Did you know that social media sites are de-prioritizing hashtags? Many are saying that hashtags are dead, but are they really? Let’s dive in!

Instagram has removed the ability to follow hashtags, which limits exposure. TikTok and Instagram now both prioritize captions, audio, and on-screen text for ranking content. X (formerly Twitter) has deprioritized hashtags as well, and LinkedIn has shifted to natural language indexing, where keywords matter more than hashtags. 

Social media platforms are now indexing text much the same way search engines like Google do. And if your content doesn’t include the words people are searching for, no one will see it. So while hashtags drove content discovery in the past, now discovery is driven by natural language keywords, search terms, and context, making clear, intent-driven captions far more effective than a list of hashtags. 

Since keywords reflect how people actually search, including important keywords and search terms in your captions to align with your content means higher engagement and that your content is more likely to rank in searches. According to the Hubspot 2024 Social Trends Report, 67% of marketers are now prioritizing keyword strategies over hashtags for social discovery. 

So, are hashtags still worth using? The short answer is yes, but maybe not in the way you’re used to. They’re no longer a main traffic driver, but they now work more similarly to metadata. Hashtags help platforms understand what your content is about, so they can be used to reinforce topics. They also act as secondary keywords, and they can tell the algorithm who might care about your content. Finally, hashtags keep your posts searchable over time, especially on TikTok and Instagram. 

When used really well, hashtags can support and boost your content and contribute to you reaching more relevant consumers. If they are too generic, though, or misaligned with your content, they can dilute your visibility.

Here is a handy chart of what works and what you’ll want to avoid with hashtags going forward:

What Works

• Choosing just a few relevant hashtags per post
• Use hashtags to reinforce the information in your captions
• Think of hashtags as supporting metadata instead of a traffic driver
• Prioritize keywords, natural language, and on-screen text to make your content more discoverable

What Doesn’t Work

• Relying on hashtags to “hack” the algorithm
• Using the exact same caption on every post
• Overloading posts with a ton of hashtags

Following and Tagging SIBA

If you don’t already, make sure to follow SIBA on Instagram (@siba_books) and on Facebook (Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance). Also, make sure to tag us directly in posts about what your store is doing! This will increase your visibility.

And like and comment on our posts to help us increase SIBA’s reach as well! The more reach we have, the more discoverability and visibility we can offer to our member stores.

If you’d like to be featured on SIBA’s social media, please fill out the Bookseller Profile form to give us all the information we need.

If you use hashtags in a particular way or have questions or information to share, or if you’d like to tell SIBA about something great your store is doing in your community, please email candice@sibaweb.com.