Recent investigation by media monitoring company, Mention, has discovered that the act of hashtagging Instagram posts, does not actually increase engagement. But don’t freak out on us yet, because the same researched revealed that tagging other users in your posts will get those likes and comment numbers up!
In Mention’s recently released report, ‘Instagram Report 2018’, they found no correlation between the use of hashtags and increased engagement. In the report, which analysed 115million Instagram posts, Mention debunked the common assumption that using hashtags, which make posts more discoverable, increases the number of engagements. Mention found that the posts with no hashtags, on average, performed better than those with hashtags.
But it’s not all bleak for those chasing increased levels Instagram engagement. The same report found that tagging multiple users in their posts can increase the number of likes and comments on that post. Mention has identified a linear association between users tagged and Instagram likes. The below graph created from the data shows that there is no consequence to tagging 20 users in a post (20 is the maximum set by Instagram).
For businesses looking to increase their following and engagement, Mention recommends posting regularly and found that the majority of big brands post 1.5 times a day. To maximise the effectiveness of the post, Mention identified that the best time to post on the platform are from 11am-1pm and 7pm-9pm, Monday – Thursday.
