Everyone wants to use Instagram to book more clients… but we must begin by growing our audience and expanding our reach.

If you’re a photographer using Instagram, your goal is to get in front of new audiences with your beautiful artistry. But the truth is, you don’t really need to use Instagram itself to book more clients. Say whaaaat?!!?? It’s true. What we as photographers actually need to do is use Instagram hashtags to book more clients. That’s right, Sparkles! Your photography + Instagram + hashtags = more new clients. In a 2018 study, posts with at least one hashtag on Instagram performed 12.6% better than posts without.

Do you want 12.6% more people seeing your business posts? YES! Yes, you do.

How do you use Instagram hashtags to book more clients?

It’s essential that you research and find the right hashtags to use. And, believe it or not, researching hashtags is actually way easier than you think!  Here are some tips to get you started!

Study the trends!

Stalk other influencers, educators, and professionals in your niche and check out what hashtags they are using!  The big names often have the pulse of the industry and studying their strategy can be a wise move for your business!  It’s no substitute for doing your own research, but it’s a great starting point!

Now, I’ll NEVER encourage you to straight up copy them… not only is that lazy and unwise, it’s also a bit sleezy.  What’s working for their business might not work for your business.  Accounts with thousands of followers are going to have an easier time getting engagement and ranking with popular hashtags.  If you only have a few hundred or a few thousand followers, you’ll want to be targeting “smaller” hashtags to increase your chances of getting seen!  Plus, you NEVER know if the influencer you’re following has actually taken the time to study the hashtags they’re using…. so study the hashtags they are using, then dig deeper to find complementary tags that will help you grow your own audience.

Use the “Suggested” hashtags feature to discover what works!

Instagram helps you out big time with this one. Start searching for a particular hashtag, and Insta will automatically show you other hashtags that it thinks you’ll like. This is an amazing asset, so take note and take advantage!  You don’t want a hashtag that’s too huge, or your posts will never be seen. Along those lines, you also don’t want something too small that nobody is using – you won’t get noticed that way, either! Find something in the middle that seems to get a lot of interaction, and hop on that hashtag train!

Always put yourself in your client’s shoes!

If you’re looking for a restaurant while on vacation, hunting for a dress for an event, or trying to book a photographer for family photos – what hashtags would YOU search? Explore hashtags that your clients would use {perhaps even send out an email survey to your current clients asking them what words they would use to hunt for something online} to get in front of them. Taking a deep dive into your clients’ minds can be hugely beneficial to your business!

If you’ve ever taken the time to work on SEO or studied how to find effective keywords for your business, the strategy is EXACTLY the same here! Using #boisefamilyphotographer is going to get you WAY more traffic than #boisenaturallightphotographer – I promise!  If you’re using industry lingo you, most likely, are only going to attract other entrepreneurs.  While that’s nice… it’s also not necessarily going to get you more clients.  So think like your client!

Using the right hashtags isn’t enough on its own

Now that you’ve got the right hashtags and know how to use Instagram hashtags to book more clients, you’ve got to craft the right Instagram posts to go with them!!! I got your back here, so before we dig into fun ways to use your new favorite *smoking hot* hashtags, download my FREE pdf that has 30 social media posts for your photography business!

It will save you time AND get you feeling oh-so-confident with your social media strategy, I promise!

Cool ways to use Instagram hashtags to book more clients

Now that you’ve got your key hashtags lined up and some great Instagram post ideas to make them pop, you need a few cool ways to implement them and give your account some action! Here are some of my favorite tried-and-true ways to use these hashtags to get {or keep} new clients!

1. Leverage the ability to Follow hashtags!

Create or utilize a hashtag consistently to develop your brand! Encourage clients to follow it to get engagement and get discovered in that handy “suggested content” tool we discussed above.

2.  Put a clickable hashtag in your Instagram bio!

Leverage this by curating content with that hashtag, then use this as a booking tool {ie: “Follow #immersephotography to check out my portfolio”}! Similarly, use a separate hashtag build community {ie: “Use #immersemodels to be featured on my Instagram page!”}

3.  You have 30 hashtags – use them!

Use reliable, “old standby” hashtags and add them to your Instagram posts.  You can use up to 30 hashtags, and I suggest using ALL of 30 of them for maximum impact! This allows you to use different hashtag collections for different posts and purposes, thereby reaching some sub-niches within your niche.

4.  Remember to use hashtags in Instagram stories!

It seems so simple, but many people forget that they can also leverage the power of hashtags in Instagram stories!  These tags curate your content with everyone else who has used the same hashtag in the last 24 hours.  This is a fantastic way to connect, and get seen by, new people during an event, holiday or public celebration!

Bonus?  Use can use a hashtag “sticker” to make your tag look more aesthetically pleasing!

All right, Sparkles, now that you know how to use Instagram hashtags to book more clients, it’s time to get on it!

Don’t waste another second, my friends! Now that I’ve taken the guesswork out of the equation, you’ve got a proven formula for success. Get started with my 30 free proven social media posts, attach the right hashtags for your business, and get grammin’!!!

There are lots of RIGHT ways to do this…so don’t let fear of doing it wrong stop you! I can’t wait to see your fantastic hashtags and start glowing with pride over your gorgeous, hashtag savvy Insta posts!