There was a time when Instagram hashtags were the only way for content to reach its intended audiences on Instagram. But something’s changed. Specifically, the Instagram algorithm (we almost feel like that should be spelled in title case – The Algorithm – for the feeling of abject horror that wreaks among our social media marketing team at the mention of it).
Thanks to the algorithm getting cleverer at categorising content through AI and machine learning, some users have noticed that their content will reach their intended audience even without using Instagram hashtags. There’s even a trend now of adding keywords in a caption or adding them at the end.
At the same time, there are still a lot of users regularly using hashtags to categorise their own content and also discover similar content. There are so many niche hashtags out there, and it just doesn’t make sense to just stop using them altogether, right?
Well, our team was divided on the issue so we decided the only way to settle this argument was with an Instagram hashtags experiment! Keep scrolling to discover the details of our experiment, what the data says, and of course, whether we’ll keep using hashtags or putting them on a shelf to be forgotten forever.
Our Instagram Hashtags Experiment
For this experiment, we kept things really simple. We shared two Reels and then re-shared them a month later.
Throughout the first round of posts, we didn’t use hashtags. We instead used keywords scattered throughout the captions and also added them to the end of each caption.
For the second round of videos, we used Instagram hashtags the way we usually do, which is tacking them on at the end of each caption.
You can see the difference between these two screenshots.
The topic we chose is quite evergreen, so it made sense to re-share it. In fact, we’ll probably share it again in the future! It was also immediately relevant to small business owners who are looking to learn more about building better websites AKA our primary audience.
The Instagram reels were shared around the same time a month apart, and all have the same covers and even accompanying audio so as not to add another variable to the experiment.
We made sure that the only difference between the two sets of videos were the absence and presence of hashtags!
Have a look at each of the posts via the links below:
So…Do Instagram Hashtags Still Work?
Based on our data, the short answer is: Yes! But clearly it’s not the only variable at play.
Here’s the data we gleaned from this experiment:
First Round Of Videos (No Instagram Hashtags)
- Views across Instagram & Facebook for the first video: 298
- Views across Instagram & Facebook for the second video: 633
- Total views for both: 931
- Accounts reached for the first video: 227 (70 followers and 157 non-followers)
- Accounts reached for the second video: 533 (60 followers and 157 non-followers)
Second Round Of Videos (With Instagram Hashtags)
- Views across Instagram & Facebook for the first video: 935
- Views across Instagram & Facebook for the second video: 195
- Total views for both: 1,130
- Accounts reached for the first video: 640 (61 followers and 579 non-followers)
- Accounts reached for the second video: 78 (61 followers and 17 non-followers)
The total views for the second video of the second round of videos were abysmal yet the first video for that same round of videos did significantly better than all the other videos. It could have been a matter of timing, or other content on Instagram taking attention away from our videos, or any other number of things. We’ll never truly know!
What we have found to be true, however, is that hashtags allow us to reach more non-followers. This is an important part of organic Instagram growth, so we’ve decided to keep using hashtags until we can confirm that either our reach is suffering or there’s a better way for us to more narrowly categorise our posts so the intended audiences can find it. Being able to choose three keywords per Reel is quite good (thanks, Instagram, for that new feature!), but we’d love to be able to get even more niche with our topics.
We fully intend on repeating this experiment again in the near future, so keep an eye out for that!
We’re pretty fortunate to have an incredible team of social media marketing experts who practice best-practice hashtag tips thanks to the training by our sister company, Content Savvy. In fact, you can use this helpful cheat sheet of dos and don’ts for Instagram hashtags to be able to use hashtags more effectively for your own small business.
Good Content Is Still Key
We’ve been saying this for years, but good content is still the key to success on social media and digital marketing in general! From creating solid content marketing strategies to boosting your video content marketing, you need to focus on compelling content if you really want to grow your small business.
Do you need help with your content marketing?
Our team of digital marketing experts are ready to help. We can do everything from crafting a content marketing strategy to creating engaging Instagram Reels for your business. View our organic social media packages now.
