Are Hashtags Still Effective on Instagram
If you have an Instagram account, you probably already know a little bit about hashtags. If you were already in the habit of adding a few hashtags to your Instagram posts, then you’ve probably seen some positive results by doing so in the form of likes, comments, or followers. That’s how simple things used to be. Unfortunately, that’s not how things work anymore. Instagram recently made two important changes to their app that has affected the use of hashtags. Here they are.
Accounts now get shadowbanned when they misuse hashtags
Instagram can now detect when accounts abuse hashtags and then temporarily block those accounts from showing up on other people’s feeds. To prevent this from happening to your account, make sure you avoid hashtags that may have flagged content. Unless you have tools that can check this for you, you may have to check your hashtags to see if they are hidden manually. If you click on a hashtag and it leads you to a page that says “Sorry, this page isn’t available”, then that hashtag is banned and should not be used.
Another way you may get shadowbanned is if you repeatedly use the same hashtags in your posts. You may also get shadowbanned if you use the same set of hashtags within 24 hours.
Top hashtags and recent hashtags now have separate feeds
Back in the day, you’d see a Top Nine posts section whenever you clicked on a hashtag on Instagram followed by the rest of the posts that use that hashtag arranged in reverse chronological order. Now, if you click on a hashtag, an entire feed is dedicated to top posts can be found for that particular hashtag. To see all of the most recent posts, all you have to do is click on the ‘Recent’ tab. This is important because it is directly related to why you are getting a boost in reach or why your hashtags no longer seem to work.
How to make Instagram hashtags work for you?
When you are creating your content on Instagram, it is therefore important to think about your audience and their thought process. Would they be more inclined to check out the Top posts or the Recent posts for the content you are creating? If you think they are more inclined to check the Top posts – perhaps for inspiration to curate their feed - then you might want to consider using lesser-used hashtags so that your photos will appear on the Top feed. If you think they would check the Recent posts more – perhaps for reviews of restaurants or recent photos of a place – then you should use more common hashtags instead.
Instagram tends to change its algorithm regularly, so make sure you stay up-to-date with these changes to ensure maximum exposure for your account.
How AM Collective can help your business in digital marketing?
AM Collective is a branding and digital marketing agency born and based in Singapore. We are also a social media agency which also owns a group of digital properties.
Our clients include Huawei, NTUC Enterprise, Grab, Starhub, Junction 8, Capitol Singapore and CHIJMES, among others.
We make every marketing idea into reality for every business.
The article was written by Soon Koon.