Suppose I told you I have proof that hashtags don't increase Instagram engagement? That I have data that actually shows the opposite - that they may cause harm? Well I do have this data, and I think you're going to want to see it. We’ve just published a massive Instagram engagement report, and the results are…interesting. So what’s the deal? You’ll just have to keep reading to find out…

The search took months … I wanted a FB advertising guide that (1) broke down specific strategies for each stage of the funnel, (2) came directly from the best of the best, and (3) went way beyond standard, regurgitated advice. I could NOT find one. So I made one. To cut through the myths, misinformation, and myopia, I reached out to over 30 legit experts. Some names you’ll certainly recognize. Some, you won’t. And that’s exactly as it should be. I can’t say how grateful I am to the contributors — who seriously went above and beyond to the tune of nearly 10k words, behind the scenes stats, TONS of real examples, and even provided code snippets for advanced tactics. In alphabetical order — so as not to show favoritism ;) — here are my heroes: Andrew Yaroshevsky Avery Ratz Bill Widmer Brittany Krygowski Chris Wiser Daniel Daines-Hutt Daniel Snow Daniel Wallock David Herrmann Dennis Yu Derric Haynie Dmitriy Kachin Goldie Chan Gregory Ortiz Jake M. Mehani James Scherer Jeremy Miller Johnathan Dane Joseph Lazukin Josh Elizetxe Josh Fechter Kevin Hutto Larry Kim Logan Young Maxwell Finn Rachel Pedersen Ross Simmonds Ryan McKenzie Ryan Turner Sam Hurley Shanelle Mullin Sid Bharath Tim Chard Violeta Potter Wilson Hung

Analysis of 100K videos from 75k channels and 3.8 million data points shows: - Short videos under 4 min rank worse, get fewer views and likes - Keyword tags matter in first 12 weeks, but their value declines over time - Videos get ranking boost in first six weeks, then rankings improve with age - Links and embeds improve rankings in Google - Videos that are 10+ min do well in YouTube search.