Hashtags - Still helpful or dead?
Ah, hashtags — the timeless, algorithm-bending super hack to getting your social posts out to the masses. Except it doesn’t work that way.
If you know anything about hashtags, you know that hashtags were created with the intention of “grouping” or “tagging” consumer posts across social media. However, with the sheer volume of posts across platforms and the shift towards search-engine style algorithms, this idea is a thing of the past. Let me explain.
When Instagram was created in 2010 the app was designed to be a way for friends, families, and communities to connect. Users would do this through the sharing of real images and current happenings around them. People you knew or that wanted to know you would like your posts and follow you, thus creating a connected network.
Then comes businesses and their use of the platform. Monetization then changed the algorithm to fit the needs of the platform itself (a business) as well as the businesses paying for the same effect — which includes both companies and individual influencers.
When an influencer creates an account, they essentially niche themselves down into one category where they can create a focused community and also a clear partner for other companies in the industry to work with. This means that users need to be able to find the influencers and companies they want to align with. For example, you’ll see a lot of “wellness” or “fitness” influencers. This means that they have dedicated themselves to a pretty specific type of content and have also opened the door for other companies in the industry to partner with them.
“How does this relate to hashtags?”, you ask.
Let’s now say its 2015 and influencers are beginning to emerge and you have floods of images and videos under the #wellness and #fitness hashtags.
No single user would even be able to find anything under the hashtag anymore, therefore eliminating the value of “tagging” in the first place. If the organization of posts no longer keeps them organized, the feature is rendered useless.
Businesses on the platform have now taken over the hashtag feature allowing them to create entire tags for themselves, essentially providing another free way for people to find them. An example of this would be a hashtag like #AshevilleNC. Well now if I am a tourist visiting Asheville, NC I am going to look up the hashtag. I won’t find locals talking about what they are doing with their everyday life in the city. Rather, I would see the popular businesses in the area because they are posting publicly and have the most likes. Free Advertising? Instagram wouldn’t let the potential income stream go unchecked.
Now we are back in 2025 and hashtags have completely changed. When you go to search on social media platforms like Instagram to find things to do in Asheville, NC for the weekend, the algorithm has a new way of searching their database for things you might like, and sometimes it is a little biased. Like Google, current algorithms are now scanning through posts, captions, bios, and more, across the platform, for key words that match what you are looking for.
When businesses or influencers join the platform they have a few ways to help their page show up higher on the list for consumers. They can go about it organically where they are strategic with what keywords they include throughout their profile. They can also pay to boost their content and their page — paid advertising. While most business pages end up doing both at some point, it is important to note how hashtags fall into this new system.
The CEO of instagram, over the course of time, has changed their story on the value/need of hashtags a few times, but as it currently stands Hashtags are simply another way to key words in your captions. They do not function as an effective tagging/categorization system anymore. Now, if you want to show up higher on the search results, you need to have more keywords and meta data (What’s this? That’s a different blog for a different day) that match the user search. Is this the only thing that affects how your posts rank? No, but it is certainly important.
At the end of the day, a huge misconception lies in the thought that hashtags are going to get your post shown to tons of like-minded individuals or throughout the local community. As you move through your marketing and social media strategies in 2025 and beyond make sure to take the updates with hashtags into consideration.
If you or a local business you know would benefit from this knowledge, make sure to share! Ready to learn more about having your socials managed by a professional? Schedule a FREE 15 minute consultation with me HERE.