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hashtags

Instagram Testing the Option to #FollowHashtags

Did you know? Instagram is testing a feature that will allow users to follow hashtags just like they do specific accounts and friends. Users can search industry-related hashtags and follow them to see related top posts and recent stories. There are a lot of reasons why I am particularly excited about this new feature that Instagram is testing. Now I know that these social apps are busting out updates left and right, but this new feature could save a lot of marketers a headache in the future and here’s why.

Influencers:

Searching for influencers can be a long, manual process without expensive influencer search software. How one would do this is to search as many hashtags as they can think of that influencers would be using and look at the top posts to find people. If Instagram ends up letting us follow hashtag then when something new gets posted with that hashtag, you can view it on your timeline. This means that you can learn about new influencers related to hashtags without having to manually go in and search for people. They come to you!

Competition:

Is there a hashtag that you use for all your photos? Odds are there are other people using those hashtags in their photos too. If you follow those specific hashtags, you can keep up with what the competition is doing without having to manually search for all your competitor’s profiles. This is also a quick and easy way to find new ideas and innovate off what other’s are doing.

Reach:

This new feature will allow your posts to get more reach because they will be shown to others who follow that same hashtag. Your photos could reach people who aren’t connected to your brand at all. For example, Kathy is what you would call a foodie, but she is not an influencer. Kathy likes to look at food photos on Instagram to get inspiration for her next at home meal or recommendations for local places to eat. She normally would search #Foodie and go through to see all the posts. Now, all she has to do is follow #foodie and all the #foodie posts will be right there on her timeline, including yours!

This feature is still in testing, but I can’t wait till it is released full fledge so I can see just how much value this is really going to add to my life. Users will now be able to follow things based on what you are actually interested in, not the social graph through which Instagrams algorithm keeps you stuck in.

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