Hashtags To Get More Instagram Followers

If you are a social networking addict you will probably have heard of Instagram and if not, you must have been hiding under a rock since October 6th 2010, when the website was first created by Kevin Systrome and Mike Krieger. Millions of people around the world now use Instagram on a daily basis, as a way of documenting their life through uploading photos.

What makes this website different to other photo sharing sites is the image effects that are readily available, including:

• Amaro
• Mayfair
• Rise
• Hudson
• Valencia
• X-Pro
• Sierra
• Willow
• Lo-Fi
• Earlybird
• Sutro
• Toaster
• Brannan
• Inkwell
• Walden
• Hefe
• Nashville
• 1977
• Kelvin

Users can even share photos on other social networking sites like Facebook as a way of getting more followers, comments and likes. With the search tool, users can type in a word and find photos relating to that word, proving this to be a fantastic business opportunity. So, whether you want to simply grasp people's attention or get traffic for your business through Instagram, you need to learn how to get Instagram followers by using the appropriate hashtags.

In order to effectively captivate your audience, you need to know your audience. What type of photos do you upload on your Instagram account? To get free Instagram followers it is important to define your specialty.

Are you good at taking landscape shots of beaches, fields and outdoor spaces? Maybe you prefer to focus on the celebrity/fashion/media culture? Many sports and fitness fanatics use Instagram too and to stand out from the crowd you must spend time working on your hashtags.

Instagram users use hashtags to categorize their posts, therefore you need to decide which hashtag best describes your photo. Here's a quick look at the top 10 hashtags on Instagram:

• #Love - 67,000,000+ photos
• #Instagood - 50,000,000+ photos
• #Me - 39,000,000+ photos
• #Cute - 36,000,000+ photos
• #Photooftheday - 35,000,000+ photos
• #Instamood - 35,000,000+ photos
• #Tweegram - 30,000,000+ photos
• #Iphonesia - 30,000,000+ photos
• #Summer - 27,000,000+ photos

Notice how some of the hashtags relate to social networking sites (Twitter), smartphones (Iphone) and seasons (summer). This is a powerful way of attracting Instagram followers, because people tend to search for trends and what is 'in' right now.

If you feel that none of the above apply to you, you can simply include the hashtag along with other hashtags that are particular to your specialty, such as #fitspo #fitness and #fitsporation for images relating to healthy eating and working out. If you type in a subject into the search bar on Instagram, you will get suggestions and alongside each suggestion you can view how many images have been posted with that hashtag.

To make things a little easier for you, take a look at the following tips to find hashtags that connect with certain subjects:

• Sport - Talk about sports teams, the names of sports players, types of sports, types of sports positions, types of sports moves and tournaments to get Instagram followers.
• Fitness - Fitness is big on Instagram, with many fitness fanatics uploading images every day. Create a hashtag with an idol's name, a type of workout, a desirable body feature, healthy meals, inspirations and challenges.
• Beauty - If you have a beauty blog or a beauty product/service that you want to sell, you should attract attention by talking about beautiful people, the name of your blog/product/service, brand names for beauty products, etc.
• Fashion - Catch a fashion lover's eye by talking about types of clothing, such as shorts, skirts and dresses. You should also name supermodels, the best fashion brands and designers, fashion of the day and fashion bloggers.
• Photography - Professional photographers use Instagram to promote themselves and you can do the same. Write the name of a place, the type of image effect, the photo location, the inspiration, etc.

Remember: You can use any hashtag you want, so long as it relates to the image. With over 100 million people using the site each day, you can guarantee that someone will be searching for it! You can also look at other people's Instagram accounts (preferably those with lots of followers) and note down their hashtags for inspiration.

Some lucky (or clever) individuals are earning a full-time living by simply posting Instagram photos and updating their followers about their travels, business, hobbies, or whatever it is they do. In fact, a sizeable amount of money can be earned with an Instagram account, as long as the follower base is large and the Instagram user is posting regularly.

Get this - the average Internet celebrity makes $75,000 per ad, according to Gizmodo.com.

So, how exactly does one get Instagram famous, or encourage brands to collaborate with them? Well, the solution is to get featured on a page that has a significantly large follower base. Direct messaging pages that relate to your specific niche, whether it is health, fitness, business or travel, will allow you to negotiate rates for getting featured. Although the price for getting featured usually starts at around $25, the exposure will make the investment worth it.

When you manage to get featured a few times on other Instagram accounts, your follower base is likely to grow. As it grows, brands will scout you and pay you to post something that relates to their services/products on your page. In the end everyone wins because the brand gets exposure and you get money!

If you want to increase your follower list tenfold in a minimal amount of time, use the following tips:

• Post your Instagram link on social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter.
• Follow Instagram users and ask them to follow you back.
• Get in touch with 'Instagram promoters', who will post a screenshot of your page to their large list of followers in return for a follow.
• Take great shots! Choose suitable effects and use a high quality camera to take images in a good light.
• Reply to comments on your images, as this will influence others to follow you if you communicate regularly.
• Use popular hashtags, even if they do not relate to your image because, after all, a follower would not follow you if they were not interested in what you have to offer!
• Geotag your photos to attract attention from people who live in a nearby location. (This is worth doing if you want to promote a locally based business.)
• Press the heart-shaped icon and comment on other people's photos by clicking on the speech bubble icon to get more Instagram followers.

Good luck!