Instagram. It’s fast become my newest social media obsession. I have fallen a little bit in love with the platform along with some of the most amazing Instagrammers who inspire me and add colour into my day with their story telling squares. But just how do you go about building your Instagram using Parenting Hashtags?
Back in December I really didn’t think much on the importance of Instagram or see it’s use as a blogging media platform for a parenting blogger blogging about her boys. But then a conversation made me look again. Each Instagram picture is a story in itself just like every blog post that I write. Each Instagram picture is a moment captured in time. Each Instagram is a piece of someone’s heart and soul. Instagram is an extension of me and my blog. Instagram is another way to tell my story of my boys and their childhood.
“To me, photography is an art of observation. It’s about finding something interesting in an ordinary place…I’ve found it has little to do with the things you see and everything to do with the way you see them.”
― Elliott Erwitt
From changing my perception I changed the way I approached Instagram and since then have doubled my Instagram following from 500 to 1000, and I am (hopefully) still growing. To me the whole purpose of putting my photos onto Instagram is to show your story to the world. Have the world engage with your story. And, most importantly, engage back with the world. Make sure that you engage with others who’s photos you find inspiring, who are using the same hashtags, be involved, take part in the community.
But how do you get your photos seen by the world?
Hashtags. Or more specifically in my case, parenting hashtags.
By using relevant, (parenting) hashtags you can get your photos seen by others posting similar pictures, looking at similar pictures and being involved in communities. I didn’t really know much about hashtags, and I’m still learning to be honest, but these are my favourites at the moment.
By asking questions and getting some tips from the best I now write my Instagram post and then comment with a few (okay a LOT) of hashtags. You can’t have any more than thirty per post and apparently the optimum number is eleven. Seeing as the optimum number is 11 I thought that today I would share my eleven favourite parenting hashtags for Instagram.
My 11 Favourite Parenting Hashtags
1. #candid childhood
Seeing as my boys are rubbish at posing for photos, with cross eyes and lopsided grins, the majority of my photos are taken while they aren’t looking. Truly capturing the moment. This hashtag is linked through with @candidchildhood who also feature the best photos from this parenting hashtag.
2. #littlefierceones
A lovely community started by Mr and Mrs T Plus 3 and You Baby Me Mummy, based around the quote:
And though she be but little, she is fierce
Any picture of your children being their fierce selves goes. And as my gallery is all my boys I tend to use this a lot! A chance to be featured weekly, with both Amy and Aby picking their top 3 photos from the community then sharing on their respective Instagram and blogs gives your gallery yet more exposure. This photo of the Baby at Christmas was one of Amy’s picks for her week four round up.
There is no sound more joyful than baby giggles, and we had baby giggles a plenty when we were busy posing for Christmas pictures and the tinsel tickled the tickly Baby. A photo posted by Laura | Life with Baby Kicks (@laura_babykicks) on
3. #love
One of the most popular hashtags on Instagram with nearly 882 million tags and counting. Who doesn’t love baby toes?
4. #childofig
A community for, unsurprisingly, the children of Instagram under @childrenofinstagram. You will find many stunning shots from the everyday moments to the extraordinary. By using the hashtag you can be featured on their gallery and alongside that there are themes running for particular photo types such as the family photo #coi_family.
The world is your oyster….. Today’s @pocruises stop was Jamaica so we spent some time at the beach. My three boys looking out across the waves as I sat on the sandy shores watching as the Big One gazed out in wonder. A photo posted by Laura | Life with Baby Kicks (@laura_babykicks) on
5. #myhappycapture
Started by two of my favourite bloggers and Instagrammers; What Katy Said and Quite Frankly She Said, Sian and Katy want you to share any moment that has made you smile or be happy. Whatever it may be. I love this #MyHappyCapture from Mrs H’s Favourite Things:
6. #lifecloseup
A lot of my photos are close up portraits of the boys so this one is right up my street. I love close up photography and this hashtag from Lets Talk Mommy has a lovely community feel with a chance to be featured weekly.
HAPPY SUNDAY!! Here are my favorite instagrammers this week on #lifecloseup come see their amazing feeds and be inspired. Remember anyone can join in with a zoomed in capture just use hashtag it can be anything! Great way to make more ig friends and get sharing!! Don’t forget to come say hello!!! A photo posted by Jenny Taylor (@letstalkmommy) on
7. #childhoodunplugged
With so much technology being available to little ones compared to when we were young it can be all too easy to spend day after day “plugged in”. I love sharing our moments when we’ve blown off the cobwebs and really got back to basic without the use of the TV or iPad, painted big pictures on the floor, splashed in muddy puddles. Captured the memories of my boys childhood that I have of my own.
8. #nothingisordinary
Because nothing in life is ordinary. There are also themes which run frequently by @nothingisordinary_ with a chance to feature from the theme as well as from the main hashtag. This photo of the Big One featured for the emotive theme day (#nio_emotive)
You’re never too old to need a cuddle from a new friend. Especially when your new friend has the softest of ears and gives the best snuggles when you’re tired. And our brand new Bunny from @lamilloume is perfect for tiny heads to rest against, it’s ears perfect for little fingers to stroke, a perfect sleepy companion for my little sleepy boy who’s struggling with no naptime today. #lamillou A photo posted by Laura | Life with Baby Kicks (@laura_babykicks) on
9. #our_everyday_moments
It’s very easy to share the exotic and the exciting photos, the ones that make your heart sing. But the everyday moments can be just as beautiful.
Getting our festive bake on making gingerbread to take into nursery. Something tells me we’re going to be sticky with our newfound love of #lylesgoldensyrup A photo posted by Laura | Life with Baby Kicks (@laura_babykicks) on
10. #inspiringtravelspics
A new hashtag on the block for the new year, hosted by Ickle Pickle and Zenas Suitcase. A lovely place to showcase all your travelling photos, and being the wanderlust travel lovers we are, perfect for me. Not only that, when you scroll through the hashtag you get the urge to jump on a plane to go explore the world IMMEDIATELY.
It turns out we have a little surf dude on our hands! A photo posted by Laura | Life with Baby Kicks (@laura_babykicks) on
11. #littlestoriesofmylife
Because after all, that’s what Instagram is. And what better story could I ask for than my littlest man sat in the white sandy beaches of Jamaica as we enjoyed our family holiday cruise together?
“Once a year, go someplace you’ve never been before” ~~ Dalai Lama ~~ We’re back home and suffering from jetlag following our cruise out on @pocruises #Azura touring the beautiful Caribbean. Some may say that the distance we travelled and the time difference was too much effort but I don’t agree. We got to explore a beautiful part of the world that we haven’t been too before whilst spending time together as a family, new sights, new sensations, new countries. A photo posted by Laura | Life with Baby Kicks (@laura_babykicks) on
What is your favourite Instagram Parenting Hashtag? I’d love to know in the comments, or even let me know on Instagram!
I’ve really grown to love Instagram in the last couple of months. My engagement has more than tripled since I started using decent hashtags and joining in with the communities. I definitely see it as an extension of my blog now, and only post my best photos and make sure each one tells a story. I’m not a natural photographer, but really paying attention to photos I love and working out what is good about them has helped me develop my own photography skills. It’s been lovely to connect with you on IG so I was interested to read this post (cardiffmummysays) xx
Author
I’m exactly the same with engagement on mine and I’m not a natural photographer either. I love your gallery all your photos tell a beautiful story and each one makes me smile, I love the muddy walk photo!! X
I find IG confusing although I love the immediacy of it. I was using my own abstract hashtags for a while before realising (or so I thought) that I was being a nonce and was meant to use recognised hashtags. Now I’m wondering if that was correct as your hashtags are not ‘standard’ ones like #instakid or #happyfamily etc It’s a minefield. Thanks for this post x
Author
I think it took me a while to think of it as a kind of mini blog post in its own right. I like made up hashtags as well but they definitely don’t drive people to find your photos. These are all community based rather than the ones that are used by millions where your post can get lost in the storm! X
I LOVE this post. What a great round up. I often don’t realise the people who created the hashtags exist. As so many hashtags are randomly added too. Really interesting. I’m going to check out some of these for sure xxx
Author
I think you’re right so many are random, then some of them grow so quickly that the people behind them get lost. I love the ones where I can interact with the people who started them xx
I do use quite a few hashtags on my ig posts – some of those I do use. Not used others though so will give them a go! thanks for sharing x
Thanks for this, so helpful!! I resisted Instagram for ages, slightly worried that I would get addicted to it like I did FB and I was right to be concerned – totally addicted now!! But completely unsavvy with all these hashtags, I usually make them up and just use the same ones but hadn’t fully appreciated the value of linking in with a wider movement. My IG following has surpassed my FB following now so I definitely see the value in it and I think you can grow an IG following quicker than FB. I’ll be having a think about how I plan my posts now! One question – do you also share all your IG posts to your FB page?
Author
I don’t share all my IG on my Facebook, maybe 1 in 10? I try to keep them separate as I think different platforms warrant different things. Same way I don’t auto post Twitter/FB.
Such great tips. Instagram is my favourite platform by far. I love it xx
Author
It’s fast becoming mine as well though I’ll always have a soft spot for FB!
Aaahhhhh – I nearly fell off my chair when I saw my hashtag that I launched with Zena – thank you so much for sharing lovely. We are amongst fantastic company! Great post 🙂 Kaz x
Author
I lost over an hour to your hashtag when I found it!!! X
Ohhh i love these hashtags. Some of them I didn’t know, but I’ll be sure to use them from now on. I’ve just started one called #curiouslittleexplorers for any outdoor family posts. I’d love for you to join in. xxx
Author
Ooh I will do! Majority of my photos are outside of my little ones exploring! X
Oh dear. Ive never used any of these! Clearly I need to up my game!
Thanks for sharing 🙂
Author
I think it depends on how you use IG. These are some of my favourite communities!
I love instagram and this is a great collections. Thanks for sharing, Im going to have to follow them all now! #thelist
These are great, I’ve not heard of some of these. I’m rubbish with hashtags; I keep forgetting to add them, or when I do think of it I am completely uninspired as to what to add! WIll keep a list of these!
This is fantastic and thank you for sharing. I never know what hashtags to use on IG or how to best use it. #thelist
This is a fantastic list. I’ve only recently got to grips with IG and I am loving it but like many others I make up hastags or use the usual. I’m definitely going to be using these (and #curiouslittleexplorers!) #thelist
Great advice Laura, #s really do work on Instagram. I can’t use any of these as I’m not a parent 🙁 but I do plan on investigating which ones will work best for me when I have 5 minutes spare (so probably around 2020 then lol). Thanks for hosting #blogstorm
Debbie
Author
Haha! Very true Debbie. #love works for you – it’s very popular and can be anything. Another one I’ve seen is #ontheblog #lovemyblog. There’s also #onefromthecuttingroomfloor and #widn which are lovely tagging hashtags!
I wasn’t aware of all these hashtags. Thanks for sharing. I must keep an eye out for them. I’m awful when it comes to adding #’s #thelist
Thanks for writing this. I am pretty crap with instagram, I never really know what # to use. I haven’t heard of any of these apart from #littlefierceones, I am going to save this post so I don’t forget them. Love the idea of a picture being like a mini blog post and that these #’s have a lovely community feel to them xx #TheList
Instagram is my favourite social media platform. It’s so addictive.
Will have to make a note of these – never know what to hashtag my pictures – thanks
What a brilliant post. Thanks so much for sharing. I never know which hashtags to use, so this is so helpful. I am going to write them all down now. Oh, and thank you so much for featuring my picture. That is so kind of you. I do love that photo. Hugs Lucy xxxx
Instagram is out favourite so it’s great to read about hashtags as we don’t really use them. Starting to now though, thank you 🙂
Ooh, handy stuff, thanks Laura! I only started using Instagram last year and love it. However, my hashtagging has been a bit random. I’ll see if any of these work for me! #thelist
Fab! There are a few here I didn’t know about so I’m definitely going to pin for reference! Ray x #TheList
Thankyou so much for making this post, very useful, I will be saving it for future reference, I join in with little fierce ones occasionally and I also follow the candid childhood one but I had no clue about the other ones, great post #TheList
Pauline x
Wow! Thank you so much for this incredible info. I have pin! I will not make use of these hashtags. Thank you again! x #TheList
As you know I LOVE instagram and recently had an epiphany about it all. I am amazed that people moan about a lack of likes or engagement and don’t use hashtags. How are people meant to find them. I actually have a post on hashtags almost ready for publishing so great minds 🙂 Thanks for including LFOs xx
When I first started Instagram I barely used it but then three months everything changed and my following tripled. I now stand at 1. 9 K followers with a lot of engagement and I might not have many followers but considering I have only been on Instagram 5 months and used it properly for three I think that is pretty good going!
I just love instagram, it is such a lovely place to spend time and be inspired. x