The coffee market in the United States has experienced an unprecedented boom in recent years. There are currently about 33,000 coffee shops in the country and their numbers are constantly growing. More than 150 million people drink coffee here every day, and each coffee drinker consumes about 3.1 cups a day. This means that Americans consume a total of 465 million cups of coffee each day.
Looking at these numbers, it’s not surprising that most of us are coffee lovers.
When you’re passionate about something, you want to share it with the world – and social media provides the perfect platform to do just that. But just posting a cool photo of your coffee on Instagram isn’t enough to grab the attention of coffee addicts around the world. You will also need popular hashtags that best describe the content of your photo.
Getting Started with the Basics
Now that you’re posting a coffee photo, the hashtag #coffee would be the obvious first choice.
But the thing is – as of this writing, there are over 91 million posts using this hashtag. At the same time last year, there were only 64 million, which means that last year, more than 73,000 new photos were tagged with the hashtag #coffee every day. That’s a lot of competition, especially if you’re new to Instagram and haven’t yet built a large following.
While using #coffee in your posts is fine, you should definitely combine it with other, more relevant hashtags. For example, you can specify the type of coffee in the photo.
Let’s say you drink Arabica coffee, a very popular variety among coffee lovers.
Here are a few possible options.
With 431,000+ photos, #arabica might be a good choice – relevant but not very competitive. The hashtag #arabicacoffee is also a good option, especially since it currently uses less than 150,000 photos. But since people are more likely to search for #arabica than #arabicacoffee, it may be a better choice to go with the former. You would do the same with any other type of coffee.
Note that some hashtags have millions of photos under them, so it may be best to find a less competitive alternative. For example, #cappuccino has over 4.5 million photos, but #cappuccino, which is plural, has a little over 22,000 photos. You can also choose a two-word hashtag like #cappuccinolover, #cappuccinoaddict or #cappuccinotime – all three are highly relevant and not particularly competitive.
Label Ideas:
#arabica, #arabicacoffee, #caffeinefix, #cappuccino, #cappuccinotime, #coffee, #coffeebean, #coffeebeans, #coffeebreak, #coffeeculture, #coffeeoclock, #coffeeshots, #coffeetime, #cappuccino, #espresso, #frappe, #frappuccino , #tazekahve, #icedkahve, #latte, #latteart, #machiatto, #mocha, #morningcoffee, #needcoffee, #timeforcoffee
Getting into Details
Now that you’re armed with the basics, it’s time to make your hashtag choices more specific. The best way to do this is to address some questions people might have about the photo you’re sharing.
First, it’s always good to indicate where you took the photo. Of course, you should include the name of the restaurant or coffee shop in the location field so that followers can easily find your photo. But to reach a wider audience, you should also use a location-specific hashtag.
The usual options include #coffeebar and #coffeehouse. #coffeeshop already has over a million posts, so it might be too competitive to use on its own. Therefore, if you took the photo in a cafe, it may be better to use the plural form in your hashtag (#coffeeshops).
If you want to highlight the mug as well as the coffee, you should use a relevant label. People most often use #coffee mugs and/or #coffee mugs, both of which are highly competitive. But since you will only be using them in combination with other hashtags, you can leave them as is. Alternatively, you may choose to use the plural forms once again, as the competition is much less.
Label Ideas:
#cafe, #coffeebar, #coffeeclub, #coffeecup, #coffeehouse, #coffeemug, #coffeeshop, #coffeeshops, #mug, #starbucks
Introduce yourself
Finally, you should introduce yourself in the form of hashtags, as many people who come across your photo do not know you. Since coffee is the star of your photo, you may want to use hashtags to describe your relationship with coffee.
Some of the most popular choices are #coffee addict, #coffee lover, and #coffee lover. But since people use these hashtags quite often, they are also very competitive. As always, consider using the plural form or replacing the word coffee with caffeine. That way, you’ll have popular hashtags like #caffeineaddiction and #caffeineaddiction with much less competition.
Label Ideas:
#butfirstcoffee, #caffeineaddict, #caffeineaddiction, #coffeeaddict, #coffeefreak, #coffeegeek, #coffeeholic, #coffeeislife, #coffeejunkie, #coffeelove, #coffeelover, #coffeelovers, #coffeenerd, #coffeedaily, #ilovecoffee
Last word
There are a few things to keep in mind when choosing hashtags to use for your photos.
First, decide on a combination of low competition and high competition keywords and make sure they are all relevant to your post. Also, always search for your keywords by typing them into the search box on Instagram. As soon as you start typing, the results will show the suggested hashtags and the number of posts written under each one.
Finally, remember that you can use a total of 30 keywords in a single post. That’s why it’s important to choose your keywords wisely and not lose ground with highly competitive keywords that have nothing to do with your photo’s content. Keep trying different coffee-related keyword combinations until you find the one that works best for you.
What are your favorite hashtags for coffee? Share them in the comment section below.
