Hashtags have become a divisive topic among social media marketers in recent years.
Recently, Instagram announced its decision to remove the ability for users to follow hashtags. The update aims to combat “hashtag spammers” who target trending hashtags with unrelated posts and create a cluttered user experience.
While Instagram says hashtags will still play a role on the platform, this announcement has marketers everywhere wondering if the era of hashtags is coming to an end.
So, are hashtags really #dead? If not, when and how should you use them? Let’s take a closer look:
The Rise and Fall of the Hashtag
Hashtags first emerged on Twitter in 2007. The tags quickly became a popular way to organize social media feeds and categorize trending topics, often news and current events.
Instagram adopted hashtags as a discovery tool, enabling users to “follow” the tags that interested them to see related visual content in their feeds. Facebook and LinkedIn followed suit.
At the height of their popularity, adding hashtags to your posts was considered a necessity for content visibility. But over the years, social media platforms and algorithms have evolved to prioritize user behavior. As the platforms obtain more information about their users, they can serve up highly personalized content—no hashtags required.
Does this mean hashtags are gone for good? Not exactly!
To Hashtag or Not to Hashtag?
Hashtags are still useful for social media marketers; however, their use needs to be strategic. Here are a few instances where hashtags definitely still work:
Building Community Connections
Hashtags like #Bookstagram or #VanLife serve to connect users within specific interest groups and online communities. If your audience belongs to a niche group like this, it’s worth using relevant hashtags to reach them.
Campaign Branding
Branded hashtags (think Coca-Cola’s #ShareACoke or Dove’s #LikeAGirl) can be a rallying point for larger campaigns. When used effectively, they can facilitate valuable user-generated content and help marketers track engagement on social.
Event Promotion
Trade shows, conferences, and large events still benefit from hashtags (e.g., #ParisOlympics). Use event-specific hashtags to encourage real-time conversation and make it easy to follow updates.
Social Media & Search Marketing
On X (Twitter), hashtags are definitely still vital for visibility, especially when it comes to trending topics and news stories. But on platforms like Instagram and TikTok (although the latter app’s fate remains uncertain as of this writing), hashtags often align with trending challenges and algorithm-based discovery.
That brings us to a new strategy: optimizing keywords on social media.
More and more, consumers are turning to social media platforms rather than search engines to find information, especially as it pertains to lifestyle content such as recipes, DIY tips, household products, and advice. In fact, 64% of GenZers and 49% of Millennials have used TikTok as a search engine.
To align with this shift in user behavior, platforms like Instagram now allow users to search posts based on the keywords in captions. Similarly, TikTok’s search functionality highlights useful and relevant content based on AI-driven natural language.
For marketers, this means we need to prioritize strong captions that include relevant keywords rather than relying on hashtags alone.
Final Thoughts: Hashtags Still Have Their Place (For Now!)
Sure, hashtags may not be an essential social media tactic like they once were, but they can still serve a purpose in the right context. The key is to approach hashtags strategically and use them sparingly.
If you’re used to including multiple hashtags on every post, why not test a few captions without any tags at all? Instead, focus on creating content that speaks for itself—you may discover a difference!
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