Instagram search: 5 untapped features you need to know about

How do I search for someone on instagram? How to search on instagram? How to use instagram search associates?

Instagram places great importance on instagram account search and content discovery.

It's one of the few social media platforms whose app features a "search and discovery" tab.

Appearing in the instagram search results or in the "Explore" section of'Instagram can be a great way to increase your visibility.

This offers you the chance to reach new users who have an interest in the content you offer and might not have seen your content otherwise.

There are also several other ways to use Instagram search and exploration for your business:

• find the best hashtags to use_
• engage your followers,
• find influencers to collaborate with

or simply

search for an instagram account

.

In this article, you'll learn all the ways to use instagram search and discovery to help your business succeed on Instagram.

What you'll learn about instagram search for your business

For ease of reading, this article has been divided into five chapters, each detailing one way to use instagram search or discovery for your business.

How instagram search and discovery works

Let's first understand what you can search and explore on Instagram. Tap the magnifying glass icon to access the search and explore tab.

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Search

Just tap the search bar to launch the search. You can search on the following:

• Top (i.e. anything highlighted by the instagram algorithm following the news).
• People (i.e. other Instagram users).
• Tags (Hashtags).
• Locations (c'i.e. location tags on posts or es stories).

You can also search on the Instagram website.

The only difference is that you can't search for keywords by category (e.g. people or tags) on the website. One solution is to add "@" or "#" before your keywords when searching for people or hashtags respectively.

Here's how Instagram determines your search results:The instagram search results you get are based on a variety of factors. Including who you follow, who you're in a relationship with and what photos and videos you like on Instagram.

When you tap on a username in the search results, you'll be taken to the user's profile.

When you tap on a hashtag or location tag, you'll see photos with the hashtag or location tag. There will be nine posts at the top of the list, followed by all the photos starting with the most recent photo.

Instagram discovery

Below the search bar is the "Découverte" section. This section lets you discover posts that might interest you based on your activities, and Instagram news.

Posts are selected automatically based on criteria such as people you follow or photos you like.

You can also see video channels, which include posts from a mix of manually and automatically selected accounts. These are based on topics we think you'll enjoy.

Let's now look at how you can use Instagram's search and explore feature for your business.

How to appear on the search tab on Instagram?

Participating in instagram search results, or in the "Explore" section of your target audience, helps expose your account to people outside your subscriber base. You may also get more engagement on your posts and gain more followers.

To appear in Instagram's search and explore results, try these four ideas:

1. Add a location tag and (nine) hashtags

In order for your posts and stories to appear in a search result, you'll need to add a location tag or hashtags to your post.

To add a location tag to a post, tap on one of the suggested locations as you prepare your post.

If the location you want to tag isn't suggested, click "Add Location" to search for the location you want. If you don't know how to put your city on instagram, you can create a location.

To add a location tag to a story, press the stickers option, then the location tag.

To add a hashtag to a post, simply type "#" and the corresponding keyword, such as #landscape, #weekend or #boostfluence.

To add a hashtag to a story, tap on the'sticker option, then on the'hashtag sticker. Or tap on the text option and type in a hashtag. Instagram recommends relevant hashtags as you type.

You can add up to 30 hashtags per post. But studies show that Instagram posts with 9 hashtags perform best when it comes to engagement.

To find the best hashtags to use, you can try tools like Display Purposes.

We also invite you to read this article dedicated to hashtags. In the next section, you'll also learn how to use instagram search to find the best hashtags.

2. Timing your posts

When you access an instagram search result, the last post made appears first. With the exception of the most important posts.

To optimize your posts for instagram search. You need to post when your target audience is most active (when they're scrolling through Instagram and searching for posts).

This way, there's a better chance that your post will appear at the top of search results for photos and videos on Instagram.

If you have a pro Instagram account, you can find the day and time of a typical day when your followers are most active. Thanks to your Instagram statistics.

(We're assuming that the activity of your followers is representative of the activity of your target audience, which I think is a safe assumption).

3. Create relevant, quality content

When you do a search on instagram, the top 9 posts take up the most space.

According to Instagram, the best posts are selected according to their popularity. That's to say, engagements such as likes, comments and shares.

So the best way to get your posts featured in the Top Posts section is to create interesting and relevant content that will pique your readers'interest.

(Also consider including a location tag or hashtag in your posts so that'it appears in a search result).

Here are some tips for creating content that could become a Top Post:

- Use high-resolution photos. We've noticed that high-resolution photos on Instagram tend to receive more likes and comments.- Use a niche hashtag that your target audience follows. Since there's less competition for the hashtag, there's a better chance your post will land in the Top Posts section.

4. Lives

Instagram presents the best live videos in the search and explore tab.

It's true that presenting your live video in the search and explore tab can be much harder to achieve than the other tips above. But it's definitely worth a try!

The live videos featured are those that are trending due to viewer numbers, engagement and user proximity.

Here are some ideas on how to use live videos from'Instagram:

• Office hours or Q&A sessions
• Launches and announcements
• Take people behind the scenes
• Interviews, collaborations and takeovers
• Experimental content

Follow this link if you're looking for more information about how to appear in someone's instagram suggestions.

Search instagram for the best hashtags

Including hashtags in your post or story increases engagement levels.

Including the right hashtags ensures that your post or story will appear in instagram search results; For your target audience or in the Explore section.

Here are two ways to'use Instagram search to find the best hashtags to use:

1. Instagram search results

When you enter a word or phrase in the search box and select "hashtags". Instagram will display a list of hashtags related to the word or phrase (i.e. the search results).

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For example, a Korean restaurant owner could search for "korean food" and find relevant hashtags in the search results.

Instagram will also display the number of posts for each hashtag. This tells you how popular that hashtag is and how much competition there may be on it.

Allen Harper, a photographer who has written about using Instagram hashtags, has suggested avoiding very popular hashtags.

We do indeed recommend that you don't use only popular hashtags. But to vary the types of hashtags you use by varying between very popular hashtags, niche hashtags and hashtags that represent your account.

To master this topic to perfection we recommend you follow the instagram training, instaschool.

2. Related hashtags

When you tap on a hashtag search result, Instagram will suggest related hashtags at the top of the app.

For example, the owner of a running shoe store might search for "runner", tap on "#runner" and see these suggestions:

From there, it could explore related hashtags and check how popular the hashtag is and how often it's used. Sometimes Instagram suggests related hashtags that don't appear in the search results (method 1 above). If you can't find the hashtag you want to use with the first method, try this method.

How to use instagram search to engage your followers

Your followers might publish posts about your business on Instagram without tagging your account.

Since they haven't tagged your account, you might not even know it.

But if they are using your brand hashtags or location tag, you can still find these posts through the instagram search system, comment on them, see even re-share them.

1. Involve fans who use your brand hashtags

If you've created hashtags for your brand and encouraged fans to use them, you need to follow and interact with their posts or storys.

The most common ways to interact with this type of user-generated content are:

• Like
• Comment
• Repost
• It on your website

For example, Alpenglow suggests its users include #alpenglowapp in their posts and publish their photos.

One step further...You can also view and participate in posts and stories with hashtags relevant to your brand.

For example, a cafe might post hashtags such as #coffeeoftheday, #coffeetime and #instacoffee.

If you want to leave comments, it's important to leave thoughtful comments.

Leaving short, generic comments (e.g., "Awesome!) and emoji comments (e.g. ";)") can come across as insincere. In fact, we recommend you do the same when using boostfluence.

Now that you can search for stories with hashtags on instagram. I think it'd be great to surprise followers by responding to content they post about you or your industry.

Take advantage of Instagram's stories search feature to seize the opportunity before it becomes common practice.

2. Engage followers in your local area

This tip is more suited to local businesses such as cafes, restaurants and hotels than to online businesses.

If you have a location tag for your businesses, I'd recommend checking it regularly to see if your customers have posted photos to your place.

If they have, you can thank them or ask them if they enjoyed the food, stay or experience.

If you don't have a location tag for your businesses, here are the steps to create your instagram location.

You can also search for nearby locations, for example points of interest where your target audience might visit (and take photos for Instagram).To do this in an automated way we recommend using the target person on the Boostfluence app.

Do an instagram search to find influencers

The final way to use Instagram search for your business, is to find Instagram influencers you'd like to collaborate with.

82% of consumers are "very likely" to follow a recommendation made by a micro-influencer. This compares with 73% who are "very likely" to act on a recommendation from an average person.

Here are five ways to find such influencers on Instagram:

1. Searching for people

The first method is to select the category "People" and search for instagram accounts using relevant keywords.

For example, a restaurant might search for "food" and see the following search results:

This method can be very useful for local businesses. This is because Instagram customizes your search results based on your location and the profiles you follow.

The three profiles mentioned above are all food bloggers.

2. Searching for followers

The second way is to use your list of followers to search for instagram accounts that have influence.

If you have a small number of followers, you could look at each of your subscribers.

If you have too many followers to do this, we recommend looking at profiles with the keyword in their username or instagram name.

A healthy food restaurant like Righteous Food, might look for usernames with "food" or "foodie" in their follower list.

3. Searching for location tags and hashtags

The third method involves searching instagram for relevant location tags and hashtags and consulting the profiles of top posts.

Searching for influencers via location tags is effective for local businesses. Whereas searching for influencers via hashtags, is more effective for finding niche influencers such as fitness or food bloggers.

For example, a small business owner who sells running equipment, might search for "#instarunners" and view the following posts:

He could then consult the best posts, as these are more likely to come from users with a significant number of followers.

4. Explore section

The fourth way, is to use the "Explore" section, which curates the most relevant Instagram posts for your account. And this is based on factors such as the people you follow and the posts you like.

This method can be the most effective, as it's based on your instagram history.

If you've interacted with content relevant to your account or industry. Instagram has essentially done the research for you!

5. Similar accounts

The fifth way is to use Instagram recommendations, to search for similar accounts.

When you've found a potential influencer partner and followed them, Instagram will suggest similar accounts to follow.

If the suggestions don't appear, you can tap on the down arrow next to "Follow" to see the suggestions.

For example, a fitness clothing retailer, might follow a fitness blogger and see the following suggestions:

This method is ideal if you've already found a suitable influencer and want to find more influencers like him.

To learn more about how influencers work, check out this article detailing how they find their partnerships.

How to use Instagram search?

Here are the different ways to'use Instagram search and discovery for your instagram account:

• Like
• Comment
• Repost
• Present on your website

We hope this article has helped you learn more about this instagram search feature and help you grow your account. Discover here 27 tips for gaining instagram subscribers.