroker #realestatemarketing #realestateagents #realestatesales #realestateforsale #realestateexperts #realestateinvestment #Realestatemiami #realestatephotographer #realestateinvestors #realestatenews #realestatedevelopment #RealEstateTips #realestateagency #realestategoals #realestatemarket #realestatedeveloper #realestatephotos #realestatephoto

Marketing top 25:

#marketing #marketingdigital #marketingtips #marketingonline #marketingstrategy #marketing101 #marketingagency #marketingplan #marketingsocial #marketingmultinivel #marketingtools #marketingteam #marketinglife #marketingdeconteudo #marketingguru #marketingderede #MarketingIdeas #marketingcoach #marketingconsultant #MarketingStrategies #marketingtip #marketingadvice  #marketingblog #marketingmanagement #marketingautomation

Digital Marketing top 25:

#digitalmarketing #digitalmarketingagency #digitalmarketingtips #digitalmarketingstrategy #digitalmarketingtraining #digitalmarketingstrategist #digitalmarketingtools #digitalmarketingconsultant #digitalmarketingexpert #DigitalMarketingThailand #digitalmarketingservices #digitalmarketinglife #digitalmarketingplan #digitalmarketingstrategies #digitalmarketingtip #digitalmarketingturistico #digitalmarketingcompany #digitalmarketingdubai #digitalmarketingblog #DigitalMarketingConsultants #digitalmarketingpanama #digitalmarketingblueprint #DigitalMarketingBusiness #digitalmarketingcourse #digitalmarketingnigeria

Click this image to see the rest:

Tab 4: Top hashtags for Finance, Fitness, Health, Travel

Finance top 25:

#finance#finances #financememes #financegod #financeandfelony #financeiro #financetips #financemarket #financeira #financebroker #financeworld #financecoach #financereading #financemanager #financefreedom #financefriday #financeavailable #financeblogger #financecars #FinanceGoals #financemajor #Financement #financeaccounting #financenews #financequotes

Fitness top 25:

#fitness #fitnessmotivation #fitnessmodel #fitnessaddict #fitnessgirl #fitnessjourney #fitnesslifestyle #fitnesslife #fitnessfreak #fitnessgoals #fitnessgear #fitnessfood #fitnessinspiration #fitnessgirls #fitnessbody #fitnesswomen #fitnessblogger #fitnessmodels #fitnesscoach #fitnessphysique #fitnessmom #FitnessTrainer #fitnesslover #fitnessaddicted #fitnessfreaks

Health top 25:

#healthy #health #healthyfood #healthylifestyle #healthychoices #HealthyEating #healthyliving #healthylife #healthybreakfast #healthyhair #healthybody #healthcare #healthiswealth #healthcoach #healthymind #healthyeats #HealthyDiet #healthandfitness #healthyrecipe s#healthandwellness #healthyskin #healthymom #healthfood #healthysnack #healthyhabits

Travel top 25:

#travel #Travelgram #traveling #Travelphotography #travelling #travelblogger #traveler #traveller #travelingram #traveltheworld #travelblog #travels #traveladdict #travellife #travelphoto #travelpics #traveldiaries #travelbug #TravelAwesome #travelpic #travelers #travelstoke #travelgirl #traveldiary #traveldeeper

Click this image to see the rest:

Tab 5: Top hashtags for Music, Love, Friends, Photography

Music top 25:

#music #musician #musica #musically #musicvideo #musical #musicislife #musicians #musicproducer #musiclife#MusicLover #musicallyapp #musicproduction #musicfestival #musicismylife #musicphotography #musicstudio #musicindustry #musiclovers #musicianlife #musicals #musicartist #musicvideos #musicaly #musicaltheatre

Love top 25:

#love #lovely #Loveit #loveyourself #lovelife #lovemyjob #lovequotes #loveyou #lover #loveher #lovehim #lovers# lovedogs #loveislove #lovefood #lovemylife #lovethem #Lovestory #lovewhatyoudo #lovecats #lovepuppies #lovenature #lovethissong #lovewins #loveofmylife

Friends top 25:

#friends #friendship #friendshipgoals #friendsforever #friendships #friendsforlife #friendstime #friendsnotfood #friendshipquotes #friendswithbenefit #FriendsLove #friendsinperson #friendsgiving #friendslikefamily #friendstrip #friendshipismagic #friendshipbracelet #friendsandfamily #friendstvshow #friendsday #friendsallovertheworld #friendsinbnw #friends4ever #friends4life #friendsarefamily

Photography top 25:

#photography #photographylovers #photographysouls #photographyeveryday #photographyislife #photographylover #photographyislifee #photographylife #photographyart #photographyoftheday #photographyy #photographylove #photographyaddict #photographyskills #photographybook #photographyprops #photographydaily #photographyisart #photographyaccount  #photographystudio #photographyday #photographynature #photographysoul  #photographystudent #photographyworkshop

Click this image to see the rest:

7 Instagram hashtag mistakes you should avoid

Mistake #1: Keeping your profile private

A private profile is one of the worst things you can do for your hashtag strategy.

If your profile is private, Instagram won’t index your posts on any hashtag pages.

Let’s assume that you have included the following hashtags on your post: #marketing, #sales, #future.

Instagram will only index your posts on the following hashtag pages if your profile is public.

Here’s an example of a public profile.

With a public profile, you can view all it’s contents even if you aren’t following it.

Now, here’s an example of a private profile:

Even if this account uses 100 different hashtags on all their posts, it wouldn’t be indexed on the hashtag pages.

Mistake #2: Using banned hashtags on Instagram

Instagram has a number of banned hashtags you should stay away from.

These hashtags are banned because Instagram users have termed them to be spammy or irrelevant.

One rule of thumb is to insert your hashtag into the “Instagram search bar” and see if it has been flagged.

For example, you might think that ‘#alone’ is completely harmless.

But once you run a search on Instagram, you will find that this hashtag has been flagged for inappropriate use.

Adding too many banned hashtags on your profile , may flag your profile as spammy.

Mistake #3: Being too generic with your hashtag approach

Hashtags like #digitalmarketing, #sales, and #marketing are QUITE generic.

These hashtags have a lot of followers and posts.

But, they also have strong competition at the top.

A good rule of thumb is to niche down and include hashtags that are highly relevant to your post.

Here’s an example of how Dain Walker, a Melbourne-based brand strategist uses a niche hashtag to his benefit.

Apart from generic hashtags like #marketing, #branding, Dain has also included low competition hashtags like #markeitngtips and #brandingdesign.

It’s a solid strategy to have a mix of hashtags that are high competition — as well as low on competition.

Mistake #4: Being generic with your Instagram posts in general

A common mistake Instagram content creators make is being highly generic with their Instagram posts. Instagram is crowded and highly competitive.

If you’d like to be successful on Instagram, stick to a niche and post content related to that. Here are some examples:

Dain Walker sticks to posts related to branding, digital marketing, and content marketing.

Marcus Filly is a fitness trainer and sticks only to content related to fitness.

Don’t be generic with your content strategy on Instagram.

Pick a niche or an industry — and stick to it.

That’s the only way to grow in a highly competitive platform.

Mistake #5: Not having a consistent posting schedule

Creating content on a consistent basis is hard.

Coming up with new ideas every single day is a challenge.

That’s when social media management tools like Post Planner come in handy.

It allows you to follow top accounts in your niche and generate ideas from it.

You can also use tools like Post Planner to plan posts beforehand and reshare old posts when you’re running out of ideas.

If you’re serious about your social media strategy, tools like Post Planner are a solid investment.

Mistake #6: Not using location-based hashtags

Location-based hashtags can be really helpful for your reach.

It’s true for businesses that operate on a local or regional level.

For example, if you’re a florist in New York, you can include hashtags like “#florist, #floristsofInstagram, #florist life”.

Since you’re a local business operating in New York, you can also include hashtags like “#newyork, #newyorkcity, #newyorkcity_Instagram” etc.

Add a mix of location hashtags to get the extra reach on your Instagram posts.

Mistake #7: Adding irrelevant hashtags

The most common (and ANNOYING) mistake on all social media platforms?

Spamming.

Instagram gives you the freedom to add 30 hashtags on every post.

But if you’re unable to come up with 30 hashtags, you shouldn’t add irrelevant hashtags.

Many social media marketers recommend not using more than 11 hashtags per post — to avoid appearing spammy.

Don’t add more hashtags and reduce your post relevancy.

By adding irrelevant hashtags, you risk spamming your Instagram account.

Do you have a favorite hashtag for YOUR industry? Please let us know about it in the comments below!

The post Hashtag Generator for Instagram? Heres a 2021 Guide (Tool & Lists Included) appeared first on RECIPES WELLNESS.



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