How Many Hashtags Should I Use?

Hashtags are one of the most useful tools available to influencers to get their content seen by new viewers and grow their followering. As I'm sure you know, Instagram now allows users to follow hashtags.  This tool is a great way to discover content related to topics that matter to you, and to find out who is posting about similar topics.  It also means that influencers can use hashtags strategically to put their content in front of people who are interested in the same subjects you post about. So, more than ever, it is important to be smart about which hashtags you use.  One common question that influencers ask over and over is: "What is the right number of hashtags to use?" 

Unfortunately, there is no one "right" answer for how many hashtags or which hashtags you should be using on your posts.  There's no one right way to do social media- it's supposed to be fun! 

I know these non-answer answers can be frustrating, but I promise I do have some advice.  The most important things to consider are variety and relevance.  It's fine to use thirty hashtags, if you can find thirty good ones.  It's also fine to only use five or six if those are what fits.  What we do not recommend doing is always using as many hashtags as possible just for the sake of it, especially if they are going to be overly general, like #food or #fashion.  The more general the hashtag, the more likely it is to attract spammers.  While these hashtags might get you a few more likes, they are unlikely to find you invested followers, because of how quickly they can get lost in the mess of thousands of posts using the same hashtags. Continual use of the same general hashtags can also get your posts marked as spam or even result in the dreaded shadowban. The same goes for using the exact same set of hashtags over and over again.  This sends out a red flag to the algorithm, which you don't want. 

The days of throwing on every possible hashtag, no matter how tangentially related, are over.  What matters now is that hashtags be specific to the post and targeted to the people who hope to reach.  So what does that mean?  Think of being one step more specific than the most general category for your post.  For example, rather than just #food, consider #cleaneating or #barbecue.  These categories are large enough to reach wide groups of people without getting lost in the shuffle or looking spammy.  In terms of how many, the answer is As many as are relevant.  That's it.  As long as you stick to this rule, and remember to switch your hashtags up regularly, you will be just fine.

Now, go focus on creating beautiful content.