Fresh off the pot 🫖! I have got some tea☕ that I NEEED to spill! 

Get ready for this one because it is steamy💨!

DISCLAIMER⚠️ These are just rumors. Please don’t attack me…I am just the delivery girl.

Instagram is  ALLEGEDLY saying that you DO NOT need all 30 hashtags on your Instagram feed posts. 🤯

I know, I know…this is the OPPOSITE of EVERYTHING you have ever heard from any marketer, agency, media corporation, etc. 

So let’s break this tea down leaf by leaf, so we understand what we are steeping. 

I like all excellent rumors; you have to understand them from the source.

@lucasokeefe recently shared in July that he had a creators strategy call with a representative on the Instagram team, and they talked about a variety of things, including “briefly” about hashtags. The IG rep told him to “use hashtags to create a persona for your account.” Essentially hashtags are how you communicate to the Instagram algorithm what your account is about and what each piece of content is about. Ultimately, this rep told him to only use 8-15 hashtags per post (alluding to the lower side, closer to 8 hashtags per post) and make sure those hashtags indicate the topic/content at hand. 

(WAIT…what? Don’t make me spit out this tea!) 

Here’s a screenshot from one of the carousel slides on his post:

Okay, so what the heck does this mean?? Does that mean ASAP Rocky STOP using 30 hashtags?

Real talk, in my opinion, no, it doesn’t.

It means you need to use hashtags strategically. My targeted hashtag formula specifically tells you to use a variety of hashtags targeted to your industry and your specific niche while also incorporating the hashtags your audience is looking for (not just where you want to be found). 

For funzies😜, here’s that strategy in case you haven’t checked it out yet:

Secret Sauce to the Best Instagram Hashtag Strategy Blog 

 And here’s why my secret sauce strategy works with this new news/advice:

• If you’re using targeted hashtags for your industry and niche, you’re telling Instagram what it is you do and who you serve.
• If you’re using content-related hashtags, you’re telling Instagram what’s in that post (in addition to what their AI is seeing).
• If you use the hashtags your audience is searching for; you’re showing up where they are AND telling Instagram more about who it is you’re attracting.

You can literally achieve ALL the things this Instagram rep allegedly said to do.

The problem is that MOST people don’t use this strategy for hashtags🤦🏾‍♀️.

Most people use a mix of random hashtags, super-popular hashtags and are not thinking about the right hashtags to attract their target audience. For those people, yes, this advice from the IG rep is actually kind of clever because it would allow them to focus their hashtags in a more meaningful way that would ultimately be beneficial to the “algorithm” in determining their content placement.

Something to note📝:

Remember last year, Instagram rolled out the feature that allows you to perform keyword search results. 

Meaning you don’t have to search for a specific hashtag, location, or account. But instead, you can type in a word, and Instagram will populate a variety of results that match that general criterion. Where do they source the data to populate those keyword searches? 

Well, we don’t know “for sure.” Still, I ASSUME that the information comes from a variety of sources, including hashtags on posts, captions, your bio description, artificial intelligence scans of your visuals, as well as who is following you, etc.

So, if you are a professional development coach, but all you post are recipes and stuff about your shopping addiction, you’re confusing Instagram by posting content that does NOT relate to business, personal/professional development, or coaching. 

So Instagram doesn’t really know where to rank you in keyword searches. 😕

Instead, if you’re a jewelry designer💍 and you post lots of content with accessories, jewelry, and gemstones your captions and hashtags all tie into this, AND your followers are people interested in fashion and accessories, Instagram knows EXACTLY where to rank you in search.

THIS is basically what ASSUME the IG rep explained to Lucas when it comes to picking targeted hashtags related to your industry and content. 

I will be honest; I think it was misleading to tell people to use fewer hashtags when the better advice would be to use more targeted and selective hashtags.

On that note, if you want to organize your hashtags quickly and easily so that you can ensure they are targeted to the right industry, niche, topic, season, content, etc.,

My personal favorites are the hashtag tool within Agorapulse and Later, but the ultimate beast is Flick!

Now, back to our regularly scheduled program🎬

Instagram rep and this “advice” is why I also cringe whenever people post the advice they had shared with them from an IG rep. When creators talk to these reps, they are speak to their OWN account specifics, NOT general best practices. And when you are talking general best practices, you’re not looking at your account and what your insights are actually telling you. 

These reps are “selling” Instagram, but they are also restricted in what they can say (or even what they know) about the actual inner workings of the app. 

So their advice should always be taken with a grain of salt.

So, no, I don’t recommend massively cutting down your hashtag use right now.

I challenge you to test this if you want to run several posts with 8-15 hashtags and see how they perform compared to those where you’ve used more than 20+. 

You’ll have to do this over at least a handful of posts and over some time (6-8 weeks, ideally) to see how they really do perform. If the testing and data show that less is more, I will be the first to tell you to start using less.

Biggest Tip: Do what WORKS FOR YOU, not what I or any Instagram rep theorizes should work.

 

That’s my story, and I am sticking to it! I hope you enjoyed this #HotTea sesh with me and not only got the 411 but learned something as well. 

 

If you still need help or are on your social media marketing journey and would like to book a discovery call with me to discuss how we can set you up for success!

xoxo,

Soraya Janae