Here are 5 things you need to know about hashtags in 2022! A
lot has changed and if you want to know exactly how to use Instagram hashtags,
then this video is for you. I'm sharing the latest info about them so that you can improve your own
Instagram Hashtag Strategy and know whether it’s even worth using them in your posts!
Ready? Let’s do this!
Hi my lovely people, it’s Natalia and welcome back to my channel where I share super-actionable
ideas on content creation for entrepreneurs and creatives! There’s one question that’s being
asked over and over and over again and it’s ARE HASHTAGS DEAD IN 2022?! My answer is NO,
for a short TL;DR but there are some things you really need to know about them.
As always, let’s jump right into it!
1. Hashtags changed Let’s start with the absolute
key point in this whole video - hashtags are not what they used to be. A while back,
hashtags were supposed to help us reach new people outside of our own following. Nowadays,
they are no longer this big source of reach, one, because they mainly serve a slightly different
function (that was always there by the way!) and two, because we now have much better ways to reach
non-followers. Instead, the hashtags of today are primarily a way for the algorithm to recognize and
properly categorize your content. They are also there to help with search results and that’s where
Instagram is definitely going. I have a whole video coming up about Instagram SEO specifically,
but you might have already noticed how the search functionality has improved dramatically
on IG and hashtags play a role in that too. Let me explain what this content categorization
means. Imagine you post a carousel about a recent wedding photo shoot you’ve done and
talk about it in your caption. When you include strategic, relevant hashtags in your caption,
they can indicate to the algorithm what the post is about, and potentially what audience
this post should be shown to. And by the way, at this point I should also mention that we
should always include hashtags in our caption and not in the comment as some of us used to,
myself included. It was absolutely fine to do it before, your post would be listed under that
specific hashtag so it worked. Now, with the SEO component being so important, hashtags
need to be included in the caption to facilitate search and allow for the content categorization.
So no more first comment hashtags etc! When it comes to getting reach from hashtags,
it absolutely is still possible but with the era of Reels, I’d say the reach you get from
hashtags is usually negligible. I still include them for both reasons because I still get some
reach from hashtags but I don’t expect to gain traction because of them. I’d much rather focus
on crafting a great Reel or nurturing my audience through an educational carousel
than crossing my fingers for a hashtag to rank. It’s just not where the reach is at right now.
Hashtags are also an important part of the Explore page because they let you be identified
by the algorithm within a specific category. When you include hashtags in your captions,
you have a chance of landing on the Explore page and therefore be discovered by a specific audience
that’s interested in a specific topic. In our case, they may be looking for wedding inspo
and your post can be shown to them in this way. Alright, I hope you understand now that hashtags
are not dead on Instagram and they still definitely serve an important purpose. That
being said, I wouldn’t put too much pressure on yourself to find the perfect set and obsess
over them because this is not where the success of your posts is going to come from. Instead,
what makes or breaks your content is its quality and your consistency on
IG in general. So spend your time wisely and instead of researching your hashtags for hours,
make sure you understand your audience and create the best possible content for them.
2. What hashtags to choose In short, you have to choose
relevant hashtags. Now, I know, everyone throws it around but what does it actually
mean right? A hashtag that’s relevant means it’s clearly showing what industry you’re in,
what niche you’re targeting and what the post is about. Going back to our wedding example,
let’s say you’re a wedding photographer in London and you share a post about elopement photoshoot
ideas. You could include a location-based hashtag like #weddingphotographerlondon
and #ukweddingphotographer, a post-relevant hashtag like #weddingphotographyideas and
#elopementphotography to indicate a niche for example. Obviously, this bit is going
to be very individual and depend on your business or the type of creator you are so
it’s important to do your own research. Make sure you watch the whole video because I’ll
be sharing some of my tips on this and my favorite tool for hashtag research too!
So to sum up this point, when you choose relevant hashtags, the algorithm knows
exactly who you are, how to classify this post and where to send it, so to speak.
And let’s talk about the sizes as well! Before, we would also worry about how big or small our
hashtags should be and I have to say, I still try to make sure I choose a variety in terms of
the size just to diversify them. When you aim for super massive hashtags like #travel or #wedding,
you’re not really being that specific and it’s too big of a hashtag to get you any kind of ranking
and help you land on the Explore page. With a variety of medium and smaller, targeted hashtags,
your chances of getting there are much better. That’s why with our example, I wouldn’t choose
#wedding with a whooping 239M+ posts, but I could easily go for #weddingphotographyinspiration
at 225 thousand posts. Still big, but much more precise and less competitive.
3. How many to use Alright, now onto the
contested notion of how many hashtags to use on Instagram! In my previous hashtag video,
I said 30 hashtags are the way to go because that has been the general consensus for years, really.
This was the maximum number we were allowed to use and therefore the best way to get the most
reach when that was the purpose of hashtags. Now with this shift from increasing reach to
content categorization and SEO, we no longer have to use all 30 and in fact, we shouldn’t!
Let me explain why. Because we’re using hashtags to help the algorithm understand our content,
we shouldn’t use too many so that we’re not muddying the waters and confusing it. Again,
going back to our example, if we go for #weddingphotography and #weddingdressinspo
and #weddingbouquet, then throw in something like #wintoncastle and #scottishcastle, then add
#specialmoment #shesaidyes #imgettingmarried, choosing a variety to make up that magic 30,
it may be a bit of an overkill for the algorithm. After all, it will be able to recognize the
wedding theme, but may not know exactly what you do so how to classify your account, may be
confused about what the post is about because there are so many variables that we’ve given in
the hashtags. Again, before, it was fine, now it seems like it’s too much of a good thing.
A word on the numbers before I addressed it in my previous video and to explain why I’ve not
made the shift from 30 to 5 straight after the first rumors started circulating. I feel like in
our industry, there are always plenty of people preaching this “one right way to do things” and
often throwing around arbitrary numbers like “you must use exactly 20 hashtags in your posts to get
results” which has always been… ridiculous, let’s keep it PG friendly here. Basically,
it’s like someone tests something on their account, it works best for them so they share
it as this magical hack that you have to use which may not be the best way universally. For me, it’s
always causing a lot of confusion in the industry and when the 2-5 hashtags rumors first started,
I felt like I needed to wait until we get more official info and test it out myself. Besides,
I was in the very early stages of growth on IG and I figured more is more. And let me tell you,
it was working for me and many others back then so why change?
Now we have much more clarity in terms of where this information came from and it’s
actually official. In terms of who I really listen to when it comes to important Instagram updates or
new features being rolled out, it’s always going to be A. the creators account on Instagram or B.
the head of Instagram himself, Adam Mosseri, and if I’m to be completely honest, I usually reserve
my judgments until I hear directly from him. That’s what made me feel confident that this info
was actually real. So, onto the updated advice coming straight from both Mosseri and creators,
we’re officially supposed to use less hashtags now. In this post right here, creators say we
should use 3-5 hashtags under our posts. And Mosseri said in his recent video that we shouldn’t
use too many hashtags and instead only use a couple so that’s what I would recommend you do.
4. The “use these hashtags” pitfall There’s another point that I want to
quickly address here because I get a message about it from time to time and I think it’s
important to talk about. You’ve probably seen posts with lists of hashtags that you
should definitely use in different niches to “get results” or “get more reach”.
You’ll usually get like a bunch of hashtags to use under your posts. Now, don’t get me wrong,
it’s not like all of those hashtags are wrong and you shouldn’t use them, but one thing to remember
is that just because something worked for one person, doesn’t mean it’s going to be the same
for another. There are different niches, different audiences, and so many different variables that
make a post perform well or not. So be wary of taking your hashtags straight from lists like
that and hoping that this is going to land you on the Explore page or make your post do better
5. Search for hashtags Now that we know we don’t need to
worry that much about hashtags, it’s much easier to research the correct ones for your posts.
First, I would identify some of the core hashtags representing your industry and your niche. You
don’t have to go crazy here but make sure you have a good variety there to use on your posts.
Save them in one place like your notes app or an app you use to store your content calendar like
Asana or Notion so that you can access them easily whenever you’re creating content.
Next, I would create separate collections of hashtags for each of your content pillars.
If you don’t know what content pillars are, I have a full video all about them which is
going to explain exactly what they are, how to identify them and how they can help make your
strategy much more targeted and efficient! When you choose a set of hashtags for each pillar,
you’re basically covering your ground with If you want to go a little extra, you can also
identify specific content topics you often talk about and save sets of hashtags for those too.
It definitely saves a lot of time, and I’m speaking from experience. One of my content
pillars is all about CONTENT CREATION TIPS where I share stuff about the Creative Process,
creating Systems and I talk about different tech and tools that help with it. One of the
topics within that pillar is Canva because I often share Canva tips & tricks both here and
on my Instagram. This is why I always have a collection of hashtags handy so that I can use
them for those posts too. This is where those post-relevant hashtags come to play and despite
not always knowing what your posts are going to be about specifically, you can identify some of the
common threads in your content beforehand and save yourself all this work later.
When it comes to the best hashtag research tool, I’ve found that Flick works like a charm
as opposed to so many apps out there that spew huge hashtags which is neither helpful nor the
best way to utilize hashtags as we’ve already discussed. It effectively analyzes hashtags,
giving you a general ranking for them based on all the different factors like their size,
the engagement and the competitiveness but it also lets you refine your search by filtering
them and shows you analytics to inform you what works for you and what doesn't. Besides,
they’ve just come out with a scheduling feature where you can upload your Reels or carousels
to be automatically posted for you so I highly recommend this tool. This is not sponsored at all,
I’ve used Flick for a long time now but I have recently become an affiliate with them so an FYI!
Do you still use hashtags or have you given up on them completely?
I’d love to hear what your experience is in the comment section down below!
If you really want to increase your reach and improve the quality of your content,
you need to start with a strong content marketing strategy and I’m confident this video right here
is going to help you build it! There’s a free template included so go watch it now!
Hit that like button if you've enjoyed the video,
subscribe for more content tips like this and I can’t wait to see you… next time!