Having fun with #HASHTAGS

So much has changed, out here, and behind the scenes. Hence the long hiatus.

I'm dropping in to say HELLO.

I have been using Twitter for a while now and can be found @PearsonReport where I share a thought or two. With Twitter's 140 characters limit I can easily send out a quick tweet without investing the time normally needed to put a blog post together.

However, as I have said before I miss blogging and feel it's still a great way to share bits of our selves on a platform that has a few more options, as in more words, more pictures... a little more room for content.

Let me state, for the record, I do not do Facebook. Never felt the calling. I do feel the wine calling though! So, for me, it's a win-wine thing! LOL

As of 03/10/17, upon the encouragement of my daughter, Courtney, I have made the leap into the wide world of Instagram. Yet another bit of social media.

Will I last? I think so, as it seems the ideal in between fix - not quite a tweet, and not quite a blog post. I like it!

I can be found @jenny_pearson_report where I have, at the time of writing this, a total of 6 posts. Go me!  LOL

As with Twitter, and even out here on Blogger, I follow that which I know I will look at, read, enjoy and otherwise feel happy about investing time in. Please do not read anything into this, I only mean that as time is so limited I really keep my followings reigned in.

The reason for my visit here, today, is to share a little HASHTAG 101 on social media, in particular Instagram, and to a lesser degree Twitter.

I have discovered the real way to get exposure is not by worrying about your Followers, they will come and stay if the content is to their liking, but by knowing how to use HASHTAGS (#).

That's right... it's all in the hashtags. And how do I know this... well here, let me explain.

When I signed up with Instagram I had NO followers - stands to reason, right. So, the first thing I did was I followed my daughter's two accounts and a couple of friends. Okay, so far so good.

I then posted a picture of some colouring I am doing. Yes, you read that right. I am colouring a horse - call it mental relaxation therapy, as it is mindless and truly relaxing. I also find it is getting me comfortable with working with colours, and colour shading.

Here is the photo I used for my first Instagram post... click on it to see the bird on the back of the horse. I am still finishing this piece as the shading takes time. But, I'm in no rush.

When I posted this photo I used 6 hashtags in total.
The viewing potential was limited, and I received 4 likes, which I thought was so exciting.

It was during my 1st post and 4th post that I did some extensive Instagram research.

How does one get VIEWED... that was my question and I went searching for answers.

Did you know on Instagram you can use up to 30 hashtags - more and your post won't show any. I found this out during my research phase.

So, here is the picture for my 6th post...

During my wanderings around Instagram I found some incredible 2D drawings that looked like 3D. I was so fascinated by @willie_hsu_art version of this, which is totally amazing, that I had to figure it out.

NOW HERE'S THE EXCITING BIT... I used 29 hashtags, all art and drawing related.

I got 44 likes - and 9 followers (some from my 5th post as I employed my hashtag principle there too).

So... if you are on Instagram, and want more VIEWERS then you really need to focus on adding hashtags. (they work great with Twitter too - upping the exposure of Tweets)

Here's a little bonus... I made a hashtag folder in the Notes section on my iPhone - this take a few minutes to do, but I made up 3 different versions (portrait work, random sketching, and a LCHF version for my baking). This way I can copy and paste my hashtags without much fuss.

Yes, leave it to me to be that organized - time is money. Hashtagging takes time, so I've taken that step out of the process.


In closing... may I just say, I still visit, I seldom if ever comment, and I'll understand if you don't either, time being what it is - in short supply and running out fast.


That said... here is my question (yes, I still ask questions).

Do you use HASHTAGS, and if so do you find they help bring visitors to your social media sites, like Instagram and Twitter?