In 2021, Instagram is an excellent marketing platform for e-commerce businesses. You can use it to promote your latest products, communicate directly with your existing followers, acquire new customers, and get more likes. You must take advantage of one important thing: Instagram hashtags, whether you’re using Instagram for personal use or using Instagram marketing for your business. You can use this simple strategy to increase likes and your reach.

Instagram has one billion+ monthly active users, and you can make most of it using hashtags.

Using the relevant Instagram hashtags can help you get more likes, engage your audience, extend your reach, and even boost your brand. To get each of these different benefits, you need to have specific strategies in place.

This ultimate guide to using Instagram hashtags and the list with the best ones in each niche will help you understand everything you need to know about using hashtags to improve your engagement rate, get more followers, and build a community around your business.

Why Are Instagram Hashtags Important?

Since 2010, Instagram hashtags are the only thing that hasn’t change, and even in 2021, using relevant, trending hashtags with posts and stories is one of the best ways to get discovered by new users on Instagram. And this can translate into more likes, more followers, more engagement, and more customers for your business.

Instagram hashtags work by categorizing and organizing photos and videos.

If you have a public or business Instagram account and add a hashtag to a post, then that post will be visible on the corresponding hashtag page. It’s a directory of all the posts that were tagged with that hashtag.

The relevant hashtags can put you in front of your target users since hashtags are used with an intent to discover content, even if those users haven’t connected with you before.

Like, a makeup artist might post a picture of gorgeous, artistic makeup and then use the hashtags #makeup, #makeupartist, and #makeuplover when it’s uploaded to Instagram.

The image is then cataloged using these three hashtags, so other Instagram users who want to see makeup tutorials or videos can easily find it.

A few things to keep in mind:

  • When users with private profiles use hashtags in their posts, they won’t appear on hashtag pages publicly.
  • Spaces and special characters in hashtags like $ or % won’t work.
  • Numbers are allowed in hashtags.
  • You can only add hashtags to your posts. You can’t tag other users’ posts.
  • You can use up to thirty hashtags on a post and ten on Instagram Stories.

How to Use Trending Instagram Hashtags Efficiently?

A hashtag categorizes a post where interested users can find it on a certain topic, which means that hashtags are a great way to find your target audience. Use hashtags for Instagram to reach as many audiences as possible. Use relevant hashtags on your posts and create a good user experience for Instagram users.

The first thing, find trending hashtags on Instagram. One way of doing this is simply searching for hashtags on Instagram. You can search a general hashtag in the search bar, and it will show you the relevant ones.

Let’s see the most popular Instagram hashtags in different topics and industries for 2021.

Food –

  • #Food
  • #FoodPorn
  • #Foodie
  • #Yum
  • #Yummy
  • #Dinner
  • #Homemade
  • #Delicious
  • #Breakfast
  • #Lunch

Fashion –

  • #Fashion
  • #Fashionista
  • #FashionBlogger
  • #FashionStyle
  • #Fashionable
  • #FashionBlog
  • #FashionAddict
  • #FashionDiaries
  • #FashionGram
  • #FashionWeek

Fitness –

  • #Fitness
  • #Workout
  • #Gym
  • #FitnessModel
  • #FitFam
  • #Bodybuilding
  • #Yoga
  • #FitnessMotivation
  • #GymLife
  • #CrossFit

Art –

  • #art
  • #arts
  • #artist
  • #artwork
  • #artoftheday
  • #artistic
  • #artsy
  • #artofvisuals
  • #artistsoninstagram

Retail –

The most popular retail hashtags on Instagram:

  • #Retail
  • #Fashion
  • #Design
  • #Business
  • #Wholesale
  • #VisualMerchandising
  • #Marketing
  • #Shopping
  • #RetailDesign
  • #OnlineShopping

Travel –

  • #Travel
  • #Traveling
  • #TravelPhotography
  • #TravelBlogger
  • #TravelGram
  • #Travelingram
  • #Travelling
  • #TravelTheWorld
  • #Traveler
  • #Traveller

Music –

  • #Music
  • #Musical
  • #MusicLife
  • #Musician
  • #Musically
  • #MusicIsLife
  • #MusicProducer
  • #MusicVideo
  • #Musical
  • #Musicians

Makeup –

These are the most popular makeup industry hashtags used on Instagram in 2021:

  • #makeup
  • #makeupaddict
  • #makeupartist
  • #makeuplook
  • #makeuplover
  • #makeuptutorial
  • #makeupoftheday
  • #makeupjunkie
  • #makeupforever
  • #makeupbyme
  • #makeuplook

Sports –

  • #Sports
  • #Sport
  • #Gym
  • #Fitness
  • #Football
  • #Basketball
  • #NFL
  • #NBA
  • #Training
  • #Soccer

Business –

  • #business
  • #businessminded
  • #businesslife
  • #Businessman
  • #businesswoman
  • #businesswomen
  • #Businessowner
  • #businessowners
  • #businesscoach
  • #businesstips

Entertainment –

  • #Entertain
  • #Entertainer
  • #Podcast
  • #OnlineEntertainment
  • #CelebrityNews
  • #Update
  • #Updates
  • #TalkShowHost
  • #Interviewer
  • #StageShows

Lifestyle –

  • #Lifestyle
  • #Life
  • #Instagram
  • #Love
  • #Inspiration
  • #InstaGood
  • #Follow
  • #Motivation
  • #Fitness
  • #Fashion

Dogs –

  • #dogs
  • #dogslover
  • #dogslife
  • #dogstagram
  • #dogsofig
  • #dogsofinsta
  • #dogsitting
  • #dogsofinstaworld
  • #dogsandpals
  • #dogscorner

The Top 50 Instagram Hashtags of 2021

  • #instadaily
  • #blogger
  • #instagram
  • #beach
  • #lol
  • #followme
  • #blue
  • #model
  • #nature
  • #nofilter
  • #hot
  • #pink
  • #night
  • #bestoftheday
  • #blackandwhite
  • #food
  • #f4f
  • #family
  • #foodporn
  • #fashionblogger
  • #me
  • #black
  • #gym
  • #makeup
  • #home
  • #photography
  • #pretty
  • #girl
  • #fitfam
  • #lifestyle
  • #smile
  • #work
  • #sky
  • #love
  • #amazing
  • #beautiful
  • #sun
  • #luxury
  • #vsco
  • #landscape
  • #beauty
  • #cute
  • #llike4like
  • #picoftheday
  • #hair
  • #girls
  • #influencer
  • #london
  • #tbt
  • #life

The Top Instagram Hashtags of All Time

  • #love
  • #instagood
  • #photooftheday
  • #fashion
  • #like4like
  • #beautiful
  • #picoftheday
  • #happy
  • #art
  • #photography
  • #followme
  • #instagram
  • #style
  • #follow
  • #instadaily
  • #travel
  • #life
  • #cute
  • #fitness
  • #nature
  • #beauty
  • #girl
  • #fun
  • #photo
  • #amazing
  • #likeforlike
  • #influencer
  • #instalike
  • #smile
  • #selfie
  • #me
  • #lifestyle
  • #model
  • #follow4follow
  • #music
  • #friends
  • #motivation
  • #like
  • #inspiration
  • #food
  • #repost
  • #design
  • #summer
  • #makeup
  • #family
  • #followforfollow
  • #TBT
  • #ootd
  • #l4l
  • #cool
  • #igers

The Different Types of Instagram Hashtags

Learning the different types of hashtags and their corresponding audiences is key to generating an effective Instagram hashtag strategy:

Community Hashtags:

Community hashtags connect similar or like-minded users around a specific niche. They’re an effective way to connect with others, improve the searchability of your posts, grow your community, increase likes, and gain followers.

Hashtags indicate your niche in your industry, product or service, Instagram communities in your industry, Daily hashtags, special events or seasons, etc.

Brand Hashtags:

A brand hashtag is a hashtag that’s unique to a brand or business when using Instagram for business.
It can be a brand name, a business, or a company’s name, tagline, or the name of one of a campaign. Or it can be a hashtag that can be anything and nothing to do with your brand.

Campaign Hashtags:

Comparatively, campaign hashtags are usually short-term and run for just a few days or a season.

Campaign hashtags are shorter-term because they’re usually tied to specific campaigns, like special events, new product launches, or partnerships. They’re great for drawing a lot of engagement in a short time!

User-generated content hashtags

User-generated hashtags are a type of hashtag is created specifically for your customers. These are different from branded, product, and campaign hashtags because the company can’t influence what gets posted.

8 Ways to Optimize Your Instagram Hashtags

  • Post Your Hashtags in the First Comment.
  • Add Hashtags to Your Instagram Stories.
  • Check Your Instagram Hashtag Analytics.
  • Include Your Brand Hashtag in Your Instagram Profile.
  • Run Hashtag-Based Campaigns & Promotions.
  • Get Into the Top Results.
  • Attract Your Followers to Follow Your Branded Hashtag.
  • Avoid Using Banned Hashtags on Instagram .

Final Words

If you use the right and relevant ones, hashtags can be hugely helpful in getting more likes. It might take a little while to figure out, but once you’ve got your list of hashtags, you can start growing your Instagram account.

Just be resilient and willing to experiment with your hashtags throughout the feed.
Using 2021 trending and relevant hashtags, you can give your Instagram account or brand the visibility boost it needs in 2021 and beyond.