“A Couple Hashtags Can Go A Long Way” | Liz Mazurek | Episode 721

Liz Mazurek | Episode 721

Liz Mazurek studied art and ceramics at Southwestern University where she received a BFA and realized she wanted to pursue clay as her lifelong career. Since graduating, Liz took on a year long post-baccalaureate position at Colorado State University that offered a great opportunity to learn about how she was going to proceed in her clay career. Once her time at CSU came to a close, Liz found a local pottery studio called Smokestack Pottery in Fort Collins, Colorado in which she decided to become a full time resident artist. Liz currently teaches classes, fire kilns, and work as an independent artist.

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Explain basically what a hashtag is.

A hashtag. It’s a linking word that we use to connect similar things…how do I describe this? It’s a word that describes one thing that everyone can relate on. So lets say we want to say #plants. You want to see all the things about plants, just use that hashtag and you’ll find your niche.

And a hashtag always starts with the pound symbol, correct?

Yes, correct.

You said, A couple of hashtags can go a long way. What are a couple of hashtags that you actually use?

Well I definitely use #ceramics, #pottery, #potterymaking, things that kind of describe what I am doing. Also maybe a little bit of descriptors for what my work is. Like #organicart, #organicshapes, or #matteceramics, #matteglaze. Just descriptive words that kind of help narrow down if someone is looking for work that I make. Then hopefully I can show up in their feed.

You said a couple of hashtags goes a long way. Does that mean you limit the number of hashtags in your posts?

Instagram’s limit is 30 and I don’t know if there is anything that goes with or against using that full amount. I probably use a little bit less but I want the biggest reach as possible.

So you will go for it with the hash tags and load it up then, correct?

I kind of go for it. I don’t know if that’s bad or not. No one has told me that I can’t so…(laughter)

Do you do your hashtags in the middle of your post or as separate comment?

I do it as a separate comment but when I am feeling really excited about something in my post I’ll toss it in as a middle breaking hashtag word. Like when we use mugshot Monday. I will be like happy #mugshotmonday, and then I will explain the rest of the post. But I will tuck away the hashtags so they are not overwhelming and obnoxious.

Do you use the hashtags to target specific people groups that you would want to follow you? Like designers or homeowners?

Yeah, totally. I mean not necessarily designers and homeowners but I want people who are interested in art and are interested in studios and interested in the whole culture of ceramic art and firing kilns. Those are my people. I love that.

Do you tend to use popular hashtags or do you tend to use ones that are more narrowed down?

I like to mix them both. I think the broad ones kind of help…I mean I am not exactly sure the biggest benefit of using the huge hashtags but I do use those and some really, really small ones that I don’t even know if they reach anyone. I did read online somewhere that using the whole range of popularity may help. I don’t know, I’m not huge on Instagram so I don’t know really how exactly my hashtag using is working for me.