Creating and Managing an Instagram Hashtag Feed

PRO PLAN

Overview

A hashtag campaign is a great way to harness the engagement of Instagram. Set a designated hashtag and display a feed of posts (images and videos) using that hashtag. Participants will be able to vote on and share these entries.

Account Setup Steps (Before Creating the Feed)

To set up your Instagram contest, follow these steps:

1. Create an Instagram Business Account

Convert an existing Instagram account to a Business Profile if needed. Instructions can be found in our blog: How to Set Up an Instagram Business Profile.

2. Link Instagram to Facebook

When setting up your Business Account, connect it to your Facebook Page.

Important Notes:

• Posts must come from a public Instagram profile and include the required hashtag(s) in the original caption.
• If an @mention is required, ensure it’s included in the post. This increases brand visibility by tagging your business directly.

Creating a Feed

Before creating your Instagram feed, double-check the prerequisites:

1. The Instagram account must be a Business Account linked to a Facebook Page.
2. You must be logged into a Facebook account with appropriate permissions to the Facebook Page, or have permissions granted through Facebook Business Manager.

Learn more about Granting Page Permissions Using Facebook Business Manager.

Setting Up the Feed

Step 1. Open the Hashtag Feeds Manager

1. From your Home screen, click Manage at the top.
2. In the drop-down menu, select Hashtag Feeds.

If Favorited, simply click Feeds in the top bar of the Home screen.

Note: Favoriting adds a direct link to the Hashtag Feeds Manager on your Home screen. To favorite, click the heart icon next to the "Hashtag Feeds" title. Favorites are stored in your browser, so you’ll need to re-establish them when using a different browser or computer.

Step 2. Create a New Feed

1. Click the blue New Feed button.
2. If prompted, log into the Facebook account with admin access to the Facebook Page connected to your Instagram.
3. Choose the Facebook Page associated with the Instagram account you want to use.

Step 3. Name Your Feed and Select a List

1. Create a name for your feed.
2. Either automatically create a new list or select an existing list from the drop-down menu. 
3. Click Continue.

Step 4. Choose @Mention Settings

Decide whether to require an @mention in posts. By default, @mention is not required.

Without requiring an @mention, some restrictions apply:

• You cannot limit the number of entries per user.
• The Rights Management tool won’t be available.
• Emojis won’t be supported in hashtags.
• You can't export the images or videos from ShortStack.

Note: If you require @mention, it must be included in the original caption, along with the hashtag.

Step 5. Add Hashtags

Input the hashtag(s) for your campaign. If using multiple hashtags, separate them with commas.

Posts must include all specified hashtags to be imported into the feed.

Step 6. Adjust Feed Settings

1. Click on the blue text all entries, to change the post type to only entries with photos or only entries with videos.
2. Click on the blue text to change the entry approval to either manually or automatically approved. 
3. Click Continue.

Step 7. Set Start/Stop Dates

1. Configure the campaign's start and stop dates and times.
2. Select the appropriate timezone.
3. Click Continue.

Step 8. Save and Exit

You can now review all of your feed settings. Once satisfied, click Save & Exit.

Your new feed will appear in the Feeds Manager.

Note: Due to Instagram's API limitations, feeds will only pull media from public posts—not Stories.

Using Multiple @Mentions

Hashtag contests are a great tool for collaborations, so you might be wondering how you can require more than one @mention. 

Meta only allows the tracking of one @mention per feed. There are two options for tracking multiple @mentions in entries: 

1. Create multiple Feeds. There will be duplicate entries between the feeds, but you can easily see if the entry counts match. 
   

   Make sure you have the correct Facebook Permissions for all additional @mention accounts. Learn more about Granting Page Permissions Using Meta Business Suite. 

2. Manually check when winners are chosen. This option is the easiest of the two. When it comes time to select the winner(s), review the entry details and ensure that all contest requirements were met. If not, select different winners. 

FAQs