How to use hashtags on social media (and whether they still matter)

Hashtags went from essential to overhyped to widely dismissed — and the truth, as usual, is in between. They still do a job on some platforms and almost nothing on others. Here's how to use them without wasting effort.

Do hashtags still work?

It depends on the platform. They've shifted from a reach hack to a topic and search signal — a way of telling the platform (and search) what your content is about, so the right people can find it. Treat them as categorisation, not magic reach.

Platform by platform

• Instagram — still useful for discovery and search; a handful of relevant, specific tags beats a wall of broad ones.
• TikTok — help categorise content for the For You algorithm; keep them relevant to the video.
• LinkedIn — a few (2–3) topical tags help reach the right professional audience; more looks spammy.
• X — one or two at most; hashtag-heavy posts underperform.
• Facebook — largely ignore them; they do little here.

How many, and which

Relevance beats volume. A few specific, on-topic hashtags that describe your content and niche outperform thirty generic ones like #love or #instagood, which put you in an ocean of unrelated posts. Mix broader and niche tags, and keep them genuinely relevant to the post.

Common mistakes

• Using the same block of 30 tags on every post — looks automated and can hurt reach.
• Irrelevant trending tags to chase reach — they bring the wrong audience and can flag as spam.
• Treating hashtags as a substitute for a strong hook and good content. They aren't.

Save your best sets

Optimate lets you save and reuse hashtag groups per brand, and suggests relevant ones as you write — so tagging is fast and consistent without copy-pasting a stale block. Start free — 14-day Pro trial, no card.