Swim in the Medium Pool: The Hashtag Strategy That Gets You Found

Here's how I explain hashtag strategy, using my dog. If I post my cavapoo under #dogs, millions upon millions of posts, she's invisible in seconds. But #cavapoo? An active, passionate, modest-sized pool where a good photo genuinely surfaces and the people searching are exactly the people who care. Your travel content works identically: the giant hashtags feel important and deliver nothing.

• Skip the oceans: #travel and #luxurytravel are so crowded your post's lifespan is measured in seconds.
• Find the medium pools: specific destinations, specific niches, specific experiences, tags with real activity but a browsable page. That's where discovery actually happens.
• Ask AI for the list: describe your post and audience, and have it generate medium-pool hashtag sets per destination. It's a chore AI does gladly and well.
• Watch which tags actually deliver, your insights will show it, and build your recurring sets from evidence, not vibes.

Pair this with posting natively (third-party schedulers can quietly suppress reach) and daily consistency, and the compounding starts: medium pools are small enough that regulars begin recognizing you. That recognition, not the vanity of a giant hashtag, is what turns a feed into a following, and a following into inquiries. Post the cavapoo where the cavapoo people are.