One cool thing that you can do on Instagram is to follow hashtags, which can be great for a variety of reasons. The main reason I use it is for inspiration, I have gone through different photographers posts and looked at their hashtags and gone from there many times. I want to see what other people are creating on that theme basically. Once you click on it there are typically others recommended below that might be worth checking out as well.
Another type of hashtag to follow would be a branded one, maybe it’s the actual brand name or a catchphrase type hashtag. If you have a particular brand of camera or accessories like a bag, that can be a fun way to see what others are doing and hopefully be inspired by that. This branded hashtag could also be one you personally use for your work or business, that’s something you probably want to keep an eye on and maybe you will get some really cool user-generated content worth sharing and reposting.
Looking at other hashtags that are often included along with the one you are following can give you insights into how people might categorize the type of work on a niche level. You can also see what hashtags actually get content reposted to specific profiles, which can be a great way to expand the reach of your profile. This might require some extra work and looking at the associated profile to see if any of the top or even recent posts under that hashtag have actually been shared on the profile that is requesting the use of the hashtag. This can also point out which hashtags are relatively worthless in these regards if they’re just flooded by the thousands and the content is all over the place.
I definitely am not a master at utilizing hashtags for my own work, but I think they can be a great tool in a different way than we might typically think of them when you start following them. I think it can be really rewarding to see what others share and discover new creators and perspectives that you might easily miss if you just stick with following individual profiles. They are also fun to look through and get a feel for what a particular hashtag might represent to the masses.
Give it a try, share what you discover.