Be honest with me.

You're sick of vague AF social media advice, right? How about crappy AI-written articles regurgitating that same vague advice just in a different order?

Yuck! Srsly internet. What gives?

Well, today I decided to don my superhero cape and be *actually* helpful for once in my life.

I set out on a mission to answer every possible question about hashtags.

Yep, every single one.

*If I miss your question, no matter how specific, I want you to click here and send it to me in a message so I can add it to this massive resource.

So, if you're wondering:

• Are hashtags still a thing?

• How many hashtags should I use on Instagram?

• Are SEO keywords replacing hashtags?

You're in the right place.

Read on.

← Pro-tip: how to use this article? Find your question in the table of contents and click it to scroll down to the answer.

First things first, social media platforms like Instagram do not have "one algorithm." There's no one Wizard of Oz Instagram algorithm that everything is hidden behind. The sooner you lose the idea of a nebulous algorithm the better.

Instagram uses many, many algorithms each performing different specific functions for different uses of the app that all make common sense.

Here are some examples:

• Feed Algorithm: Ranks posts based on your past interactions, interests, and the post's popularity. (Think: showing you cat videos if you like cats)

• Explore Page Algorithm: Discovers new content through your activity and trends, introducing you to creators beyond your circles. (Imagine finding a cool artist you never knew existed)

• Reels Algorithm: Prioritizes entertaining Reels based on your watch history and interaction with creators. (Like a personalized highlight reel of funny skits and dance challenges.)

• Stories Algorithm: Shows Stories from accounts you interact with most, keeping you updated on your closest friends. (No missing out on your bestie's latest adventure)

• Hashtag Algorithm: Ranks posts within hashtag searches based on engagement and relevance, helping you find the best of a specific topic. (Think: searching #paleorecipes and seeing the most beloved, mouth-watering recipes first)

When you understand how hashtags fit into this Instagram algorithm-orchestra you can start using them effectively instead of continuing the random hashtag vomit you're currently spewing (I know from experience).

So let's get you some answers to your hashtag questions!

Hashtags

Function: Act as labels or categories for your content.

Discovery: Users can discover your content through:

• Hashtag searches: When someone searches for a specific hashtag, your post will appear if you used that hashtag and it's relevant to the search.

• Hashtag pages: Each hashtag has its own page displaying all posts using it. Your post will be there for users browsing the page.

• Following hashtags: Users can choose to follow specific hashtags, potentially seeing your post in their feed even if they don't follow you directly.

• Relevance: Using relevant hashtags is crucial for reaching the right audience. Overusing irrelevant hashtags can hurt your reach.*

• Limitations: Instagram limits the number of hashtags you can use per post (30) and may penalize excessive or irrelevant hashtag usage.*

*If you're a curious data-driven mind like me you’ve also heard it a million times, but you're wondering EXACTLY HOW overusing hashtags can hurt your reach on Instagram. I answer this in the next big section.

SEO Keywords

Function: Words and phrases within your captions, comments, and alt text that describe your content.

Discovery: Instagram's algorithms use keywords to understand your content and show it to relevant users:

• Suggested content: Similar to how hashtags work, the algorithms might suggest your post to users who have engaged with content containing similar keywords.

• Explore page: The Explore page algorithm considers keywords when recommending content for the Explore page, potentially showing your post to users interested in those topics.

• Search (indirectly): While keywords themselves aren't directly searchable, Instagram uses them to understand your content and may show it in relevant searches for broader topics.

• Relevance: Using relevant keywords throughout your content helps the algorithms understand and categorize it effectively.

• Flexibility: There's no limit to the number of keywords you can use, but naturally incorporating them is important.

The TL;DR comparison between hashtags & keywords

• Specificity: Hashtags are specific category labels, while keywords convey your content's topics and themes.

• Discovery methods: Hashtags work through dedicated search and browsing, while keywords influence Instagram's understanding and recommendations.

• Limitations: Hashtags have usage limits and potential penalties for misuse, while keywords have more flexibility but rely on natural integration.

• Focus on quality: Don't overuse or misuse either. Choose relevant ones that accurately describe your content.

Now that you know how hashtags and keywords work, let's dig into some more specific questions.

Here are the big 3 ways you can get penalized for using too many hashtags on Instagram:

1. Algorithmic Penalties

• Spammy Signal: Instagram's algorithms identify posts with excessive or irrelevant hashtags as spammy. This can lead to decreased visibility in feeds, searches, and Explore pages.

• Relevance Score: The algorithms prioritize posts relevant to user interests. Irrelevant hashtags create confusion and lower your content's "relevance score," diminishing its chance of being shown to your target audience.

• Shadowbanning: In extreme cases, chronic misuse of irrelevant hashtags can lead to shadowbanning, where your content becomes invisible to everyone except yourself and your current followers.

2. Negative User Perception

• Engagement Drop: Users who click on a hashtag expecting specific content and find something irrelevant are likely to feel misled and disengaged. This can result in fewer likes, comments, shares, and unfollows.

• Brand Image Damage: Overusing irrelevant hashtags can create an impression of inauthenticity, laziness, or desperation, reflecting poorly on your brand or persona.

3. Wasted Time and Effort

• Focus Misplaced: Spending time researching and stuffing irrelevant hashtags takes away from crafting engaging captions and creating high-quality content, which are far more crucial for success.

• Ineffective Strategy: Overlooking the importance of targeted hashtags means missing out on reaching your actual audience and maximizing your post's potential.

The short answer is yes.

The longer answer is hashtags are still a relevant tool, but not the only tool. So use them thoughtfully as part of your overall Instagram strategy, but prioritize authentic content that resonates with your audience. Fresh content is still the #1 marker of success on Instagram.

Here are the ways hashtags are still relevant:

• Reach new audiences: Relevant hashtags can connect your content with users who don't follow you but are looking for content, which expands your reach.

• Increase engagement: Popular hashtags can attract likes, comments, and shares, which boosts your post's visibility and engagement.

• Support search visibility: Hashtags themselves act as keywords, making your content searchable for relevant terms, potentially leading to new followers.

• Brand building: You can take advantage of branded hashtags to build community around your brand and track user-generated content.

But where hashtags used to play a much larger role, now Instagram's algorithms are much more nuanced at understanding your content through your caption's keywords and parsing your videos & photos. This plus the world's excessive use of irrelevant hashtags has decreased their overall effectiveness.

So it's still a good idea to use hashtags, because you don't want to miss their boost, but do so intelligently by following the rest of the advice in this article.

No.

Adam Mosseri, CEO of Instagram, has made this very clear.

The answer to this question is short but is easily misunderstood, so read the following carefully.

Hashtags do not boost a post by giving it more reach count. Most people think if they add hashtags they boost the reach number. That’s not the case.

But, if you add hashtags to a post on Instagram, those hashtags could help more people find the post when searching, as well as add more SEO context to the post, which in turn might lead to more views.

I guarantee you already know the answer to the magic number question. But stay tuned to the end of this answer because I have a definitive way to find out how many hashtags per post is best for your business.

First things first, no there isn't a magic number of hashtags to use on Instagram...no matter how many people tell you there is. This is just common sense because if you're allowed to use 30 hashtags, then Instagram is expecting people to use anywhere between 0-30.

That said, our days of consistently spamming the maximum allowed (30) or stuffing content with irrelevant tags is over.

The recommendations:

Instagram itself recommends you use only 3-5 hashtags.

Hootsuite gives a different recommendation. In this October 2023 article they ran a few tests that found the number of hashtags you should use for posts may be different from Reels. They found best results when using 3-5 hashtags for posts and upwards of 20 hashtags for Reels.

That said, high-performing accounts use such a widely varying number of hashtags (some using 0, others 1-3, others 10-12, and others higher) that we have to return to the magic number question.

Nobody on the web can agree on a magic number of hashtags. This is why we recommend taking it into your own hands.

If you actually want to find out how many hashtags you should use on Instagram for your business or niche, try this experiment.

Hashtag Experiment

1. Create 7 posts each for both regular posts and Reels.

2. Test these 7 hashtag counts over the course of the 7 posts/Reels: 3, 5, 7, 10, 15, 20, 30.

3. Track likes, comments, shares, saves, reach, and engagement rate.

4. Analyze which hashtag count brought the most engagement for each type of content.

*Make sure to use relevant hashtags for your niche (see below).

Now go start your experiment!

I'll keep this section short because I know you're psyched to get started on your hashtag experiment (above).

Avoid these all-too-frequent hashtag mistakes:

• Too few/too many hashtags: We've already talked about this in-depth, but in case you're jumping into the article here, don't use either zero or 30 hashtags all the time. Hashtags are helpful categories for people searching for answers to their questions or for content they love and want on the regular. Do the experiment and find out for yourself!

• Generic hashtags: While #love and #cute might get some views, they're super broad and won't attract your target audience. Remember, hashtags are aimed at categorizing your content for people using the search features of Instagram. Use normal caption text to add colorful or fun text instead of hashtags.

• Brand name only: "#yourbrand" isn't effective unless you have a well-established brand. Use descriptive hashtags that have a following. Special note: if you do have a solid following or are using branded hashtags for a special event or giveaway contest, then do use #yourbrand or #yourevent hashtags. *Click here to scroll down for more info about branded hashtags.

• Copy-paste hashtag lists: Don't just copy-paste! Instead, connect your hashtags organically to your caption for a cohesive message. I know it's more effort, but if you make hashtags lists, when you're writing the next caption just take 30 seconds to scan your list for the right hashtags for this post.

This is the most action-oriented question in this article, so I've prepped super easy-to-follow action action steps that most social media managers use. I'll also share the best free and paid tools and resources to discover good hashtags.

What makes a good hashtag vs. a bad hashtag?

It turns out there are 4 factors that determine whether or not you should use a hashtag.

1. Post Count:

• Good: 10k-200k posts: Balance of reach and competition. Not lost in millions, yet not insignificant.

• Bad: <10k posts: Very low reach, may not be worth using. >1 million posts: High competition, your post gets buried.

2. Engagement Rate:

• Good: Look at average engagement (likes, comments) on other posts using the hashtag. Higher suggests active users.

• Bad: Low engagement implies an inactive community, negating potential benefits.

3. Trend:

• Good: Look for hashtags rising in popularity, indicating current interest.

• Bad: Avoid declining hashtags or those no longer relevant to your niche.

4. Relevance:

• Good: Directly connected to your content and target audience.

• Bad: Irrelevant hashtags just for general reach will mislead viewers and actually hurt engagement.

Should you use paid hashtag tools? Are they worth it?

To be totally honest, unless you're a social media manager, paid hashtag tools aren't worth it. So as a small business owner I recommend you either use the free manual way to search for high quality hashtags below, or you hire a social media manager, like one of ours at Worth The Journey, to do the hashtag research as well as social media strategy for you.

Nonetheless I’ll show you some paid tools at the end of this section.

Free: How to find high-quality hashtags for $0

This technique may seem simple, but it's one of the most accurate ways to find definitively trending hashtags since you're searching on the app itself and you're filtering by recent posts.

Here's the process to go through when building a list of hashtags for your posts or a general list of go-to hashtags for your business:

1. Search for a hashtag that fits within your niche

2. Tap the "Filter" link

3. Sort by "Recent top posts"

4. Tap any post

5. Scroll down to the hashtags on that post

6. Tap any one hashtag

7. Look for a "healthy range" of 10k-200k of posts under that hashtag

8. Repeat step 4-7 until you find enough hashtags within the "healthy range" for your post or go-to hashtag list

Our Instagram video shows these steps in detail.

Not sure how many hashtags to use per post? I answer that question above in this section: How many hashtags should I use on Instagram per post?

Pro-tip: a secret helpful tool to get you started:

If you don't know where to begin, use Hootsuite's Instagram Hashtag Generator to start the process of finding hashtags. It's super easy to use and is essentially an idea generator. It will give you a good starting point, but make sure to test each hashtag as you build your list.

Paid: Tools to speed up the process and follow trends

There are tons of paid tools that make searching for hashtags a bit quicker, like:

• Later.app's Hashtag Tool

• Metricool's Hashtag Generator

• RiteTag

• HashtagsforLikes

*Hashtagify.me used to be a popular option before they shut down. Sad trombone. 🎺

There are more paid tools to find hashtags than selfies on my phone (and I'm a diva). And every Instagram strategist will share with you the one giving them affiliate money, so it's hard to tell which one is actually best.

The reality.

The main point of using a paid tool is to get current data on trending hashtags. If you know what's trending, you can ride the wave. However, to be very frank and opinionated, it's almost certainly not worth your money to get a tool just for hashtags, since many social media schedulers already have built-in hashtag research.

But my real conclusion is that if you're going to pay for a hashtag tool, you might as well pay a social media manager to give you a real Instagram strategy, because while hashtags are helpful, they are only one small part of a strategy which includes content calendar, audience research, competitive research, caption writing, SEO keywords, etc.

As we discussed earlier in this article, we recommend having a list of recurring hashtags relevant to your business. However, we also strongly recommend you mix up your hashtags regularly.

Pros of Mixing Up Hashtags

• You'll reach more people because diverse hashtags expose your content to a wider audience with varied interests within your niche.

• Choosing specific hashtags relevant to each post attracts users genuinely interested in that particular content. As a business owner, you want to capture real, interested people's attention, rather than vague masses.

• Sticking to the same hashtags might be flagged as spammy by the algorithms impacting your reach.

• Varying hashtags keeps your content feeling fresh to your audience and prevents a repetitive approach that makes people skip reading your captions thereby spending less time on your posts.

Cons of Mixing Up Hashtags

• Finding relevant hashtags for each post requires more time and effort than using a set list. I know, it takes time!

• Monitoring the effectiveness of multiple hashtag combinations can be more complex. In other words it's harder to analyze.

The short version is: have your list of well researched hashtags on hand, then mix it up each post and add unique tags based on that post's unique content.

This is an easy short answer question and I addressed it in the previous question so I'll reiterate briefly.

The post count for your hashtag should be between 10k-200k posts. That will give you a good balance of reach and competition. It's a good idea in a single post to mix together niche and broad hashtags across this range.

If you're <10k posts you'll have very low reach, and people likely won't be following that hashtag so it's not worth using. On the other end, if your hashtag has >1 million posts you'll have too high competition, and your post will get buried.

This image shows a good vs. bad level of hashtag popularity.

There are many reasons why your hashtags might not be helping you out. Let's take a look at some specific reasons, and then I want you to look at your recent posts to diagnose what the issue might be.

1. Too Broad or Too Niche

Your chosen hashtags might be too broad (e.g., #fashion) leading to lost visibility in an overly competitive, saturated pool of other posts using the same hashtag. Or they may be too niche (e.g., #handmadeshoebuckleenthusiasts), meaning not enough people are searching for them or not enough posts use them to make them popular. The healthy range of popularity is 10k-200k posts.

2. Relevance to Audience

If your hashtags don't accurately match your content, it'll create confusion with your audience and Instagram's algorithms. This usually happens when you copy/paste hashtag lists, or if you're trying to trick the system with irrelevant or misleading hashtags just to get reach. Avoid both. Instagram's algorithms can detect irrelevant hashtag usage. Be meaningful with your hashtag selection and it'll pay off.

For example:

Imagine you run a bakery specializing in gluten-free and vegan cakes. You might be tempted to use popular, unrelated hashtags like #foodporn or #instafood to gain reach, hoping people scrolling through those tags might stumble upon your delicious creations.

People searching for those general food hashtags are likely looking for any type of food, not specifically gluten-free or vegan options. They might click your post, get disappointed it's not what they expected, and leave without engaging, which signals to Instagram that your content is not worth reaching more people.

Instead, focus on:

• Niche-Specific: #glutenfreebakery, #vegancakes, #allergyfriendlydesserts

• Location-Based: #seattlebakery, #seattlesmallbusiness

• Values-Driven: #sustainablefood, #plantbasedlifestyle

3. Content Quality

Hashtags won't save you from bad content. Even with a perfect hashtag game, if your content quality and strategy sucks (overdone content, boring videos, uninformative captions...) your content won't get much engagement or watch time, which means the reach algorithms will show it to less people, and eventually die in a black hole of loneliness.

4. Shadowbanning

Repeated violations of Instagram's Community Guidelines (e.g., excessive irrelevant hashtags) can lead to shadowbanning, effectively hiding your content.

5. Hashtag Evolution

Popular hashtags can become oversaturated or lose relevance over time. It's essential that you regularly analyze trending hashtags and adapt your strategy every few months.

6. No Real Strategy

Hashtags only contribute to a portion of your reach. You must explore other engagement strategies like intelligent calendar sequencing, captions written using the AIDA framework, collaborations, influencer marketing, and even paid advertising. Everything works together. This is why I say there's no one algorithm. There are many and they all work together.

7. Platform Updates

Finally, and this one is outside of your control, Instagram's algorithm undergoes regular updates that can alter hashtag effectiveness. For example in the last couple of years, hashtag effectiveness has gone down as SEO keyword effectiveness has gone up. Keep your ear tuned to Instagram news and adjust your approach accordingly.

Tracking the performance of individual hashtags is difficult because:

• Hashtags are rarely used alone, so it's hard to tell which hashtag(s) are working the best.

• Hashtags aren't the only factor in the success of your post.

• Hashtag popularity is continually evolving, so it's a bit like hitting a moving target.

However, some paid apps like Metricool and Later app offer detailed hashtag analysis, for example Later app describes their hashtag analytics here:

"Later's Instagram Analytics allow you to track the hashtags you used on each of your Instagram posts. So you can see which posts generated the most engagement and which hashtags were used on those posts."

This is one way to get an estimate of which hashtags are performing better than others and thereby which to continue using.

That said, if you think about it, each post could be successful for a wide number of reasons including content quality, time of day, number of followers, trending audio, hashtags, caption keywords, industry, etc.

So what can you do to get accurate results?

We recommend you run a few experiments:

1. First, make a list of go-to hashtags for your business (see above for details on how).

2. Then, drawing from those hashtags, experiment with different numbers of hashtags on posts. Sometimes only use 1 hashtag and sometimes use multiple.

3. Every week or month look at your top-performing content and see if you notice a difference across multiple experiments.

You may have noticed that when it comes to hashtags, taking matters into your own hands and running experiments is the only definitive way to know what works best.

Like any good provocateur, I'm going to start with why branded hashtags, or custom hashtags, are a waste of your time, but then I'll do the opposite and tell you why and how you should use them.

How to NOT use branded hashtags:

As I've explained above in the What are the common hashtag mistakes I should avoid? question, branded hashtags are only a good idea if you have an established brand or if you have a specific purpose in mind like a contest, giveaway, or influencer collaboration.

Why?

1. If your brand isn't established, people won't know or care about your branded hashtag. They won't adopt it organically if it doesn't offer any immediate value.

2. Using a branded hashtag without a specific purpose can feel forced or cheesy. Users simply won't know how to use it, why to care, or what it represents.

3. Flooding your posts with a branded hashtag for everything dilutes its impact. It becomes spammy background noise instead of a signal for a specific event or message. So people will stop caring.

Ok I think you get the point. Don't aimlessly use branded hashtags.

And now...on to the main event!

How TO use branded hashtags in your hashtag strategy

Branded hashtags become powerful tools when tied to a specific campaign or event. This could be a contest, giveaway, influencer collaboration, product launch, or even an audience challenge. 

Here's why.

A branded hashtag tied to a specific purpose provides clear direction for users. They understand what action is expected (contest entry, sharing workout routine, getting their content seen by other die hard fans) and how the hashtag contributes to the event or campaign.

Then you can measure the results of your campaign. You can see how many people participated, the reach it generated, and the overall engagement around the event.

In essence, branded hashtags are like a club with a secret handshake. If you have a strong, established club (brand) or a specific event (campaign) happening within the club, the handshake (branded hashtag) becomes a meaningful way for members to connect and participate. However, if you're just starting the club and keep showing off your handshake to everyone (generic branded hashtag everywhere), it'll seem weird and spammy.

Examples of branded hashtags gone well

Example 1: #DoYogaWithMe

Business: DoYogaWithMe yoga app

Purpose: Promote app features & build a challenge community.

How it Works: DoYogaWithMe, a yoga app, uses #DoYogaWithMeChallenge to highlight their app's features and create a community around specific challenges. This engaging hashtag incentivizes users to share their yoga progress, promoting the app and fostering a sense of camaraderie among participants.

Example 2: #Pure Barre

Business: Pure Barre

Purpose: Foster community & encourage user participation.

How it Works: Pure Barre, a barre fitness studio chain, uses #WeBarreTogether to create a sense of belonging and shared goals among its members. This positive and encouraging hashtag prompts users to share workout photos or videos, boosting user participation and strengthening brand loyalty.

Yes and no.

You can use hashtags on other platforms like TikTok, Facebook, or Twitter. In fact, while hashtags originated on Twitter (originally proposed by Chris Messina) and gained popularity on Instagram, they're now widely used across most social media platforms.

As on Instagram, hashtags on other platforms help you reach a wider audience by increasing your content discoverability. Hashtags organize content and connect users who are searching for or following specific topics, allowing them to find relevant content and you to expand your reach and engagement.

But, while hashtags are effective on all platforms, the best practices and popular hashtags vary by platform. Each platform has its own unique audience and content style, so it's important to adapt your hashtag strategy to each different social media algorithm. For each channel, research that channel's audience engagement trends and build platform-specific lists of hashtags. Each channel also has it's own hashtag generators and hashtag research tools. But, honestly the manual method of searching that I described above applies to most social media platforms and tends to give you the most effective hashtags.

On TikTok, for example, hashtags are crucial for increasing visibility and gaining traction. Trending hashtags often dominate the "For You" page and can help your content go viral. Using popular and relevant hashtags can significantly increase your chances of reaching a larger audience.

Similarly, Facebook also supports hashtags, although they are not as prominently used as on Instagram or Twitter. Adding hashtags to your Facebook posts can still help increase visibility and engagement, especially within specific communities or groups.

On Twitter, hashtags have been a fundamental part of the platform since their inception. They’re essential for categorizing and organizing tweets, making it easier for users to find and join conversations on specific topics. Twitter even has trending hashtags that show the most popular and talked-about subjects at any given time.

So the short answer is: yes, use hashtags on each platform, but first find the trending hashtags for that platform.

Let's talk about advanced hashtag strategy. Specifically, how to use demographics and locations to find niche hashtags that your audience uses.

Categories to consider:

• Interests & Values: Think about the interests and values of your target audience. Do they prioritize fitness, healthy eating, mindfulness, or a combination? Research hashtags associated with those interests (e.g., #fitfam, #cleaneating, #meditation). Obviously, these examples are too broad, but they give you a starting point.

• Age Groups: Certain hashtags skew towards specific age demographics. For example, #fitspo will attract a younger audience interested in fitness inspiration, while #healthyaging will hit a more mature audience.

• Professions & Hobbies: Consider the professions or hobbies of your target audience. Are they busy professionals seeking quick healthy recipes (#mealprep)? Or maybe active parents using #yogawithkids? Targeting these niche interests can be highly effective.

• Geolocation Hashtags: Many platforms allow adding location-specific hashtags to your posts. Use city or region names (#SeattleFitness, #CaliforniaHiking) or even specific landmarks (#CentralParkYoga).

• Local Events & Communities: Tie your content to local events or communities. Is there a farmers market in town? Use #SeattleFarmersMarket. A local yoga retreat? Use #VinyasaWeekendSeattle.

The magic happens when you combine demographic and location targeting in a single post. For example, a fitness studio targeting young adults in Seattle might use #SeattleFitness #MillennialWorkout.

I love this question because I’ve already written a freebie that's all about how to write compelling social media captions (as well as other compelling content like blog posts).

Download this freebie (it’s free!), learn the formula I describe, apply it to an Instagram caption, and then add hashtags at the end. You'll have amazing captions that truly build your online presence, build trust with your audience, and serve your larger social media and marketing strategy.

Instagram currently doesn't pull extensive context directly from the video content itself. Analyzing the full narrative or meaning of a video requires complex understanding of visuals and audio and intense computational power, which is still a challenge for today's technology, at least in mass scale.

However, Instagram does leverage some aspects to understand your video:

• Audio analysis: It can identify music and use that to potentially categorize your reels and videos.

• Text within the video: If there's text overlaid on the video, Instagram might be able to read it and use it for categorization.

• Autocaptions: Using Instagram's built in autocaptions can provide context, but these captions may not be perfect.

Overall, Instagram relies more on other factors to understand your video and show it to the right audience. This includes:

• Post caption: Clearly describe the content in the caption to help Instagram understand the video.

• Hashtags: This is where hashtags come in. Using relevant hashtags helps categorize your video for viewers searching for specific topics.

• Engagement: Likes, comments, and shares on your video signal to Instagram that it's interesting and can be shown to more people. This is a major part of why videos go viral.

So hashtags aren't obsolete. They help give Instagram context for what your video is about, which makes it more likely your post will be found.

Let's talk about trends in Instagram and overall social media, what to do about them, and of course how hashtags fit into the mix. (Btw, I hope after reading some or all of this epic article that you truly come to understand, like I have, how hashtags work in the grand scheme of things. Sometimes you have to seriously deep dive on a subject to fully understand it.)

Trend #1: Semantic Search & Context

What it means: Social media platforms have been implementing more sophisticated search algorithms that understand the context of a post beyond just hashtags. They also gain post context from keywords, audio, location tags, post frequency, and user behavior triggers like engagement reactions (likes, comments, saves, and shares), watch time, and user interactions with previous content you've posted or similar content.

What to do about it: Use hashtags as part of your larger strategy, but focus on capturing people's attention with great hooks for headlines, keeping them engaged throughout the content, and of course including SEO keywords and the right audio.

Trend #2: Shoppable Hashtags

What it means: Some platforms are already experimenting with shoppable hashtags that allow users to discover and purchase products directly from hashtag searches. This could potentially change how brands use hashtags for product promotion.

What to do about it: Optimize your sales or product pages for search, target niche hashtags where your ideal customer browses, and track results with your marketing metrics to refine your strategy. Embrace shoppable features and leverage them for targeted marketing campaigns.

Trend #3: Hashtag Communities & Groups

What it means: Social media platforms might explore features that create dedicated communities around specific hashtags. This could allow for more focused conversations and targeted marketing strategies using relevant hashtags.

What to do about it: Be an active participant in future hashtag communities. Identify relevant groups, provide valuable content and participate in conversations, and explore collaboration opportunities with other members. This will establish you as a thought leader within the community.

Likes may become less important: Expect the algorithm to prioritize content that sparks conversation and interaction, such as comments, shares, and replies. Likes alone will become less important, and may even disappear.

Diversity of content may be favored: Instagram might favor a mix of content formats (photos, videos, Reels) over an overreliance on just one type. Their mission is to keep people engaged on their platform, so they will likely reward accounts that keep their audience on their toes.

Users may gain more control over what they see: We might see more transparency from Instagram about how the algorithm works, potentially allowing users more control over the content they see in their feeds (e.g., prioritizing posts from close friends or specific interests).

Hashtag stuffing may become penalized: We've already seen Google cracking down on SEO keyword stuffing many times, so it's reasonable to expect Instagram to crack down on keyword stuffing, or even reduce the allowed number of hashtags. The practice of cramming captions with irrelevant hashtags is likely to become even less effective.

You did it!

You are now one of the world's leading experts on hashtags. Congratulations. Now you can go tell your colleagues to eat a lemon.

Now tell me:

• What questions did this bring up?

• What hashtag questions are left unanswered in your mind?

Send me your questions and I'll answer them.

It's been my absolute pleasure to research the ever-loving shit out of hashtags for you and turn it into a digestible piece of content.

I did it because I believe in you. I believe that whoever you are, you can start a business. Whatever your background, you can learn what you need to succeed.

I believe in you.

Take all the free resources you can get, and when you need serious help growing your business and social media, hit up my team for a free marketing strategy session and together we’ll help you reach a bigger audience and get more customers.