Hello, fellow creatives! September’s the time to warm up your colour palette, gather seasonal props and pepper your posts with autumnal hashtags. That’s exactly what I’ve been doing over the past week and I couldn't be happier - autumn is my favourite season!
I originally wrote this post in 2019, but I've updated it with accurate information for 2022 since Instagram have changed their recommendations for where to put hashtags, and how many to use, amongst other things.
As well as being a bookbinder @BoundByHand I’m also a freelance content editor. That means I spend a fair bit of my time devising social media strategies and optimising content for search engines. So, in the spirit of #CommunityOverCompetition, here are my top hashtags for autumn plus a few crucial tips for boosting your Instagram strategy.
You'll find the full list of hashtags at the bottom of this page, but I strongly recommend you read this whole blog post. Because if you really want to optimise your hashtag strategy, you need to know more than which hashtags to use. But don't worry, it's not complicated. This is a straightforward guide to everything you need to know about hashtag volume, quantity, placing, and strategic use.
The most effective Instagram strategies use a mixture of high, medium, and low-volume hashtags. In other words, a combination of very popular hashtags used hundreds of thousands of times (some go into the millions), along with less-used or newer hashtags appearing a thousand or few hundred times, plus some in the middle.
You might think that a very low-volume hashtag, say 100 posts, won't give you much exposure. Actually, because there's less competition, your gorgeous image is more likely to shoot straight to the prime spot in Instagram’s ‘Top’ gallery, and stay around longer in the 'Recent' gallery. Also, niche hashtags attract much greater engagement (likes, comments and follows) than super popular ones.
So is it worth using high-volume hashtags at all? Unless you have a very large following, you're likely to be a tiny fish in the ocean of #stylingtheseasons, for example. But yes, it is worth using a few pretty popular hashtags. Because if you do happen to catch the moment with a captivating image, you’ll enjoy exceptional exposure.
The old advice was to use up to 30 hashtags per post, so there was plenty of opportunity to mix up hashtags for maximum reach. Some suggested 9 was the optimum number, others advised using no more than 13. Confused, much? Well, tThese days (brace yourself), 3-5 seems to be the optimum number.
Use a combination of general seasonal hashtags (e.g. #slowsimpleseasonal), autumnal hashtags (e.g. #myodetoautumn), and those specific to your content. If you’re a fibre artist there's #autumnknitting; if illustration’s your thing, try #autumnillustration; or if it’s embroidery, #britishstitchersautumn. You get the idea!
Not so long ago, most of us knew to put our hashtags in a comment; that way our captions were kept for the engaging and informative stuff we wanted to share with our community. But now, it's best to put the hashtags in the caption itself. Keep them at the end, rather than crowding the body of the caption with hashtags. You can always separate out the caption and hashtags with a few full stops if you want to. Click here for an example.
As a creative, you know all about authenticity. Your work flows from your heart, it's an expression of your unique way of perceiving the world. Make sure your hashtags are authentic, too. They should relate to your image and express your overall vision for your creativity and your account. Don't be tempted to use popular but irrelevant hashtags in a desperate bid to get likes and attract followers. Authenticity builds trust, and trust is key to nurturing an ongoing relationship with your followers.
Talking of relationships, they’re a two-way thing, aren’t they? So spend a little time engaging with the hashtags you use. Look at their ‘Top’ and ‘Recent’ galleries and like and comment on the posts you find most inspiring, and follow a few accounts. This tells Instagram you're not spamming with hashtags.
Following hashtags is an efficient way to do this. Instagram will pop a few fresh posts tagged with those hashtags into your feed, often from accounts you don't follow. So, as a bonus, you discover new creatives.
Taking part in challenges injects a dose of inspiration into your creativity and boosts your engagement, too. #helloautumnweek run by illustrator @ruthhammondillustration and pals takes place 23-29 September with seasonal prompts for illustrators on each day of that week.
Why not search Instagram for a challenge relevant to your creativity? Or start your own - all you need is a theme and a hashtag! It's a great way to build an engaged community and drive traffic to your account. You can share the top posts of the people taking part in your challenge, with the caveat that they follow your account, of course!
And so, to the season. If you’re a creative these hashtags will help you mark the change in season, celebrate autumn's colour palette and connect with other creatives. Because ultimately, isn't Instagram about forging relationships? I'd like to think so, anyway.
I compiled this list in 2019 when I originally published this blog post. That means that there will be newer hashtags you can use. It's easy to discover them, just use Instagram's search feature and type in 'autumn', 'fall', 'September' (October / November) for up to date suggestions. It also means that the volumes below may have changed, but I would expect it's still a good rule of thumb.
#upandautumn
#stylingtheseasons
#savourtheseasonalshift
#autumnlove
#myseasonalstory
#aseasonalshift
#thatautumnmagic
#embracingtheseasons
#helloautumn
#autumnpalette
#autumncrafts
#mystoryofautumn
#savouringtheseasons
#openuptoautumn
#readyforautumn
#myodetoautumn
#slowsimpleseasonal
#intentionalseasons
#createinautumn
#aquietstyle_autumn
#thequietautumn
#makingautumn
#makingtheseasons
#seasonalcrafting
#seasonalcrafting_autumn
#huntingforautumn
Don't forget to use hashtags in your Reels captions and also pop an autumnal hashtag in your Stories, too! If you've found this blog post helpful, why not leave a comment below? I'd love to connect with you on Instagram, too - I'm @boundbyhand
Susan
info@boundbyhand.co.uk
+44 (0)7748 759371
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Melanie
September 24, 2019
Great blog post Susan… informative and helpful.
Thanks Mel