The best hashtags for those that work within the interior design industry can be hard to identify and overwhelming to research. With algorithms always changing, it’s more important than ever to be switching up the hashtags you're using and focus on niching them. Here is the formula I use and recommend to both my students and 1:1 clients when they are looking to grow their social media presence.

It is important not to set your hashtags and then forget about them, you need to spend time researching, curating and testing hashtags each month. There is a specific formula to optimising a hashtag strategy that combines both largely followed hashtags with strategic and targeted ones.

Try This Formula:

• 10 Largely Followed, Popular Hashtags in Your Industry - thesehashtags likely have 250,000+ posts to them
• 10 Industry Specific, Carefully Curated Hashtags - these hashtags are likely “hosted” hashtags from fellow designers or brands with a similar aesthetic.
• 5 Location + Industry Specific Hashtags - for example: #londoninteriordesigner or #interiordesignlondon
• 5 Tags Specific to the Image - if it’s a neutral and contemporary living room, use #neutrallivingroom #contemporarylivingroom

Instagram reports that posts with 11 hashtags perform the best, however, I believe that statistic is taken out of context. If Instagram is taking an average of posts with all 30 hashtags used (the maximum number allowed), plus all of the posts with no hashtags used (such as personal, private accounts), the average would naturally fall somewhere between 10-20 hashtags.

I have found that using all 30 hashtags, especially as an interior design brand, is imperative to rapid growth development. Generally speaking, I add the hashtags to the comments section and approx 1 hour after the initial post to re-engage and re-boost the post.

Bonus Tip! Include hashtags in your stories. Use one or two key hashtags in your stories to increase visibility. (You can scale these down in size so they aren't noticeably visible).

Hope this helps you gain more reach and more engagement on your account. Remember to always look at your business analytics and engagement is a two way street: you get what you give. So, if your goal is to see more engagement, make sure you’re liking posts, commenting, answering polls etc.