“Should we still be using hashtags?” is a phrase you might have heard in a meeting or two in recent times. Sometimes, it can be hard to make the case. With so much misinformation around them, coupled with the fact that it can be tricky to see their exact impact, there are only so many ways to say “you just should”. So why should you use hashtags, and has the answer changed?
What is a hashtag?
Let’s get back to basics first. Hashtags make searching for similar content more user-friendly and are an effective way to provide context to your post. They also help deliver content to people with a specific interest in a topic.
The evolution of the hashtag
- While most of us would immediately recognise the hashtag symbol (#), or simply the “hash” key on a landline phone, its official name is an “octothorpe”, which, admittedly, is a little less catchy.
- Although the symbol itself has existed for much longer, it wasn’t until product designer Chris Messina proposed it for grouping tweets in August 2007 that its new potential was considered.
- Twitter started turning hashtags into clickable links in July 2009, and from there the idea spread. The hashtag became a common thread across every major social platform, and part of our online (and sometimes offline) vocabulary.
What’s changed since we first wrote this
Quite a lot, as it happens, and most of it points the same way: fewer, better hashtags.
- Instagram removed the ability to follow hashtags in December 2024. Hashtags still work for search and still put your post on the hashtag page, but they no longer feed posts into anyone’s home feed.
- Instagram now limits you to five hashtags per post or reel. Announced in December 2025 and now written into Instagram’s Help Centre: more than five and your caption or comment won’t post. Instagram’s reasoning is that a few targeted hashtags perform better than a pile of generic ones.
- Threads uses topic tags instead. One tag per post, no # symbol, spaces allowed. Meta designed it that way to stop tag spam.
- X’s official advice is no more than two hashtags per post. You can use more, but X says two is best practice.
- LinkedIn has played hashtags down too. They still work as searchable labels, but they’re no longer the way to reach new people on the platform.
Hashtags aren’t dead. They’ve gone from a reach hack to a labelling system, and the platforms are telling you to use them that way.
Advantages of using hashtags
After a quick refresher, let’s get into it! Why are hashtags still relevant? How can they help you promote your brand?
- They let you join trending topics and conversations, which can put your content in front of a larger audience.
- They make your brand easier to find. Hashtags categorise your content, so people with a particular interest in a topic can find your post or your brand when they search for it.
- They add context to your post. If you share a new dessert recipe with #recipe and #cake, your post is distinguished from unrelated food content.
- A branded hashtag can increase visibility, clicks and mentions, and gives customers a simple way to tag you. It also makes user-generated content easy to find.
- You can track how your hashtags perform and engage with the people using them, which helps you stay close to your audience.
- Use capital letters to break up multi-word hashtags: #CamelCase rather than #camelcase. Screen readers can then read each word, which makes your hashtags accessible, and it’s easier for everyone to read at a glance.
Research from HubSpot shows why being findable on social matters: in its consumer trends research, 31% of consumers said they use social media to find answers to their questions, and 15% prefer searching on social media to using a search engine.
We can’t guarantee a particular hashtag strategy will grow your business, but it’s worth a try.
How to use hashtags on each platform
Whichever channel you use, hashtags can be a useful tool, and relevant hashtags are a must. Use too many irrelevant ones, though, and you’ll look like spam. Here are our best tips for each channel.
- The limit is now five per post or reel, and that’s the total across caption and comments. Choose a mix: one or two broad tags for the topic, two or three specific ones for your niche or location.
- Specific hashtags narrow your audience and lead to a more valuable, focused following; broad ones increase overall visibility. Mixing the two gives you both.
- Caption or first comment? With the cap at five, it makes no real difference. Put them in the caption and keep it tidy.
- Because following hashtags is gone, don’t expect hashtags alone to put you in feeds. They help people who search, and they help Instagram categorise the post. Reach comes from the content.
TikTok
- Hashtags on TikTok are part of the “content information” its recommender system uses, alongside sounds and captions, so they help the For You feed understand what your video is about.
- People also search TikTok like a search engine, and relevant hashtags help your video turn up.
- A few specific tags beat a string of generic ones. #FYP and #viral tell TikTok nothing about your video.
- Searching a category hashtag on TikTok shows you the best-performing videos in it, which is a good source of inspiration for your own content.
- Hashtags work on personal profiles, Pages and in groups, and they’re searchable from the search bar. A hashtag must be one word with no spaces, and punctuation and special characters won’t work.
- Facebook users don’t browse by hashtag the way Instagram and TikTok users do, so keep it to one or two that genuinely describe the post, or none at all.
- Hashtags still work as searchable labels, and they help LinkedIn understand the topic of a post. Two or three relevant ones are plenty; a long list looks spammy on a professional platform.
- Put them at the end of the post, not in the comments.
- If you have a branded hashtag, LinkedIn is a good place to use it, and to get your colleagues to use it too.
X (formerly Twitter)
- Hashtags categorise posts by keyword and help them show up in X’s search. Clicking one shows every post using it, which makes X a good place to follow news and live events.
- X’s own recommendation is no more than two hashtags per post. One or two relevant tags support the post; more than that gets in the way.
- No spaces or punctuation inside the hashtag, or it won’t work.
Threads
- Threads doesn’t use hashtags. It uses topic tags: one per post, added in the composer, no # needed, and spaces allowed, so “home baking” works as a tag. Pick the single most relevant topic.
Keyword marketing on Instagram: is it worth the hassle?
If you’re into home cooking, you might have spotted creators asking you to comment a keyword to get a recipe sent to your DMs. This kind of DM marketing is often used with very broad strokes, to provide auto-replies and FAQs, giving accounts with large followings new ways to keep up with their audience and lighten the load on their community managers. Now that we’re seeing more diverse use cases, how can businesses of all sizes make use of it?
The pros
Usually, an account will ask followers to comment with a keyword, and in return they’ll receive an automated link to the recipe in their DMs. The benefit for the consumer is that they can keep track of recipes they like from one creator in one place, without having to keep a particular Instagram post open. For the creator, it creates a higher volume of engagement and gives them a better idea of what content is performing best.
While this has proven popular with food creators, there’s huge potential for it to work across a range of industries, and it lets creators bypass the usual “link in bio” chat for something that feels a little more direct. Whether you’re sharing recipes, courses and webinars, white papers and reports, exclusive offers or further context via a blog, there are lots of ways to make chat marketing work for you.
The cons
So what’s the catch? The main one is that the quality of your engagement may drop. With lots of people commenting a single word, your comment feed can quickly look quite spammy, which in turn discourages higher quality engagement. This is primarily a matter of taste, and in some cases it’s still better than lower engagement, because it draws in lurker accounts that would otherwise opt for a quiet “Save”.
When this piece was first written, the open question was whether Instagram would let third-party keyword tools carry on. The answer turned out to be that Meta built its own version. Meta Business Suite now has free, built-in automations (Inbox, then Automations) including comment-to-DM, with instant replies and FAQs alongside. The free version is basic, with a fixed reply and no branching flows, so tools like Manychat still have a place for anything more involved. But the feature is now officially sanctioned, which settles the “is this allowed?” question for good.
How to find trending hashtags
Each social network has an explore or search page showing what’s trending. Looking through these, you’ll see the hashtags most used for your topic. Keeping up with trending hashtags means you can always be part of the conversation.
Look at who is using the same hashtags. If it’s your target audience, you know your content is reaching the right people.
Measuring performance
Each platform’s built-in insights will show you reach and engagement per post, so compare posts with and without a given hashtag over a few weeks. Scheduling and analytics tools can track hashtag performance across platforms in a similar way to an SEO keyword report. Experimenting with hashtags can also lead to different content ideas and improve your content’s reach.
Thanks for joining us on this hashtag crash course, we can’t wait to see how you use it to upgrade your social strategy! For more useful info, tips and chat from the world of digital marketing, check out our blog.