Strategy · 3 min read
Hashtag Strategy for Beginners
The short version: fewer tags, more accurate tags, and a set you can maintain.
Start with accuracy
Before thinking about reach, make sure every tag honestly describes the post. Inaccurate tags bring in viewers who leave immediately, and on recommendation-driven platforms that early exit is a stronger negative signal than the tag was ever a positive one.
Write five tags you could defend to someone looking at the post. That is your core; everything else is expansion around it.
Then think about size
Very large tags are crowded and your post is visible in them for seconds. Very small tags are quiet but the people there are looking for exactly your subject. A beginner account almost always does better weighting towards the smaller, more specific end.
You cannot measure tag size from outside the platform, but you can judge it by reading the tag: the more words and the more specific the phrase, the smaller the audience.
Build a habit, not a hack
Save two or three sets, use them consistently for a month, and watch which content performs. Consistency is what makes any of this readable — changing everything every week means you never learn anything from the result.