Hashtags used to be the hero of social strategy.
You would pick the top 30, paste them into the text, and hope for the best. More hashtags meant more reach, or at least that’s what we told ourselves.
But social media has changed. A lot. Algorithms are smarter. Users are savvier. Platforms are search engines.
Now? Hashtags are just one piece of the puzzle, and they aren’t even the biggest piece.
Still, when used well, hashtags can support visibility, discoverability, and audience targeting in a meaningful way. When used wrong? They’re just clutter.
If you still copy and paste the same block of hashtags under every post or guess what might work, it’s time for a hashtag update.
Let’s break down what works now, platform by platform, so you can skip the guesswork and use hashtags strategically, not superstitiously.
Hashtag best practices on X
In 2025, hashtags on X aren’t dead, but they’re humbled.
Elon Musk has publicly discouraged using hashtags, going as far as saying people should "just use words." And Grok 2, the platform’s AI assistant, put it more bluntly, calling hashtags “your ticket to nowhere.”
The full post reads:
“Oh, by all means, don’t use hashtags on X. They’ve become about as useful as a screen door on a submarine. You know, because nothing screams ‘I’m trying too hard’ like a tweet littered with hashtags, each one like a desperate cry into the void of the internet where your content will absolutely not get lost among the other million posts using #bless or #justgirlythings.
“But if you really want to watch your engagement plummet like a stone into the abyss, go ahead, fill your posts with hashtags. It’s not like X has evolved into a place where the algorithm punishes you for being too eager to be seen. Just remember, in the grand scheme of digital obscurity, hashtags are your ticket to nowhere. Enjoy the silence.”
So, should brands abandon hashtags on X in 2025? Not quite. The real answer is somewhere in the middle.
X’s official hashtag guidelines recommend using relevant hashtags to improve content discoverability and support categorization. Hashtags remain searchable, and the explore tab features trending tags, helping people find your content when used strategically.
While hashtags no longer guarantee virality or even much visibility on X, they can still play a supporting role in helping your posts show up in search results or topic feeds.
Bottom line: Hashtags on X still serve a purpose, but they’re background players. Use them to support discoverability and categorization, but let your content, timing, and tone do the heavy lifting. With X’s limited character count, every word matters, so if the hashtag doesn’t work for you, it works against you.
People go to LinkedIn to build credibility, connect with their industry, and occasionally post a meme about meetings that could’ve been emails.
Hashtags on LinkedIn aren’t decorative or cultural like on Instagram or TikTok. They’re functional. Strategic. Searchable.
Hashtags help categorize your content, signal relevance to LinkedIn’s algorithm, and make it easier for people following those topics to discover your posts. And yes, people follow hashtags on LinkedIn even if they don’t realize it.
According to Hootsuite, hashtags in both posts and comments can help surface content beyond your immediate network. Though debate grows about the long-term value, Social Media Today confirms that relevant hashtags used in moderation still help with reach.
But, as LinkedIn content strategist Richard van der Blom recently noted, hashtags are no longer a major player in LinkedIn’s algorithm. Content now surfaces based more on natural language, keywords, and meaningful engagement.
Here’s what works now on LinkedIn:
Hashtags are secondary to keywords. LinkedIn operates more like a search engine. Your content’s visibility hinges more on how well you use natural language and strategic phrasing.
Use one to three hyper-relevant hashtags and consider combining widely recognized hashtags (e.g., #Leadership) with more specific ones (e.g., #B2BMarketing) to reach general and targeted audiences.
Don’t rely on hashtags for reach. They can help with categorization and searchability, but they aren’t a top signal anymore.
Avoid the clunky hashtag pile. If you can, integrate hashtags naturally into your sentences. If you can’t, place them at the bottom in a clean, minimal way. A wall of hashtags screams 2020.
Create and use branded hashtags. Developing a unique hashtag for your brand or campaign (e.g., #CMWorld) can foster community and make your content easily searchable.
If you wonder whether hashtags still matter on Facebook, the answer is not really.
They don’t boost reach the way they do on other platforms, they’re not part of any major discovery algorithm, and they easily make your post look cluttered or spammy if overused.
That said, you might still use them for this reason: categorization.
Hashtags on Facebook turn into clickable links and searchable topics, so they can help group related content across your page or unify campaigns across Meta platforms (like Instagram).
But beyond that? Hashtags’ impact is minimal. However, Sprout Social says hashtags are “still very effective if you use them correctly.” That means sparingly and strategically.
Here’s the only tip worth noting:
Use one to two highly relevant hashtags at most, and only if they help organize your content.
Otherwise, skip the hashtags.
Proclaiming “hashtags are dead” on Instagram feels too final. If social media has one universal truth, it’s this: Nothing is ever final.
Social media operates in shades of gray. What worked last year might be outdated now, but that doesn’t mean it’s irrelevant. It means the context has changed.
Hashtags used to be Instagram’s MVP. Now? They’ve been benched, but they’re still on the team. The real star of the show in 2025 is searchable, keyword-rich captions.
In late 2024, Instagram quietly removed the option to follow hashtags, signaling a major shift in how it surfaces content. Around the same time, Instagram’s head Adam Mosseri confirmed that hashtags “don’t really matter” for reach anymore.
Instead, Instagram’s algorithm prioritizes SEO-friendly captions, natural language, and audience intent.
What should your strategy look like now?
Write for search. Captions should include relevant keywords that your audience might use in their searches. Think phrases like “affordable wedding florals” or “trails in Olympic National Park.”
Use alt text to improve discoverability and accessibility.
Bottom line: What the caption says drives Instagram in 2025, not the hashtags at the end.
TikTok
TikTok has also become a full-fledged search engine. People, particularly Gen Z and younger millennials, use it to find everything from skin-care routines to tax tips. Getting found is no longer just about being funny or viral. It’s about being searchable.
So, do hashtags matter? It depends on who you ask.
TikTok is famously vague about how its algorithm works, and experts remain split. Hashtags won’t guarantee performance, but they can play a supporting role, particularly in categorizing content and signaling relevance to trends or challenges.
Here are my two tips:
Focus on SEO-first captions. Like Instagram, your caption should include keywords that describe your content and match what people might be typing into the search bar.
Use three to five relevant hashtags at most. TikTok allows more, but loading up the caption looks cluttered and doesn’t improve visibility.
Hashtags still matter, but not like they used to
In 2025, hashtags no longer serve as the universal growth hack, but they’re not obsolete. They're nuanced, platform-dependent, and increasingly take a back seat to smarter, more SEO-driven social strategies.
So, stop pasting blocks of random hashtags and start using them for what they are: supporting players in a bigger, better visibility strategy.
Updated from a June 2023 article.
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