New Things About Instagram Hashtags That You Might Not Know

Hashtags are an essential part of Instagram but their significance and use seems to change every year. If you’re not cognizant of those changes, you could end up using tags that are no longer effective, thereby limiting your ability to connect and engage with your audience. Here’s the latest info on Instagram hashtags, according to Hootsuite.

• People can now follow hashtags. That means that tagged content can end up in users feeds even if they don’t follow you.

• Using the same hashtags over and over makes them less effective. Yes, this is news to most Instagram users (me too). One of the things that users can now do is select “Don’t Show For This Hashtag” if they see something they don’t like.

• Business profiles can measure how well their hashtags are working. One of the reasons why it’s best to have a business profile rather than a standard user one is that you get to see the tracking data, including the number of impressions you’ve received from the hashtags you used.

• You can now add hashtag links to your bio. When a user taps it they will be taken to that hashtag’s page so they can follow it.

• You can include up to 30 hashtags on a post and 10 on a Story. If you try to use more then your comment or caption won’t post. The problem here is just because you can do this doesn’t mean you should. The latest data says that 9 hashtags are the ideal number, down from 11 from last year.

• Only use relevant hashtags. Just because 9 is the ideal number doesn’t mean that any hashtags will do. Irrelevant hashtags now equals spammy behavior and will trigger the “Don’t Show For This Hashtag” selection if you’re not careful.

• You can add more hashtags to a previous post. If you want to add hashtags to a post you’ve already uploaded, tap the three dots in the top right corner of your screen and select Edit to add to the caption.

As said before, hashtag rules change and evolve and in order to keep your engagement with your audience up, you have to constantly be aware of those changes. Follow the latest guidelines above and you’ll be okay.

---