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Hashtags have the power to transform an event from a PR nightmare to a viral sensation.
But inadequate hashtag planning can be an organizer's Achilles' heel.
By strategically honing in on the right custom hashtag, suddenly your event leaps from a dispiritingly empty hashtag feeds to electrified with excited engagement.
Vivid scenes of attendees enthusiastically bonding, snapping photos together, and spreading contagious word-of-mouth hype organically across social media await you.
But first, you must nail that foundational centerpiece: an iconic hashtag worth sharing.
Choose Your Main Event Hashtag
The foundation of any successful Instagram event hashtag strategy starts with choosing that one perfect main hashtag to represent your event.
This core hashtag should be included on all event marketing materials, from your Instagram profile to website and printed flyers.
Here are some tips when brainstorming your main event hashtag for Instagram:
- Make it short and simple: Choose a hashtag that is clear, easy to remember, and quick for attendees to type into posts. Consider abbreviating longer names or phrases.
- Reflect your brand: Incorporate your company name, product, or other branding elements that will be familiar to your target audience. This connects it back to you.
- Describe the purpose: Tell viewers what experience the hashtag represents, like a conference name or year (e.g. #2022AnnualSummit).
- Use camel case: Capitalize the first letter of each word, with no spaces (e.g. #AnnualMarketingConference2023). This allows the hashtag phrase to stand out.
- Check availability: Search Instagram to see if your desired hashtag is already broadly used for another purpose. If so, get creative with modifiers until you find something unique.
Once you’ve brainstormed ideas, use a hashtag validation tool like RiteTag to analyze volume, brand safety, and more to choose the best option.
In addition to branding, you want your core event hashtag for Instagram to accurately communicate a clear purpose that excites attendees and inspires them to use it.
This gives your content much better visibility.
Add Supporting Hashtags
Besides your singular branded event hashtag for Instagram, having a few supporting hashtags boosts discovery from outside your existing follower base.
They enable people interested in your event topic, but who don’t yet follow you, to still stumble upon your content in hashtag searches.
Attracting these broader communities builds meaningful buzz.
Some great approaches for supportive hashtags include:
- Location: Local hashtags like #ChicagoMeetUp or venue tags help attendees interact.
- Industry or Topic: Related to your event’s focus, like #DigitalMarketingConference.
- Company or Brand: In addition to your branded event hashtag, also include your company hashtag.
- Sponsors: Highlight relevant brand partner names people recognize.
- Year or Date: #2023Events helps content stay searchable long-term.
- Emojis: 📊☕⛷Visual cues catching the eye in feeds.
The goal is supporting discovery from viewers who don’t yet know about you but would be excited to attend.
Hashtags should entice target audiences.
Tracking analytics will show which hashtags perform best to help optimize your mix over time.
Just don’t use too many hashtags or it looks spammy. Stick around five total.
Tools to Strategize Hashtags
Keyword research is invaluable for strategizing what supplemental hashtags to use for your Instagram event.
There are excellent tools out there, including both free and paid options.
Analyze detailed metrics like traffic estimates and difficulty scores for potential hashtags.
Then fine-tune choices catered directly toward your brand.
- RiteTag: RiteTag provides a custom hashtag generator and analysis to design options tailored to your business. Assess volume, engagement, brand safety, and more.
- Sprout Social: Useful hashtag research capabilities based on recent hashtag search volume and usage frequency data. Filter by categories relevant to you.
- Iconosquare: Uncover top and trending hashtags in your niche. Performance tracking shows which boosted post engagement and impressions the most over time.
- Keysearch: In-depth Instagram hashtag analytics include usage numbers, top influencers, and precise monthly search volumes per hashtag. View historical trends too.
- Display Purposes: Filter location-based event hashtags by city as well as hashtag ideas based on your target audience interests and event type category.
- Social Insiders: Analysis tools showing recent search volumes and usage rates empower decisions on relevant hashtags with high traffic potential.
Research likely supplements engagement levels of existing followers on top of supporting outside discovery.
Balance branded and generic hashtags for maximum event visibility.
Promote Your Hashtag for Impact
You developed the perfect primary event hashtag for Instagram. Selected useful secondary tags too.
Now it’s time for the fun part—spreading the word!
Your Instagram hashtag only helps if people know about it and actually use it.
A hashtag with no posts is worthless.
Strategically promote it in the lead-up to your event to generate genuine buzz.
Encourage Early Use in Engaging Ways
Here are some creative methods to motivate early hashtag adoption:
Launch Contests: Prizes drive excitement. Offer rewards for first photos shared using your custom hashtag or contest entry via hashtag stories.
Show User-Generated Content (UGC): Reposting attendee posts including your hashtag helps it gain steam organically. Credit them in your caption and ask a question to spur comments.
Go Behind the Scenes: Give hashtag users a sneak peek of preparations with exclusive behind-the-scenes footage. These teasers pique interest.
Incorporate Influencers: Informed industry influencers genuinely love sharing events relevant to their followers. Provide media passes to drive word-of-mouth promotion.
Hashtag Countdown Series: Post interesting facts, event history spotlights, or speaker highlights daily as a lead-up. Engage fans in anticipating through your hashtag each time.
Create Event Stickers: Stickers are interactive Instagram Stories additions. Launch a branded pack with your hashtag so viewers add them directly.
Spread Across Marketing Touchpoints
Don’t just rely on organic social promotion though. Feature your custom event hashtag everywhere:
Website and Blog: Display prominently on relevant pages like event info sections so website visitors remember to use it.
Email Signatures and Newsletters: Signature lines ensure fans see it each time you email. Dedicated newsletter content drives registrations.
Printed Materials: Feature on any physical pieces like programs, signage, stickers, lanyards, or swag. Reinforce in person too!
Paid Ads: native Instagram ads with your hashtag attract fresh audiences by appearing organically in feeds. Develop retargeting ads for website traffic too.
Website Pop-Ups or Sticky Bar: Pop-ups announce the hashtag immediately when potential attendees visit your event pages. Sticky navbars also work.
Cover all marketing channels, both digital and tangible.
Repeated visibility across touchpoints sparks successful user adoption and sharing.
Track Performance with Instagram Analytics
Once your event kicks off, measuring hashtag performance is crucial.
Tracking a variety of engagement metrics spotlights what content resonates best with followers to guide ongoing event promotion.
Instagram’s analytics tools offer excellent insight.
You can also use hashtag analytics services for extra detail. Here are key specifics to analyze either way:
Monitor Mentions and Reach
Assess discovery and visibility by tracking:
- 📈Total Hashtag Mentions: How many times was your hashtag used overall? Benchmark future events against this number.
- 📱Reach and Impressions: How many unique accounts saw posts with your event hashtag? Did branded hashtag ads effectively expand your audience?
- 🗺️Location Tags: Connected location tags like venues indicate on-site usage. Cross-reference for possible wider local appeal too.
Evaluate Engagement Response
Connect attendee reactions to your messages using:
- ❤️Likes and Comments: Favorites and replies demonstrate post resonance and event excitement levels.
- 🤝Shares and Saves: Reposts expand your content distribution organically. Bookmarks set user expectation to revisit.
- 🙋Mentions and Tags: Being directly mentioned in event-related hashtag posts represents satisfied attendees verbally crediting your event specifically.
- ✉️Link Clicks: If you include important site links in captions alongside hashtags, are people clicking through to purchase or research?
- 💬Stories Polls and Questions: Interactive Instagram Stories often see high response rates. Poll sticker votes prove hashtag viewers are paying attention.
Compare Against Benchmarks
Finally, put metrics into context. Social media changes fast, so track years over year rather than judging against static goals.
- 📅 Year over Year (YOY): Benchmark growth by comparing performance metrics from 2022. Did hashtag volume or quality of engagement improve?
- 📊 Industry Analysis: Review key performance indicators from similar events as another layer of context around effectiveness.
- 🗓️ Historical Averages: Your own multi-year event history pinpoints expected averages to beat. Baselines help segment data too.
Instagram analytics offer excellent visibility into the reach and impact of your branded event hashtag strategy.
Stay on top of latest platform updates to make the most of built-in and third-party analytics tools.
Wrap Up: Achieving Hashtag Event Marketing Success
Creating a strong event hashtag strategy is crucial for driving Instagram buzz and engagement.
By focusing efforts around a clearly defined main hashtag, plus supplemental tags for discovery, you gain optimal visibility.
Launch hashtag promotions and social contests to build momentum in the weeks leading up to your event.
At the event itself, reinforce your hashtag across all signage.
Then finally, monitor performance using Instagram’s built-in analytics to assess what content best connects with your audiences.
Here is a quick summary of the key details that will make your custom Instagram hashtag shine:
Pick Descriptive, On-Brand Hashtags: Choose phrases that communicate your event purpose clearly. Incorporate branding elements attendees instantly recognize.
Promote Creatively via Multiple Channels: Email, social media, website ads, printed signage, swag, and influencers should all reinforce your hashtag early and often.
Incentivize User-Generated Content: Spotlights, contests, and re-shares encourage attendees to organically adopt your hashtag more. Their third-party credibility boosts reach further.
Keep the Conversation Going: Continue showcasing event recap stories and sponsor co-branding long after. Remind fans on email lists to keep using and engaging with your branded hashtag year-round.
Track Analytics Thoroughly: Detailed metrics analysis on volume, reach, engagement levels, and conversions improves future event promotion. Benchmark and slice data using Instagram Insights.
Provide Strong Influencer Management: Strategic influencer event partnerships require careful coordination around content creation and sharing obligations. But their existing follower advocacy pays dividends.
Cap off your Instagram event strategy by continuing branded hashtags in remarketing ads.
Custom audiences based on your hashtag allow accurate retargeting.
Work with an experienced virtual event company for fully managed, start-to-finish event hashtag creation, execution, and lead generation!
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