The Best Swimming Hashtags for an Instagood Water Experience

Swimming is the fourth most popular recreational activity in the United States. People associate different things with the word “swimming” and it shows in their swimming-related Instagram photos. If you want to make your swimming photos stand out on social media, you need to be creative and make the right choice of hashtags for your post.

Even though swimming is a popular activity, simply putting the number sign in front of the word and adding it to an Instagram photo description won’t make your images stand out from the masses. Don’t let your recreation photos fall into an early Instagram grave. Instead, use a popular hashtag to describe your content and get everyone’s attention.

What’s in a Name? Basic Swimming Hashtags

Sure, you can add #swimming to a photo from your awesome Las Vegas vacation. It seems like the obvious first choice for a poolside photo.

However, that may not be the best hashtag to start with, especially if you are new to social media and don’t have a dedicated following yet.

Using a simple hashtag isn’t technically wrong, but as with #swimming, you are looking at thousands of posts with the same hashtag each week. Instead, make your posts stand out a little more by being specific about your content.

For example, if you happen to be at the pool, you can specify #swimmingpool instead of just #swimming. This hashtag has significantly fewer posts than the former and it lets your followers know where the photo was taken.

You may want to be careful how you choose to specify your hashtags. Sure, you may be at the pool and you don’t want to use #swimming because it has millions of posts already.

You may feel that #swimmingpool is too long, so you might shorten it to #pool.

That mob of likeminded hashtags you were trying to stay away from suddenly increases exponentially, probably because other people had the same idea that you did. You may want to be careful how you simplify basic hashtag terms or your photo could get pushed to the bottom of the hashtag page by other related posts in a matter of minutes.

On the other hand, if you were posting in relation to swimming as a fitness activity, hashtags like #swimbikerun are still unique enough to not be overcrowded. What’s more, they also tell your followers exactly why you’re passionate about swimming.

There’s really no easy way to stay away from this crowded hashtag category. Because it is a popular activity around the world, anytime you use those basic words, you may be up against a lot of competition.

You can try other techniques to narrow down your hashtag competition, though. Pairing two words together for your hashtag may make a difference. Consider that #swimming has over 16 million posts, but #swimmingtime only has 333,000 posts. Better yet, #lovesswimming only has a little over 9,000 posts on Instagram.

More Swimming Hashtag Ideas:

#justkeepswimming, #swimmingtime, #nightswimming, #swimmingpools, #swimmingtime, #lovesswimming, #swimminglessons, #keepswimming, #wildswimming, #dogswimming, #afterswimming, #swimmingclass, #finswimming, #babyswimming, #swimmingdogs, #ilovesswimming, #swimmingday

Narrowing It Down – How to Stand Out from Other Water Lovers

Another way you can make your hashtags stand out is by indicating your swimming location. Whether you’re at the beach, poolside in Vegas, or swimming in a lake retreat, let your followers know.

Location Hashtag Ideas:

#sunshineandshorelines, #vitaminsea, #poolday, #poolside, #oceanholic, #sandsunsumer, #seaswimming, #openwaterswimming, #outdoorswimming, #swimminghole

Express Your Individuality

Additionally, don’t forget to express yourself. Potential followers want to know who you are and what you’re passionate about. If you post a water-related image, it may not be apparent whether you want to lounge by that pool or swim laps in it.

If you’re an athlete, #swimming takes on a new meaning. Try hashtags that are fitness specific. Some fitness swimming hashtag ideas include:

#swimbikerun, #triathlete, #ironmantraining, #syncronizedswimming, #swimteam

Alternatively, if you like posting photos of children and pets swimming, you may want to try hashtags that reflect the contents of the image. Try adding descriptive hashtags like #waterbabies or #babiesfirstswim. If it’s your four-legged pal enjoying the water, you can try hashtags like #dogswimming, #dogswimmingday, and #dogswimminginthesea.

Remember, you can still use your original #swimming hashtag idea. However, you may also want to consider adding specific descriptors to make your posts and your brand stand out from the crowd.

Final Thought

Adding hashtags is easy. The trick is to add the right amount of hashtags that match your personal style. More importantly, you need to pick those hashtags that aren’t so obscure that they don’t come up at all but aren’t so overused that your own story gets lost in the shuffle.

You may have to try a few to come up with your own hashtag style, so don’t be afraid to mix and match. Instagram lets you add up to 30 hashtags for posts. When you type in your hashtag into the search box, you can see just how many people have used them.

As a good rule of thumb, use a combination of low- and high-competition hashtags. Finally, make sure that they represent your posts well because the last thing anyone wants to see is a block of spammy, irrelevant hashtags.