Picking hashtags by follower count on the tag is why your reach hasn't moved

The instinct is to search a hashtag, see it has two million posts, and assume that means reach. It means the opposite.

A tag that size is a firehose your post disappears into within minutes. What actually works is checking how recently the top posts under a tag were published, not how many total posts exist.

If the top nine posts are all from the last few hours, the tag is active and your post has a real window to get surfaced.

If they're days old, the tag is dead even if the total count looks huge.

Smaller, more specific tags with recent activity beat broad tags with old activity almost every time.