Since i originally posted this, the question has changed – it should now be “Should I use Hashtags on my school’s Instagram account?”
The answer is yes, but do not expect them to make a big difference to the reach of your posts. Instagram is now focusing on SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) to help it decide which posts and reels to show to people. So using a few hashtags may help Instagram understand what your posts and reels are about, but the actual caption needs to also contain the keywords that people are searching for.
Many school marketers go about using Instagram hashtags the wrong way. They focus on those with a high number of results on Instagram, which are often too generic. This means that they have little chance of their Instagram post appearing in the search results, and that the people using those hashtags are not really ready to take action, as they are not making a specific search.
So someone searching for #SurreySchools is looking for a school in Surrey, where as someone just searching #schools or #education is not looking for anything very specific. (Incidentally, the same rules apply for Search Engine Optimisation, so consider this when writing the captions for your posts and the captions on your reel videos).
A further indication of the declining importance of hashtags is that the Insights on individual posts no longer show how many people viewed that post from hashtags. This used to be a useful indication of whether your hashtags were helping you reach new accounts, but it is no longer available.
If you are wondering which Instagram hashtags to use for school marketing, I have researched a list of useful hashtags specifically for schools, which you can download for free below. It also covers some of the options for local search, which are particularly important for day schools and state schools.
Note that this list focuses on those that parents are most likely to use, rather than those often used by teachers looking for educational materials or information.
If you would like to learn more about how to use Instagram to market your school, check out our Social Media Marketing for Schools Courses
Download the Instagram Hashtags for Schools Cheat Sheet