How to Use Hashtags in 2022

Hashtags are a nuanced and ever-changing part of managing a successful Instagram, TikTok, or Twitter account (note we didn’t say Facebook!). As we near the end of the first quarter of 2022, new learning about how hashtags are interacting on these platforms and with their updated algorithms are available. 

Hashtags can have an instrumental effect on your marketing and content strategy and when used strategically can help improve discovery, increase reach, add context to posts and help promote campaigns.

Improve discovery

Instagram has been increasingly pushing users towards the explore feature within the app. The ability to search by tags allows users to find content relevant to a specific hashtag or interest. Tagging your posts appropriately is a great way to reach new users that are searching Instagram for posts around a specific topic or just window shopping. Use broader, more generalized hashtags on posts that are explaining your offerings or brand positioning to help people that have recently discovered your post understand what you’re all about.

Increased Reach

Hashtags improve your reach by automatically filtering your posts into people’s feeds. Whether you appear as a suggested post or in their explore feed, you’re likely to reach more followers by using hashtags. Again, align hashtags for these posts with your top-level content pillars for maximum reach and discovery potential.

Add Context

Feed posts on Instagram have a 2,200 character limit, which is usually more than enough. Include stories, reels, Instagram Live, and other features and suddenly you’re able to tell a pretty lengthy story all within the platform. Go a step further by including interactive hashtags in your stories– this gives followers the chance to go down the rabbit hole, so to speak, and see how you’re communicating with and engaging with your larger community.

Promote Campaigns

This hashtag strategy is crucial for getting your followers deeper into your conversion funnel.  Assuming that they’ve already committed to following your brand, you can align these posts with the content pillars focused on campaign-based content. Be that telling a story through a blog, or YouTube series, creating a custom hashtag will generate UGC and let followers go deeper into your content plan without risking your post getting lost in the shuffle.