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I’m the founder of Social Kat Media— but I’m also a social media strategist, mom of two, The Office fangirl (IYKYK), and your business’ biggest cheerleader. My mission is to make social media as simple, fun, and effective as possible for small business owners like you so you can get seen, form real relationships with your community, and (yep!) make more money.

hey, friend! i'm kat.

The One Where We Only Use Three Hashtags?

Podcast, Social Goals

In this episode, Kat tackles one of the most misunderstood and ever-changing parts of social media: hashtags. With Instagram now testing new limits of just 3 to 5 hashtags per post, this episode unpacks what’s really happening, how it affects reach and discovery, and what local small business owners should do to stay strategic — and sane — on social media.

What this episode covers 👀

Instagram is testing new hashtag limits: 3 or 5 instead of 30.
Hashtags are no longer a major driver of reach — they’re now used more for search and categorization.
The Instagram algorithm reads your entire post, not just hashtags: image, caption, text on screen.
Relevance matters more than quantity: 3–5 strategic hashtags > 30 generic ones.
Go local and specific: use location-based and niche keywords to improve discoverability.
Focus on creating content that tells your story and centers your audience.