https://blog.5gigbucks.com/create-your-very-own-auto-publish-news-blog-site-and-earn-passive-income-in-just-4-easy-steps/
Hashtag stuffing is no longer as tasty a dish as it used to be.
This month, Instagram discontinued the “Following Hashtags” feature. Users can no longer follow hashtags and that content will no longer appear in their feeds or Reels. However, you can still search for a hashtag.
The move is definitely a problem for hashtag stuffers – those spammers who insert every popular and trending hashtag, regardless of relevance, to make their content accessible to more people.
But is the end of Instagram's follow feature a harbinger of the future of hashtags for marketers?
Yes, according to a handful of marketers who responded to CMI's query on the Qwoted platform.
Forget mass appeal
Robin Dimond
CEO and Founder, Fifth & Cor
Robin Dimond, CEO and founder of marketing and innovation company Fifth & Cor, says the role of hashtags is evolving. “There is now a tool to increase relevance rather than increase mass visibility,” she says.
To optimize their use, she recommends using five to ten broad and niche hashtags to achieve greater reach and engage with more relevant groups.
Also, familiarize yourself with other Instagram best practices, such as: B. writing SEO-friendly captions and using trending audio. Collaborate with YouTubers or other brands to increase discoverability.
“While hashtags can support your strategy, they are no longer the focus – authenticity and algorithm-friendly engagement are,” says Robin.
Hashtags count differently
Saleh Malik
Founder, S-Square
Saleha Malik, founder of S-Squared, agrees that hashtags are still important, but not like they used to be. She says marketers would do well to adopt a holistic strategy that focuses on engagement metrics, relevance and high-quality content that encourages engagement.
“Hashtags used to be like open house invitations to broader communities. Using #Travel or #OOTD (Opinion of the Day) could catapult a post into the feeds of thousands who follow these topics,” says Saleha.
Now Instagram prioritizes providing content tailored to the user's interests, so its algorithm is more interested in interactions and conference preferences.
She refers to the Instagram channel of the sustainable fashion brand Reformation. The use of hashtags in his posts has been minimized – many do not contain hashtags. This post even uses OOTD in the text of the visual post with three clothing options to represent the life of the party – without ever using the hashtag sign.
Instead, Reformation is now focusing on driving user engagement through questions and polls in Stories to improve its rankings in personalized feeds.
Take a TikTok-like approach
Kaveh Vahdat
Founder and President, RiseOpp
Instagram's move reflects its transition to a more TikTok-like, algorithm-driven approach, says Kaveh Vahdat, founder and president of RiseOpp, a fractional CMO services company.
“While hashtags help categorize content on TikTok, the platform’s algorithm prioritizes user interactions – such as likes, shares, comments and watch time – to determine what appears on users’ For You pages,” he says.
Liam Taylor
Content marketer for artists and singers
Liam Taylor, a content marketer for artists and singers, also points out that the best strategy to attract many users on TikTok is not to use hashtags.
But that's still not the best strategy for Instagram. “The more tags you use, the better you can niche down and reach a specific user,” he says. Still, Liam recommends using no more than three hashtags to target a target niche.
According to Kaveh, the most important thing for marketers is to produce compelling content that resonates with their target audience and drives engagement, as this is more likely to be favored by the algorithms on platforms like Instagram and TikTok.
Back to a Google-like strategy
Kate Smoothly
Founder and Director, Webhive Digital
Kate Smoothly, founder and director of Webhive Digital, says today's social media users are adopting a Google approach to social media and using these platforms as search tools. Therefore, marketers should follow suit and use keywords to promote their content.
Liam agrees. “It’s better to write detailed captions that are engaging and encourage users to interact,” he says.
Ultimately, the question of how many hashtags to use or not to use is not the question marketers should be answering.
“The most important thing is to find space to experiment. What works today may not work tomorrow. What works for me may not work for you,” says Liam. “When you try a new approach, be sure to measure the results and use them to inform your future strategy.”
HANDPICKED RELATED CONTENT:
Cover image by Joseph Kalinowski/Content Marketing Institute
https://blog.5gigbucks.com/create-your-very-own-auto-publish-news-blog-site-and-earn-passive-income-in-just-4-easy-steps/
