Instagram Hashtags: Everything You Need To Know in 2022

2022’s Instagram Hashtags Update

Despite many updates and returning features that Instagram has brought in already in 2022, one thing that remains solid is that using hashtags is still one of the most effective ways to get more visibility and engagement on your posts. 

Later has looked into how hashtags work on Instagram and the best way to use them, so we’ve put together a quick guide with the most significant bits for any small business. 

How do hashtags actually work? 

We know that everyone throws around hashtags as a term, but what does it mean, and how do they work IRL? Hashtags are used to label and categorise your content; Instagram then takes these hashtags and serves the posts to users it believes your content will be revenant. This could be simply using hashtags to channel the search results on the explore page or as complicated as being a reference for the algorithm and what Instagram suggests to users it believes will be highly interested in. 

Are hashtags still relevant in 2022? 

Hashtags have been around for a while now, and many features of Instagram are now long gone, so are they still effective? The short answer is yes. Instagram is slowly pivoting towards semantic keyword search. This will open up a whole new debate on the possibilities of making your content as discoverable as possible – potentially letting copy in your captions or video topics be searchable too. But for now, hashtags are still crucial in a strong content strategy. 

How many hashtags should you use?

Okay, so this one is a little more complex; we previously wrote a blog post on Instagram’s recommendation of using 3-5 hashtags per post, but Later’s research on 18M+ Instagram feed posts showed that using more hashtags gave better results. “Reach rate increases by 11% (from 24% to 35%) as the number of hashtags grows from one to 30.” 

To get more personalised, Instagram will need to accurately categorise the content, which it needs hashtags to be able to do. Their theory is that using fewer hashtags will mean more accurate self-categorisation – for instance, if you have to cut down, you’re more likely to get right to the point instead of including miscellaneous popular hashtags. So, use as many hashtags as you like, but you might want to give using 3-to 5 particular hashtags ago to see what it does for your engagement. 

How to find the best hashtags for your social media strategy

So now you know that you can add 20-30 hashtags to your posts to increase your reach and engagement, but that is harder to build a list than just 3-5. Here are three tactics to use to develop your hashtags:

#1: Use Later’s Hashtag Suggestion Tool and save captions/first comments

#2: Research posts on Instagram Explore Page

#3: Review Hashtag’s Post Volume Using Instagram’s Tag Search Tool on the explore page

Where to use hashtags on Instagram. 

Instagram has confirmed that it is effective to use hashtags in both your post caption and the comments section, so you can choose where you want to post them depending on how “clean” you’d like your posts to be. One key thing is timing; you should always add hashtags in the comment section as soon as your correspondence is published, as this makes a real difference. 

Using Later to save time on your hashtag strategy

Later has a free saved captions tool that you can use to curate a list of 20-30 hashtags that align with your content pillars that you can add to each post or schedule the first comment too. These are easily adapted and edited for relevant content pillars. 

Once you’ve built a solid foundation, you can analyse the results and set up some new tests on others. Later’s hashtag analytics tool will let you track things like which hashtags are driving the most likes, saves, comments and overall reach on your posts. 

If you’d like a little help researching and implementing your social media hashtag strategy for your business, reach out to Francesca@socialglobalgrind.com , or book a discovery call below.