How to Add a First Comment (With Hashtags) When You Schedule

Step by step

1. 1

   Connect the account you want to post to

   Log in to SocialKit and, if you have not already done so, go to the accounts or connections area and authorize the network — Instagram, LinkedIn, or whichever platform you are targeting. As of June 2026, the connection uses each platform’s official authorization flow, so you approve permissions on the network’s own site rather than entering a password in SocialKit.

   Tip: If Instagram does not appear in the connect flow, check that the account is Business or Creator type and that it is linked to a Facebook Page — these are the two most common blockers.

2. 2

   Open the post composer and write your caption

   From the SocialKit dashboard, open the compose or create area. Write your main caption in the text field — say what you need to say without worrying about hashtags yet. Keeping the caption focused on the message is precisely the point of moving hashtags to a first comment.

   Tip: Use the free Instagram Caption Formatter tool to check line breaks and spacing before pasting your caption into the composer — what you see in a desktop text editor often renders differently on mobile.

3. 3

   Open the first-comment field and write your hashtags

   Below the main caption area, SocialKit surfaces a first-comment section for supported account types and networks. Type or paste the hashtags you want to appear in that comment. The first comment posts automatically at the same moment as the main post — you do not need to be online.

   Tip: As of June 2026, keep the first comment to a small set of focused tags — Instagram has been rolling out a 5-hashtag-per-post cap (counted across caption and comments) since December 2025, so a wall of 20–30 tags either gets rejected on rolled-out accounts or wastes effort on the rest. Pick the 3–5 most relevant tags. On LinkedIn, the first comment is more often used for a CTA or a link than for hashtags — consider what serves the post better on each network.

4. 4

   Check your hashtag set with the free hashtag counter

   Paste your drafted first-comment text into SocialKit’s free hashtag counter tool. It shows your total hashtag count and character usage at a glance, so you can trim or swap tags before you schedule. This takes thirty seconds but catches accidental duplicates and over-length tags.

5. 5

   Set the publishing time using best-time data

   Pick the date and time for your post. SocialKit shows best-time recommendations based on data for your chosen network — these are evidence-based starting points, not guarantees, since the ideal window depends on your specific audience. Check the SocialKit best-time pages (linked below) for baseline data, then test against your own analytics over time.

   Tip: Schedule the post for a time when your audience is most likely to be active, because the first comment posts at the same instant as the main content — early engagement on both the post and the comment helps the algorithm surface it.

6. 6

   Schedule and confirm the post and first comment together

   Click schedule (or add to queue) and review the confirmation screen. SocialKit will show both the main post content and the first-comment text so you can verify them before locking in the time. The first comment is included in the same publishing job — no separate step is required at go-live.

7. 7

   Check the post shortly after it publishes

   Open the published post on the platform and confirm the first comment has appeared. As of June 2026, auto-publishing via the platform API is available for eligible Instagram Business/Creator accounts and LinkedIn; if your account type falls outside those categories, SocialKit will send a mobile reminder to complete the post natively. The composer indicates which path applies before you finalize the schedule.

   Tip: If the first comment does not appear, the most common cause is a token expiry or a permission issue — reconnect the account and reschedule.

Best practices

• Write the caption first, then the first comment. Treating them as two separate creative decisions — one for the hook, one for discoverability — produces cleaner results than trying to optimize both at once.
• On Instagram, with the 5-hashtag cap (rolling out since December 2025, as of June 2026), spend each of your few allowed tags on the most relevant, specific terms for your niche rather than broad high-volume tags — precision matters more than volume now that the count is limited.
• On LinkedIn, consider using the first comment for a relevant link or a direct CTA rather than hashtags — many LinkedIn creators report (though it is not officially confirmed by LinkedIn) that outbound links in the body of a post can reduce reach, making the first comment a practical alternative worth testing.
• Keep a small library of first-comment templates for recurring post types — a weekly tip post, a product launch post, a case-study post — so you can paste the right hashtag set rather than building it from scratch each time.
• Review your hashtag performance every few weeks using the analytics in SocialKit and swap out tags that are not driving impressions; hashtag landscapes shift as topics trend or fade.
• Do not duplicate the exact same first-comment hashtag block across every post without variation. Platforms can flag repetitive comment text as spammy behavior — rotate tags and phrasing over time.

Good to know

Do it in SocialKit