What are tags? Tags are like tapping someone so the post shows up in their feed. In some cases, tags will also show your post to the audience of the person you are tagging. Hashtags are a way the different platforms (TikTok, YouTube, Instagram, Twitter) categorize your posts. This helps with the search function and also helps the algorithm show your posts to the right people.

What is TAGGING a post?

You would put @theprofilename to tag someone in a post. It will show up in their feed (most of the time) and in their alerts, so they—and sometimes their audience—will see your post.

👍🏽 Tagging DOs and DON'Ts 👎🏽

When to use a tag:

👍🏽 When you are collaborating with someone or are a guest on their podcast/site.
👍🏽 When you repost something from their profile (like deck creators, for example).
👍🏽 If you are following a challenge they created, like Ethony's Tarot Challenge.
👍🏽 If you think someone you know would find a post useful. Tag them in the comments or send the post via messenger.

DON'T

👎🏽 Tag a bunch of people in your posts that have nothing to do with them.
👎🏽 Tag someone in the same field as you to promote your offers without getting their permission.
👎🏽 Tag a bunch of half-to-complete strangers in a contest in order to win a prize.

Hashtags are more topic-based and are used by the different platforms to categorize your posts and profile. 

On one hand, hashtags are important for the algorithm—so your posts get in front of the right audience. On the other hand, hashtags aren't the end all, be all of a post's reach. 

Many of the social media platforms are becoming more like search engines. People can search for information about different topics within a platform and then find a variety of related posts within the platform. 

The algorithms also show topics a user is usually interested in on their home feed. 

This makes using the proper, content driven, keyword-based hashtags for your posts important. It helps the people who are actually looking for and interested in your work find you, either directly or by showing up in their feed or search/explore results.

To get the best results when you are choosing hashtags, make sure to follow the most recent best practices for each platform.

For example, Instagram changes its recommendations from time to time. As of the most recent update, in September of 2022, they recommend using only "a couple of" highly relevant hashtags per post.

YouTube allows you to list three specific hashtags in the description box, then you can use up to 500 characters in the tags, which help people find your videos and also help YouTube to categorize your videos.

Twitter and TikTok also use hashtags to help to categorize your posts and serve them up to users who might be interested in your posts.

Some rules you can use to choose hashtags for your posts:

👍🏽 Do keyword and hashtag research about once every quarter to keep up to date with the latest trends and recommendations for each site
👍🏽 Try to use hashtags that are between 10K and 500K posts, when possible
👍🏽 Use a personalized hashtag, like #spiritualbusinessspotlightpodcast or #sueellissallertarot, especially on platforms like YouTube and Instagram
👍🏽 Put your hashtags in the caption, not the first comment space

👎🏽 Don't use hashtags that don't apply to your post or post content
👎🏽 Don't use too many hashtags, especially if a site directly states their preferences


This post was created in September of 2022, according to current best practices. Of course, we will update you when and if we hear about new rules or best practices.