Hashtags in the First Comment v. in your Post on Instagram - Which is Better for Small Business Marketing?

Hashtags have become a force of habit for marketing a small business on social media channels like Twitter and Instagram, and are fast becoming popular on LinkedIn. For Instagram specifically, there is ongoing debate as to whether hashtags are better placed in the first comment of a post, or within the post copy itself. 

So which is better? In this post, we’re going to look at each side of hashtag debate, and determine whether posting hashtags in the first comment or straight in the post is better for small business marketing.

First let’s review some basics of using hashtags for marketing your small business. In general, you have to put hashtags on Instagram in order to be able to grow your audience. If you don't, you're not really going to be seen by anybody except for your immediate friends and immediate followers as hashtags are a very important component of the Instagram culture. Instagram allows you to use 30 hashtags, and you should use this whole allowance if you want to grow your profile. If you’ve got a healthy following and your main objective is to boost engagement, use maybe 11 to 15 hashtags. 

Always, no matter what you are doing, whether it's growth or you're trying to drive that engagement, do some hashtag research. A really easy way to do that is to be on Instagram and search your hashtags. Steer clear of hashtags that have millions of posts or are really generic. Use the long tail hashtags to get into that niche audience and to really find those people that are looking for your type of product, service, or content. It’s exactly like keyword research; you can really grow your following and also boost that engagement within your profile when using niche or long tail hashtags. 

Still a bit unsure what hashtags are? Read our post about what hashtags are and how to use them properly.

Using hashtags in the first comment of your post

Let’s get real here. The real reason to hashtags in the first comment instead of the post copy, and the real reason why influencers do this, is because it looks pretty. They seem to think that hashtags straight within the post looks messy or a bit spammy, so they've created a way to still use hashtags and keep the post copy aesthetically pleasing to the eye. 

If you want to use this, though, I strongly suggest you get a scheduling platform so that you can implement your hashtags right as you're scheduling that particular post, so you don't have to worry about remembering to add your hashtags as the first comment when the post is published. As soon as your post goes out, those hashtags must be on there because the algorithm starts to work on your post immediately. If you wait five minutes, an hour or a few hours to add your hashtags, your post has already been downgraded by the algorithm, and it's not really going to be shown to anyone. 

Instagram really needs those hashtags on your post when it’s released in order for the algorithm to fully work as it needs to know what your post is about. So unfortunately if you want to guarantee getting your hashtags into the first comment immediately, you might have to fork out some of your hard earned cash and invest in a scheduling platform. At the present, none of the free platforms offer this first comment option.

Using hashtags in your post copy

So with hashtags that are straight on a post, it looks fine as long as it's done well. What I mean by done well is you have some space between your text and your hashtags so it indicates that your post copy is finished. You can do this by adding some spaces at the end of the copy and hitting enter, and space and enter, or you can add some dots (5 dots vertically lined up is the norm), or you can add a whole line of dots underneath your copy. That way, people know that that's the end of your post copy. 

Does this look spammy? To each his own, but I quite doubt anyone actually cares which way you show hashtags in your post. People who are really engaging with your post, and they're reading all the way to the end of the copy are not necessarily going to care that you have your hashtags within your post. If they've engaged with it enough to like it and to comment, that's a good thing. That’s the engagement you want and warm leads you need when marketing your small business on Instagram.

So conclusion, are hashtags better as a first comment or within your post? It really does not make a difference. It doesn't make a difference to the algorithm where they are, but remember that if you are using them in your first comment, make sure that they are already on the post the second the post goes live. If you are using them within the post, give it a little space between your copy and the beginning of your hashtag group. That way it doesn't look too spammy or messy.

Have questions? Like what you’ve read? Get in touch using the buttons below or subscribe to our newsletter!