Yes, those WORDS preceded by a pound sign can be very very POWERFUL. 

Hashtags are one of the most EFFECTIVE ways to make your posts DISCOVER-ABLE by your potential clients. 

You can use hashtags to boost your salon marketing!

But where do I start? You ask. How do I find the right HASHTAGS for my salon?

To find the right hashtag for your salon, you have to consider a few things like which HASHTAGS TO AVOID, how to weed through all the existing hashtags in your field, and how many hashtags you need to prepare.

1. Avoid spammy hashtags.

Hashtags with more than 100,000,000 posts on them are usually the spammer’s haven.

Spammers are NOT your target market and you will just be spammed with unrelated comments like “follow me for free followers” or random emojis.

Example of these hashtags is #instagood, #happy, #love and #followme to name a few. 

2. Start with relevant hashtags.

Have a quick search in the tag bar for keywords your CLIENTS ARE MOST LIKELY INTERESTED IN. 

You can look at relevant accounts or even your COMPETITORS to see the hashtags they use. 

List some that are relevant to your salon. The operative word here is RELEVANT. 

Now that people can follow hashtags on Instagram, they can also report posts that they don’t want to see. While this is mainly to tailor a user’s feed, too many reports can only do your account harm.

3. Get specific and niche down!

You can start with more general hashtags for research, but consider them as jump-off points ONLY. 

For example, type ‘salon’ in the tags search bar and see all the other suggested hashtags for you. You can also tap a hashtag and see the related hashtags listed for you at the top. 

It is also a good idea to check the hashtags with your actual location, for example, #salonandspamelbourne.

That will definitely narrow down your audience to the ones you really want to discover you– people interested in such services in their local area.

You would also want to pick hashtags with SMALL TO MEDIUM density.

Hashtags that are too general like #hairstyle #nailpolish can be too busy, and you don’t get a fighting chance to be on the TOP PAGE. 

Also, make sure to check each of the hashtags to see if the predominant content is something you want your brand to be ASSOCIATED with and if there is ACTIVITY– if the most recent post is 6 months ago, it’s probably not a good idea to use it.

4. Use hashtags hosted by big feature accounts

Some accounts host a hashtag and reposts people who use the hashtag they promote.

If the account is aligned with your brand, you can also use their hashtag for a chance to be FEATURED in their page and ATTRACT their followers to your page.

An example is @wakeupandmakeup who features makeup related posts that use #wakeupandmakeup!

5. Mix it up!

Make sure to list MORE than 30 hashtags. 

Copy-pasting the same hashtags over and over can ALERT Instagram’s algorithm and mark your account as spam. 

Have a list you can CHOOSE FROM so you can choose which ones are most relevant to the particular image you are posting.

Also, use a mix of small, medium, and relatively large hashtags in terms of density. 

Hashtags with 50,000 or less posts will usually give you a better chance to be in the top page of hashtags and stay there longer. 100,000-500,000 post-hashtags are generally a good size, giving your post a chance to be seen by more eyes.

If your account is relatively big, you can also mix in one or two big hashtags, as your activity will give you a chance to be featured in the top page.

It can sound daunting at first but just take the first step and adjust, change, and mix it up as you go along. 

Here are the top 10 salon-related hashtags you can use:

1. #salon
2. #salonlife
3. #hairsalon
4. #nailsalon
5. #hairsalonaustralia
6. #salonspa
7. #salonnails
8. #spaday
9. #hairstyles
10. #hairstylist

You can use websites such as Top-hashtags and All Hashtag to check out trending or top hashtags. But remember that you can always check hashtags on Instagram and check how many posts are using a specific hashtag!

Are you ready to amp up your salon’s HASHTAG GAME?

Show me how you’re crushing it by tagging your post with #SSMBOSS!

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I got you! Check out my DONE-FOR-YOU packages available here.