Trending Instagram hashtags are popular labels that help categorise content. Whether you are a solopreneur, marketer, or communication professional, using them strategically can boost engagement. In this blog post, we will plunge into what makes a good trending Instagram hashtag, while also giving you top tips for how to use them, plus where to find them. With Adobe Express, you can create popular posts with trending Instagram hashtags you have curated.
A short guide to trending Instagram hashtags.
Instagram hashtags are clickable text in Instagram video, image, and photo captions, preceded by the hash # symbol, that serve multiple purposes. They provide a user-friendly way to categorise content, making it searchable for users. They allow creators to join conversations and connect with target audiences. When used effectively, they boost engagement, which is the number of likes, comments, shares, or saves a post receives.
With Adobe Express, it is easy to make popular posts with trending Instagram hashtags. The US-born social platform began in 2010, with hashtags introduced a year later. Now it hosts posts (images and photos), reels (videos), stories (24-hour groupings of posts), carousels (multiple-image feeds), notes, and livestreams. Each format allows for hashtags.
What determines whether a post, or a hashtag, is trending is the AI-powered ranking systems. This feature interprets user signals (engagement) to determine what they see on their feed and what suggestions they receive, offering a truly personalised experience. Each content leverages a different ranking system. For the feed these include time spent on a post, how likely you are to click a creator’s profile, comment on a post, reshare a post or scroll to the next post.
Overall trending hashtags can generate engaged audiences quickly. By tapping into current conversations, events, or viral trends (such as breaking news or viral challenges), they are highly visible for a short period and get to the top of a user’s feed. Strive for a balance between trending and popular hashtags, which help with broad reach and provide more consistent visibility (like #travel, #instagood).
How to find the best trending Instagram hashtags for your content.
Now that you have a short guide to Instagram hashtags, let us dive into trending hashtags. What does it take to be trending on Instagram? To get the most likes, comments, shares, and saves requires thought, diligence, and a clear strategy. Knowing your buyer persona and what action you want viewers to take will help you create content that resonates and gets you to the top of their feed.
How do you go viral amid the other 2 billion users worldwide, and 35 million in the UK? Remember your niche is much smaller. To get engagement, to go viral, is a matter of relevance, relatability, and timeliness of the hashtag. Finding hashtags aligned with your compelling, original content is easy. In a few clicks, search for:
- Curated lists of top 10, or top 100 hashtags overall, or by category.
- Marketing reports, in particular the section on social media trends. Instagram analytics in the business account. Account holders each have an engagement rate, calculated by the number of likes and comments per post, divided by their number of followers, multiplied by 100. A good range is one to three, anywhere above that is excellent.
- Browse the “Explore” tab. Click a suggested topic in the search bar and browse through the suggested sub-menu items: For You Pages, accounts, audio, tags, places, and reels.
- For hashtags, you might pick those with 5-500K associated tagged posts. That is less competition to get your post viewed.
- Search for business or services in the same niche as yours. What hashtags do the creators use?
Editable Instagram templates.
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Top tips for using trending Instagram hashtags.
Now that you know how to find trending hashtags, here are some top tips and reminders about how to use them for maximum impact.
- Posts that violate Instagram’s Community Guidelines are downranked.
- Consider adding hashtag stickers to new content to make it even more engaging.
- The Instagram AI-powered ranking system analyses your captions, video dialogue, and on-screen text to understand the topic of your post.
- The hashtag limit is 30, but use 5–10 trending hashtags to avoid stuffing.
- The key is to aim for Instagram hashtags that have low competition and high engagement.
- Opt for shorter hashtags, which are easier to remember, and remain relevant to your topic of interest or industry. For instance, instead of #healthy try #healthypastarecipes.
Hashtags provide context which, alongside the image analysis feature, categorises your content to match it to viewers according to viewing-pattern metrics.
Creative ways to personalise your content with trending Instagram hashtags.
Adobe Express offers a range of marketing content calendars. Schedule time in your marketing content calendar to research and curate trending hashtags. Trends move fast, so find a rhythm that works best so you stay on target.
Here are a few hashtag types to personalise your content. When choosing trending Instagram hashtags, think about making them:
- Time-sensitive to stay on top of trends.
- Niche to target interests and topics.
- Branded to highlight your brand name.
- Location tailored to your target local customers.
- Community and industry hashtags: Connect with your niche.
- Entertainment to build relationships, perhaps with a touch of humour or evoke a certain feeling.
- Broad to reach a general audience.
- Special event to emphasise promotions.
- Include a CTA (call to action) for a campaign, or include the hashtag #challenge. People can tag posts with your hashtag, helping to boost views.
Aim to diversify your hashtags to reach your target audience, both over the short and long term. In Instagram, you can also play with hashtag text in original ways. Hashtags can be moved to the corner of a story, hidden to viewers whilst still being searchable. Or try placing location tags in the same colour as the background of the post. This keeps the visuals central, without cluttering.
Go from broad to specific hashtags: think of a popular category your brand falls into, then choose a noteworthy feature, like #cleanbeauty or #organic. Some other popular hashtags include:
- #instagood
- #followme
- #likeforlike
- #photooftheday
- #instalike
- #instamood
Build your own posts with trending Instagram hashtags with Adobe Express.
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Types of trending Instagram hashtags to suit your style.
Now you have some creative ways to personalise your content, why not think of the types of hashtags you want to personalise? There is a plethora of lists available online categorising trending hashtags into industries, themes, seasons, and locations. Start there whilst reflecting on your style. This is the stable element that makes you stand out, and it can serve to guide you in your search.
There are several types of trending hashtags to create excitement while remaining relevant. These tend to surge around:
- World events
- Times of the year and seasons
- Social trends
- Political events
Keep in mind that time is of the essence, because trends catch on quickly and more and more users generate content with these hashtags.
To personalise your trending hashtags, you can add an adjective to broad categories such as top, smart, future, new, fun, hacks, goals, ideas, mindset, inspiration, thinking, journey. Or try using a word indicating the level of expertise your audience has: beginners, advanced, or even include the content type #reels and #stories #videos.
Overall, by using trending Instagram hashtags, you can get found on Instagram, join a community or conversation. Check out more tips from Adobe Express.