ur-grue Hashtag Strategy Writer
What This Skill Does
Generates a tiered hashtag strategy for a social media account, covering niche, mid-range, and broad tags with usage guidance — tailored to the account's subject, platform, and growth stage.
When To Use This Skill
- You are setting up a new social media account and want a starting hashtag bank to use across posts
- Your existing hashtag strategy feels random and you want a more deliberate approach
- You are launching a campaign or series and want a specific hashtag set for it
- You want to understand how to use hashtags more strategically rather than using the same 10 tags on every post
What You Need To Provide
Required: The platform (Instagram, TikTok, LinkedIn, or Twitter/X), the account's subject focus, the account type (publication, documentary filmmaker, podcast, journalist, etc.).
Optional: Current follower count (affects which tier of hashtag to prioritise), any hashtags you are already using that are working, any hashtags you want to avoid, a specific campaign or series that needs its own dedicated tag, any geographic focus.
How the Assistant Approaches This
- Identifies three tiers of hashtag by community size: Niche (small, highly engaged communities — 10K–200K posts on Instagram), Mid-range (active but not overcrowded — 200K–2M posts), Broad (high volume but algorithmically competitive — 2M+ posts). Explains how each tier functions differently in the algorithm.
- Generates a bank of 20–30 relevant tags across the three tiers, tailored to the account's specific subject and audience — not generic high-volume tags that attract no one specific
- Provides usage guidance: how many tags per post, when to rotate, how to use a branded or campaign hashtag, and what to avoid (ghost-tagged hashtags, irrelevant reach-padding)
Output Format
Strategy document: Brief explanation of the three-tier logic (100 words), Tag Bank organised by tier (20–30 tags listed with tier labels), Usage Rules (5–7 specific guidelines), Campaign/Branded Tag Recommendation (if applicable). Total 500–700 words. Tag suggestions formatted as ready-to-copy lists. Usage guidance is specific and practical, not generic social media advice.
Quality Criteria
- Tag bank reflects the account's specific subject — not generic journalism or media tags applied to all accounts
- All three tiers are represented and the tier logic is explained
- Usage rules are platform-specific (LinkedIn, TikTok, and Instagram have different hashtag mechanics)
- At least one honest caveat about hashtag effectiveness is included
- Campaign hashtag recommendation (if given) is specific and unique enough to own
Example
Input
Platform: Instagram Account: A documentary podcast about criminal justice — covers wrongful convictions, prison conditions, police accountability, and legal system reform Followers: 6,200 Goal: Reach new listeners who don't already follow the account Existing tags: #podcast #truecrime #criminaljustice (using these on every post) Campaign: New season launching on wrongful convictions
Output
Hashtag Strategy — Criminal Justice Documentary Podcast
Platform: Instagram | Followers: 6,200
How the Three Tiers Work
Niche tags (under 200K posts): Your content reaches a small but highly engaged community that cares specifically about the subject. Low competition; high relevance. These drive the most qualified new followers.
Mid-range tags (200K–2M posts): Active, scrollable communities. Your content has a realistic chance of being seen by new users without disappearing in seconds. The core of a working hashtag strategy.
Broad tags (2M+ posts): High volume means your post disappears fast. Use one or two per post for signal, not for reach.
The problem with your current tags: #podcast (400M+ posts), #truecrime (50M+ posts), and #criminaljustice (2M+ posts) are all in the broad tier. You're invisible in all three.
Tag Bank
Niche Tags (use 4–5 per post)
- #wrongfulconvictions
- #prisonreform
- #innocenceproject
- #policeaccountability
- #justicesystem
- #exoneree
- #criminaldefense
- #incarceratedjustice
- #massincarceration
- #prisonpodcast
Mid-Range Tags (use 3–4 per post)
- #documentarypodcast
- #truecrimepodcast
- #investigativejournalism
- #justiceforall
- #prisonlife
- #legalreform
- #investigativepodcast
- #criminallaw
Broad Tags (use 1–2 per post, rotate)
- #criminaljustice
- #truecrime
- #podcast
Season Campaign Tag
For the wrongful convictions season: #TruthOnTrial — short, ownable, thematically clear. Use it on every post related to this season. Include it in your bio during the campaign period. Encourage guests to use it when sharing the episodes.
Usage Rules
Rotate your tag sets. Instagram's algorithm may suppress accounts that use identical hashtags on every post. Keep 3–4 tags consistent as your account's core identifiers and rotate the rest.
Post hashtags in the caption, not the first comment. The data on caption vs comment placement is mixed, but caption placement is simpler to manage and is the current recommended practice.
Use 8–12 tags per post, not 30. Instagram officially recommends 3–5; accounts in the 5,000–20,000 follower range typically see better results at 8–12. Do not use the maximum 30.
Do not use tags you can't vouch for. #TrueCrime pulls in a lot of entertainment content about murders, not criminal justice reform. Know who uses the tag before you use it.
Check tags before using them. Some tags become ghost-tagged (hidden by Instagram for guideline violations). A quick check of the hashtag page before using it will save you from wasted effort.
For the campaign season: Use #TruthOnTrial on every season 2 post plus 8–10 tags from the core bank. Track which posts using the campaign tag drive the most profile visits.
LinkedIn uses hashtags differently. If you cross-post to LinkedIn, use 3–5 professional-register tags (#InvestigativeJournalism #CriminalJusticeReform #PodcastRecommendation) rather than the Instagram bank above.
Note: Hashtag reach data and algorithm behaviour change frequently. Review this strategy at 90 days against your account analytics.
Known Limitations
- Hashtag effectiveness has declined significantly on Instagram since 2022. Hashtags alone will not drive meaningful growth for most accounts — they amplify good content but cannot substitute for it. Do not over-invest in hashtag optimisation at the expense of content quality.
- Specific post counts cited for hashtag tiers are approximations. Instagram does not publish real-time data on hashtag volume; the figures are based on periodic observation and will change.
- TikTok's hashtag mechanics differ substantially from Instagram's — TikTok's algorithm is primarily interest-based and sound-based, not hashtag-driven. For TikTok accounts, a dedicated TikTok strategy brief is more useful than a hashtag strategy.