Most Famous Instagram Hashtags and How to Optimize Your Strategy
Instagram has become one of the most powerful social media platforms for brands and influencers to reach massive audiences. The app now boasts over 1 billion monthly active users who share billions of photos, videos stories on a daily basis. One of the key features fueling Instagram’s engagement and reach is the humble hashtag. Hashtags help users organize content and participate in viral conversations.
But what exactly makes an Instagram hashtag “famous“? Generally, a famous hashtag is one that:
- Has widespread global name recognition and popularity
- Maintains consistently high usage volumes and post frequencies
- Drives high engagement levels across diverse content
- Gets adopted organically by individual users and influencers alike
In other words – Most famous Instagram hashtags tend to take on a life of their own. They capture the public imagination enough to get saturated across not only branded campaigns, but also everyday user posts.
Some hashtags gain fame by chance or striking on a cultural phenomenon. Others become famous thanks to deliberate and strategic planning by major brands.
In this comprehensive guide, we will analyze the most famous Instagram hashtags as well as breakout niche successes. We’ll provide tips on how to leverage existing famous hashtag momentum, while also developing your own viral sensations.
Most Popular Sponsored Brand Hashtags
When it comes to most famous Instagram hashtags, major brand marketing campaigns dominate the game. Companies pour huge budgets into hashtag-centered campaigns aiming to spark viral sharing and engagement around their products.
Some of the most famous sponsored hashtags in Instagram history include:
#ShareACoke
When Coca-Cola launched their Share a Coke campaign in 2014, it ushered in a branded hashtag renaissance. By printing popular names on Coke bottles and cans, the company incentivized users to find bottles matching their names and post pictures sharing them online. Simple yet brilliant – the #ShareACoke hashtag has been used over 2.2 million times.
#OreoHorrorStories
Oreo created an inventive Halloween 2021 hashtag campaign focused around scary stories…with an Oreo twist. The #OreoHorrorStories activation generated 235,500+ usages.
Other top brand hashtags in terms of volume include:
- #JustDoIt – Nike’s iconic slogan
- #LikeAGirl – Always empowerment campaign
- #TheGlassIsRefillable – Coca-Cola sustainability
The key ingredients for creating a famous branded hashtag campaign include:
- A compelling hook or central theme
- An integrated multi-channel promotion strategy
- User/influencer generated content opportunities
- Strong visual components
Most Famous Instagram Hashtags Across Common Niches
In contrast to calculated branded hashtag campaigns, many ordinary hashtags reach a tipping point of popularity through grassroots adoption and sharing.
These hashtags may start off focusing on a specific niche, whether it’s a hobby, cultural phenomenon, or just a funny meme. But once they capture the public imagination, niche hashtags can cross over into the mainstream social consciousness.
Some of the most famous hashtag examples in this bucket include:
#TBT
The hashtag #TBT (Throwback Thursday) has become a social media institution over the past decade. Every Thursday, millions of users participate in the ritual of posting nostalgic throwback photos from their past. Over 497 million uses cement its status as one of Instagram reel’s most perpetual trends.
#Love
What topic is more universally shared than love itself? The #Love hashtag enjoys astounding popularity for its infinite scope, having graced over 1.1 billion Instagram posts and counting.
Other massively famous Instagram hashtag based simply on universal human connections, experiences or interests include:
- #Friendship
- #Family
- #Nature
- #Foodporn
- #Travel
- #Dogs
These hashtags almost function as their own dedicated communities within Instagram. To tap into their built-in audiences for maximum visibility, focus on contributing top quality and relevant content.
Researching Hashtags in Your Niche
While massively viral hashtags like #Love or #TBT enjoy boundless relevance, niche hashtags better target specific audiences. Strategically optimizing hashtags around your brand or interests ensures content surfaces where it counts.
Consider doing an audit of trending niche hashtags if you are in categories like:
#Foodie
The food blogger community drives Instagram engagement through mouthwatering imagery and restaurant recommendations. Top niche food hashtags include:
- #FoodPorn – 247 million tags
- #InstaFood – 154 million tags
- #Yummy – 138 million tags
#FashionBlogger
The style community obsessively tracks the Explore page for the latest outfit inspiration. Some of their go-to hashtags include:
- #OOTD – outfit of the day
- #StyleInspo – style inspiration
- #WhatIWore – documenting daily looks
#DogsofInstagram
Our furry friends continue to rule social media one wagging tail at a time. Viral pet hashtags include:
- #DogsofInstagram – 32 million tags
- #DogsOfTheWorld – 5 million tags
- #DogLife – 4.3 million tags
The most effective niche hashtags fuse creativity with analytical precision. Keep researching trending topics in your industry while also pioneering your own signature hashtags.
Tracking Hashtag Performance
While raw usage volumes indicate a hashtag’s popularity, brands need deeper analytics to optimize efforts. By benchmarking metrics like monthly trends and engagement rates, you gain crucial insights.
Key performance indicators to track include:
Usage Volume
Monthly searches show whether a hashtag has consistent staying power versus short viral bursts. For example:
- #Puppy:
- 930K average monthly searches
- Steady uplift over 3 years
- #IceBucketChallenge
- 424M height of viral peak
- Fizzled to obscurity
Engagement Rates
Measure likes and comments per post with a hashtag. Higher rates signal you intrigue audiences.
- #Kitten:
- 5,200 average likes per post
- 3.1% engagement rate
- #CatsOfInstagram
- 1,310 average likes per post
- 1.8% engagement rate
Let’s analyze a few famous hashtag examples:
| Hashtag | Avg Monthly Searches | Engagement Rate |
| #Sunset | 1.3M | 2.51% |
| #Beach | 684K | 3.12% |
| #Summer | 510K | 1.92% |
Writing Hashtag-Optimized Instagram Captions
Getting into the habit of research-backed hashtag selection is half the battle. But you also need to seamlessly blend hashtags into your Instagram captions themselves.
Unfortunately, many users still view hashtag-stuffed captions as intrusive spam. So how do you stand out from the hashtag herd?
Blend Branded & Generic
Strike a balance between your own branded hashtags and trending generic tags. For example:
“Relaxing lakeside this summer with my favorite pair of @nikes! #justdoit #lakevibes #summer #travel”
Theme Matches Image
Ensure hashtags directly relate to the visual content itself. Non-sequiturs come across bot-generated and inauthentic.
Space Out hashtags
Chunk long strings of hashtags into sections of 2-4 tags. Easier to parse than a single densely packed block.
Hide Extended Tags Behind “See More”
List your core relevant tags normally then bundle secondary tags behind “See More” to avoid clogging captions.
Punctuate Hashtags in Sentences
Don’t let hashtags distract from caption readability and tone. Blend them in through natural punctuation and speech patterns.
Writing Instagram-friendly hashtags descriptions is an nuanced art. But armed with the right data around usage and performance – your content is sure to engage the right crowds.
Instagram Hashtag Analytics and Management Tools
Thus far we’ve covered manual tactics for finding top trending hashtags and optimizing their use in campaigns. But a variety of tools exist to automate insights and scheduling.
Here are some top Instagram hashtag tools:
Iconosquare
Robust analytics for tracking hashtag performance over time. Features include:
- Historical usage and engagement data
- Compare hashtag sets head-to-head
- Automatic rankings of best/worst performers
Ritetag
Leading platform explicitly for managing branded hashtag campaigns. Offers:
- Centralized dashboard to control hashtags
- Campaign hashtag monitoring and reporting
- Competitor hashtag benchmarking
- Schedule future campaigns
AgoraPulse
Social media management platform great for listening into wider conversations. Can analyze hashtag usage by:
- Gender and language breakdowns
- Related mentions and keywords
- Influential profiles driving volume
Keyhole
Specialized real-time hashtag tracking perfect for viral launch monitoring. Highlights:
- Moment-by-moment search volumes
- Source breakdown (Stories vs. Feed)
- Related trending topics
- Shareable reporting
Finding Your First Viral Hashtag Success
Achieving a viral hashtag that spreads like wildfire is the golden ticket for brands looking for social media fame. While the exact formula for engineering a viral sensation is elusive, you can break down past viral hashtag case studies to replicate their success.
This section would outline a viral hashtag case study, analyze the key ingredients in its viral trajectory, and provide a step-by-step blueprint for launching your own viral campaign.
Leveraging Influencers and User-Generated Content
Influencers and UGC are major drivers that can take a hashtag from obscure to mainstream. This section could cover best practices for incentivizing influencers to participate in branded hashtag campaigns through contests and activations. The importance of user-generated content and organic adoption in making a hashtag stick would also be analyzed.
Instagram Hashtag Alternatives
While hashtags dominate Instagram metadata, other tools exist to optimize visibility including geotags, @mentions, emojis, and more. This section would provide a quick overview of alternative tactics that can supplement hashtag content distribution strategies.
Conclusion
After reviewing numerous examples of famous viral hashtags, niche tag best practices, performance tracking tactics, and creative content strategies – you now have an extensive toolkit to make your own hashtag shine.
The key Instagram hashtag takeaways include:
- Blend branded niche hashtags with perpetually viral generic tags to maximize reach
- Analyze usage volumes, monthly trends, and engagement rates to refine underperforming hashtags
- Incentivize influencers and user generated content to boost organic hashtag adoption
- Seamlessly integrate relevant hashtags into engaging, on-brand Instagram captions
- Consider advanced analytics and management platforms to streamline campaigns
While launching the next viral sensation takes a perfect storm of timing, creativity and luck – the foundations lie in research and commitment. Determine your target hashtag niche, audit the competition, set tangible metrics-driven goals and keep iterating until you start seeing traction.
