Hashtag Strategy

The most valuable thing this skill does is correct an outdated belief. In 2026, hashtags are not a reach hack — platforms understand content directly (captions, on-screen text, audio, visuals, engagement), so tags now mostly categorize a post and aid search. Instagram even removed hashtag-following (2024) and caps hashtags at 5 (2025), and its own head has said more tags don't mean more reach.

So this skill does two jobs, in order:

1. The keyword / social-SEO layer first — the real discovery lever. Platforms are search engines now; they index your caption, on-screen text, and spoken audio.
2. A tight, relevant hashtag set on top — per platform, within caps, niche over generic — plus branded/campaign tags where community applies.

(Full reasoning in references/the-2026-reality.md.)

Step 0 — Read the foundation + the post