Instagram Executive Suggests Hashtags Don’t Affect Reach, despite Widespread Belief

Instagram hashtags are ubiquitous. They appear on nearly every post, and most influencers will tell you that including them is a must if you want your content to reach new viewers. But is it? 

When you search for hashtags on Instagram, you'll find posts containing those hashtags. They're easy to use and help your images get noticed. You may be surprised to read that they don't always increase engagement.

Why is it that hashtags are now being discouraged?

Several factors may be responsible for this trend but most importantly, Instagram has implemented algorithm changes to prevent spammy hashtags.

Instagram, as with other social media platforms like Twitter or Snapchat, has a clear set of community guidelines that ban several forms of offensive content, including nudity and hate speech. And while many users are unaware of the banned content, controversial content can still be reported to Instagram. A staff then reviews the flagged content and removes it if necessary. Word is, they’ve banned more than 60,000 hashtags. And the list is ever-changing, on a daily basis. 

Last week, Instagram's head Adam Mosseri had marketers on social media reconsidering their strategies in light of his announcement that hashtags do not help users gain more views. 

“They do help us understand what a post is about, so it might be more likely to show up in certain places like hashtag pages. But generally, no, I wouldn’t try to think of hashtags as a way to get more distribution,” said Mosseri when responding to a user question in his Stories.

Mosseri advises marketers to create attractive content for their followers, rather than delve deeply into hashtag research. Sharing your posts is the best way to get new clients and followers, Mason explains.

“Let me be clear,” Moserri adds. “Your content did not get improved reach because of the hashtags you used. This is a correlation but not causation—the posts are doing well because of the content itself.”

So will hashtags remain useful?

Although there are many possible reasons for why you aren’t seeing an increase in engagement from your Instagram posts, one thing is clear from Mosseri: just hashtagging your posts will not increase your engagement. Your engagement needs to stem from creative content.

How?

For instance, you can try using better hashtags

To boost your Instagram engagement, find specific hashtags that relate to your subject matter and post content about them. Instagram allows users to see posts that use hashtags they follow, even if they don’t follow the user posting the content. This is gold for gaining exposure! Users also use hashtags to find content related to a certain topic. Find these hashtags and use them to increase your exposure.

Furthermore, you should also stay away from banned tags.

This should be obvious. Using too many hashtags on Instagram can result in your content not being found by others. The social media platform was recently accused of “shadowbanning” accounts that used too many hashtags.

Or, you can always change up your tags.

Adding the same list of hashtags to every post will only result in a shadowban and provide no benefit for your account. A better plan of action is to use tags that relate to your photos.

One way to stand out in a crowded market is to look at what achievements other companies have made in your niche. Which hashtags are they using? Look at other companies that have achieved success and emulate what they’re doing. Do this consistently, and you will see improvements in your results.

In conclusion, one should pay attention to the tags used and work harder to produce great content. In the end, according to Mosseri, it's not the hashtags that matter; it's what you share.