How to Find and Use the Best Hashtags for Artists

When it comes to getting your art found on Instagram, it’s important to understand how hashtags factor into your overall strategy. This article answers these basic questions about how to find and use the best hashtags for artists:

How Important are Hashtags for Artists?

On a scale of one to ten, hashtags are about a five. Social media platforms serve up to users based upon their prediction of how likely they think the user will like and engage with it. This means your art is shown to people who have engaged with your art before or have engaged with accounts similar to yours.

When a user searches for a specific search phrase hashtag, your art post may be shown to the user based upon your hashtag. However, if the post gets low engagement and interaction, it will still fall to the bottom fairly quickly.

In other words, hashtags help, but they are not #everything. If users are not engaging with your content, hashtags won’t change that.

On the flip side, Fohr Insights reported in a Marketing study that posts with at least one Instagram hashtag averages 12.6% more engagement than posts without a hashtag. So, it’s definitely worth having a hashtag strategy for your art account.

How to Find the Best Hashtags for Art on Instagram?

The best hashtags can be found right in your app. Simply open your Instagram, and in the search function, type “#art.” Immediate, a list of hashtags appears, along with the number of posts that hashtag represents.

So here’s the thing. You want to find hashtags of varying popularity. For example, the hashtag #art is extremely popular. You’ll want to use it from time to time, but remember, it is a very crowded and competitive hashtag. You’ll want to hedge your bets with some hashtags that are less competitive.

Finding Less Competitive Hashtags

Find less competitive hashtags by niching down on your art. To come up with narrower search terms, try these ideas:

Medium of the Art
Prominent Color
Style of Art
Where the Art Can Be Displayed
The Type of Person Looking for the Art
Why the Buyer May Be Looking For Art at This Time
Subject of the Art
Hashtags related to your caption
Lifestyle and Inspirational
Location of the subject or making of the art
Characteristics or philosphy of the Artist

How to Use a Hashtag Generator

Another way to find hashtags is to use a hashtag generator. For example, All Hashtag is simple and free to use, no account necessary. Just pop in a keyword, and All spits out a list of the best random related hashtags.

For example, for the keyword “art” All Hashtag listed these as the best random related tags:

#art #artist #artwork #arte #artoftheday #artistic #artsy #artofvisuals #artistsoninstagram #arts #artgallery #artists #artistsofinstagram #artlife #artlovers #artstagram #artista #artisan #artistoninstagram #artworks #artshow #artcollector #artforsale #artshub #artlover #artofinstagram #artphotography #Artstudio #artcollective #artdeco

And these as similar related tags:

#artist #artwork #arte #artoftheday #artistic #artsy #artofvisuals #artistsoninstagram #arts #artgallery #artists #artistsofinstagram #artlife #artlovers #artstagram #artista #artisan #artistoninstagram #artworks #artshow #artcollector #artforsale #artshub #artlover #artofinstagram #artphotography #Artstudio #artcollective #artdeco #artistlife

How Many Hashtags Should Artists Use?

Instagram limits hashtags to 30 per post. And, Instagram actively encourages its users to use them.

There has been no evidence whatsoever that a post has ever been penalized for using all 30, so go ahead and hashtag away.

Where Should You Put Your Hashtags?

You can put your hashtags in the comments, and for some time, this was recommended for a few reasons. First, many people felt it looked really spammy to hash up a caption. Second, hashtags aren’t relevant on Facebook, so if you’re auto-posting your Instagram content to Facebook, if you put the hashtags in the comments, they won’t post on Facebook.

However, in August of 2021, Instagram made it clear where hashtags should go in the caption. They said:

“Use relevant keywords and hashtags in captions. For a post to be found in Search, put keywords and hashtags in the caption, not the comments.”

This brings us back to an old technique of burying the hashtags in the caption. To do so, simply finish your caption, enter twice to create some space, then enter your hashtags.

How to Avoid Spamming a Hashtag

If you use the same hashtag in every single post, Instagram will catch on and shadowban your post. It is considered spamming.

It’s extremely important that you change up your hashtags for each post. Of course, as an art account, you’re going to post a lot of art-related hashtags and Instagram gets that. But you still need to keep track.

The easiest, free low tech way to keep track is to create groups of hashtags in your notes app on your phone. Open a note, and label Hashtag Group 1, 2, 3, and so forth. When you’re making a new post, make sure you are rotating your tags. (Not to worry – I researched this too, so you can start with the list below and refine as you go.)

You can also track your hashtag groups in your social media planner app. Apps such as Planoly offer a space to save your researched hashtags and easily add them to your posts. You can get a free Planoly account for up to 30 Instagram posts per month if you are interested in trying this feature.

Bonus: Artist Hashtag Groups to Copy and Paste

#creativity #CreativityFound #creativityforlife #creativityeveryday #creativitykillsoldness #creativityinmybreakfast #creativityatitsbest #creativitymatters #creativitycoach #CREATIVITYISJUSTENDLESS #creativitychasers #creativityiskey #CreativityIsmyWeapon #creativityrocks #creativitygallery #creativityheals #creativityflows #creativityinaction #creativityiscontagious #creativityislife #creativitytime #creativityfeature #creativityforbreakfast #creativityforkids #creativityovercompetition #creativity7daysaweek #creativity90 #creativityatwork #creativitycoaching #creativitycollected

#artistlife #artesanato #artesanal #artfido #artphoto #artoninstagram #arty #artgram #artiste #arttherapy #artdirection #artbasel #artistofinstagram #artsanity #artbook #artis #artnerd #article #artsandcrafts #artworld #artdaily #artistry #artnews #artdirector #artdesign #arthistory #artislife #artfair #artexhibition #Artes

#artjournal #artpop #artmuseum #artecontemporanea #artofvisual #artstudent #artprint #artificialintelligence #artmagazine #artistas #artcollectors #arteurbano #artcontemporain #artschool #artporn #artnouveau #artesania #artedigital #artcollection #artlove #artshare #Arthritis #artisanal #artvideo #artigianato #artofdrawingg #artcurator #artnude #ARTBLOG #artclass

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