ID-100254848What’s a Hashtag? If you are not familiar with the hashtag, it is a keyword formatted with a # sign that is a tag so people can search for conversations on that topic on various social media sites.

For example, #marketing, #socialmedia and #pr are industry hashtags that help people find information about these topics.

It is important to note that a status should only include one or two hashtags, according to social media etiquette. Some people use too many hashtags and their updates get cluttered with hashtags.

Jimmy Fallon and Justin Timberlake’s hashtag skit made the term so popular that my fifth grade daughter came home the next day asking me what it meant.

Hashtags are commonly used on many sites like Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest and even Facebook. You can also see what hashtags are trending in real time at any given moment.

Today we will look at Instagram’s most popular hashtags.

Business Insider recently wrote an article “Instagram’s Most Popular Hashtags” and reviews a few of the weekly hashtags that are popular today.

Man Crush Monday (#MCM) – People post pictures of their male crushes from celebrities to spouses.

Transformation Tuesday (#TT) – A fitness hashtag showing people’s transformations in health.

Women Crush Wednesday (#WCW) – Another crush posting hashtag for females.

Throwback Thursday (#TBT or #throwbackthursday) – A fun throwback picture of you when you were younger.

Flashback Friday (#FF or #flashbackfriday) – Not as popular as #TT but still used.

Caturday (#caturday) – For cat lovers on Saturday. Heh.

Selfie Sunday (#selfiesunday) – Self explanatory!

Here is a real-time list of the top hashtags currently on Instagram.

Obviously these are curtailed to personal use and there is a business side of Instagram. And using your brand as a hashtag isn’t the only way to utilize hashtags on Instagram.

Check out the top 3 Instagram Trends for Marketers and see how businesses are utilizing what was once a consumer focused site.

How are you using Instagram for your business?

Image courtesy of bplanet / FreeDigitalPhotos.net