Rethink Your Instagram Hashtags | LBX Agency

It’s always quality over quantity.

Since Instagram started out in 2010, it has undergone so many changes. But one of the things that stays the
same for the platform is that hashtags are still proven to be effective in increasing post reach. According to
Later, a post with at least one Instagram hashtag can average 12.6% more in engagement than posts without
one. It’s still one of the best ways to organically drive your campaigns on social media.

But the question is, just how many hashtags do you actually need for each post? Many would say that ideally,
maxing out the 30-hashtag limit is great.

Instagram’s @creators recently released a guide to their hashtag recommendations. As they’ve stated, it’s
recommended to keep hashtags between 3-5. It’s a huge trim down from 30! We think it was a huge leap too.

Before you completely change your strategy, let’s first think about what their statement means. Instagram has
always been telling us that we need to avoid using hashtags irrelevant to our posts, because these doesn’t
help our reach. Consider this as a tip to help you prevent using unnecessary hashtags.

Instagram didn’t necessarily mean that you should follow, sticking to just 3-5. Rather, they recommend you
niche down your hashtag usage and avoid generic ones that’ll drown your post out among the rest that uses
these generic hashtags as well.

There are other tips to keep in mind when using hashtags on your posts:

• Use hashtags that are relevant to the theme of your content. You don’t have to use hashtags like #followme, there’s just too many people using that nowadays anyway.
• Check out what hashtags your followers are already using and following. This will clearly give you an idea which hashtag category you’ll want to be in to end up in your follower’s feed and be discovered by similar people.
• Mix up your hashtags with popular and niche ones. Say you’re posting a painting you created. You might use #artwork, nothing wrong with that (it’s actually one of the most widely used hashtags), but you may want to use something that’s a little more specific like #watercolorpainting.
• Use specific hashtags. This will make it easier for your followers to find you. It’s also a good idea to create one of your own! Think of a hashtag that’s unique to your page, that’ll help you get started.

On the other hand, here are things you’d like to avoid:

• Don’t use hashtags that are not related to your content. Hashtags like #followme are totally unnecessary. In fact, we find it a little cringey when we see that these days. #sorrynotsorry
• Stop using hashtags that are way too generic. Going back to the example of you posting an artwork, you may want to rethink using #art, there are millions on posts under that category already, and there’s plenty more coming by the day.
• Avoid using too many hashtags. for example, say you’re a social media manager, you don’t have to think of 20 to 30 variations of #digitalmarketing. It’s just not helpful!

So, next time you’re putting up your content, remember to keep your content interesting and engaging in itself. That’s still what counts. Hashtags just provide context and a starting point. They help people who are interested in the things you are interested in, find you. With the new Instagram updates, less is definitely more – so choose wisely.