In this article, you will learn everything you need to know about using hashtags on LinkedIn, a powerful tool to improve your content visibility and engagement on the platform.
You will also discover how to research relevant keywords, tailor hashtags to your target audience, monitor competitors’ hashtag use, and adjust your strategy over time. So, let’s get started.
Hashtags have become a vital element of social media platforms, serving as a means to categorize and simplify searches for users who are looking for content relevant to their interests. LinkedIn, the professional social networking platform, has adopted hashtags to facilitate better content discovery for its users.
LinkedIn hashtags are essential tools for optimizing the reach of your content on the platform and ultimately, for expanding your professional network.
Definition and Purpose
A LinkedIn hashtag is a combination of letters, numbers, or emojis that follow the pound sign (#) without spaces or punctuation included. Hashtags serve as keywords that help categorize content on the platform. When a user adds a hashtag to their LinkedIn post, it becomes discoverable by other users who search for that hashtag or follow it.
The primary purpose of using hashtags is to make content searchable and increase its visibility. By attaching relevant hashtags to your posts, you increase the likelihood of your content reaching the right audience, even beyond your existing connections.
LinkedIn’s professional environment makes effective use of hashtags even more critical than on other platforms. Below are a few reasons why using hashtags is important on LinkedIn:
- Expanding your reach: Using the right hashtags helps expose your content to a larger audience, beyond your immediate connections. This is valuable for professionals and businesses looking to extend their network, showcase their expertise, or find new prospects.
- Enhancing your personal branding: Consistently using specific hashtags that represent your field, industry, or unique skills can help solidify your personal branding on LinkedIn. In addition, this will make your profile stand out and make it easier for others to associate you with particular areas of expertise.
- Searchability: As more people rely on hashtags to discover content on LinkedIn, integrating them into your posts will make it easier for others to find your content. Also, including applicable hashtags improves the chances that your posts will show up in search results and can lead to new connections or opportunities.
- Relevant hashtags: Following relevant hashtags on LinkedIn will keep you up-to-date with industry trends and conversations.
The higher the number of followers on a hashtag, the more people you will reach when you use it. Hashtags are also one of the most important growth hacks for your LinkedIn profile.
When a user creates a LinkedIn post with a hashtag, the post becomes discoverable on the hashtag’s “feed.” A hashtag feed is a compilation of all the content with that specific hashtag. Users following a hashtag will see posts containing it in their feeds.
To follow a hashtag on LinkedIn, you can explore it by clicking on it in someone’s post or searching for it using the search bar.
When you search for a hashtag in the search bar, make sure you put “#” in front of it. You will see a bunch of posts containing that hashtag and you should click on the hashtag.
You might need to select the “see more” button before you see the hashtag.
Click on the post to open it completely. Then, you need to select the hashtag that you want to follow.
Finally, select the “Follow” button to follow that hashtag. Once you do that, posts containing this hashtag will appear in your feed
LinkedIn also offers hashtag suggestions when you are creating a post. These suggestions are based on several factors, including the content of your post, your profile, and the interests of your connections.
Hashtags allow users to categorize and track their posts, making it easier for other LinkedIn members to discover their content. By understanding the different types of hashtags available, users can optimize their visibility and reach a broader audience.
There are five primary categories of LinkedIn hashtags, including industry-specific hashtags, job-related hashtags, event hashtags, location-based hashtags, and trending or popular hashtags.
Industry-specific hashtags aim to target professionals within a particular field. By using hashtags relevant to your industry, you increase the likelihood of connecting with like-minded professionals who share your interests, expertise, or goals. Users from different industries contribute to the conversation by sharing articles, insights, and news.
These hashtags can be as broad as the industry itself (e.g., #Marketing, #Biotechnology, #Finance) or as specific as a niche area within the domain (e.g., #SocialMediaMarketing, #Genomics, #Cryptocurrency).
When utilizing industry-specific hashtags, it is essential to research which tags are currently popular. Also, consider using a combination of both broad and niche-specific hashtags to maximize reach and engagement within your industry.
Whether you’re actively looking for a job or promoting open positions in your company, using job-related hashtags can help you reach your target audience more effectively. Recruiters love to search for potential candidates by using such hashtags in their posts.
These hashtags can be specific to particular roles (#SoftwareEngineer), specific skills (#Python), or encompass general job search terms (such as #JobOpening, #NowHiring, or #RemoteWork).
By incorporating relevant job-related hashtags into your posts or job descriptions, you also increase the chances of potential candidates or employers finding and connecting with you in a more efficient manner.
Event hashtags are a powerful way to promote or engage with professional events, conferences, or webinars. Using the official hashtag supplied by event organizers helps group your content with relevant updates and discussions surrounding the event.
In addition, it allows you to connect with other professionals attending the same event, fostering real-time networking, and engagement.
If an event does not provide an official hashtag, you might consider creating one or using a hashtag pertaining to the theme or topic covered at the event, such as #AIConference, #DigitalMarketingSummit, or #NetworkingEvent.
Location-based hashtags help target professionals or businesses in a specific geographic area. These hashtags can focus on countries (#USA, #India, #Australia), states (#California, #Texas), or cities (#NewYork, #London, #Sydney).
Incorporating location-specific tags into your LinkedIn content can boost your opportunities for local networking, nearby job searches, or regional industry news updates.
Additionally, combining location-based hashtags with industry-specific or job-related tags further refines your target audience and improves your content’s visibility to the right people.
Trending or popular hashtags gain momentum on the platform due to their subject matter, industry relevance, or the sheer volume of people posting about the topic.
Keeping up-to-date with current trends and popular hashtags can help you engage with broader audiences and participate in conversations that may not be directly related to your specific industry or job.
Examples of popular LinkedIn hashtags include #MondayMotivation, #ThoughtLeadership, #Innovation, and #WorkplaceCulture. By incorporating these popular hashtags into your posts, you can contribute to ongoing conversations and expand your reach beyond your typical industry-specific connections.
Do your research, be strategic, and experiment creatively with different combinations of these hashtags to maximize your LinkedIn experience.
Creating effective LinkedIn hashtags can elevate your content and expand your reach to a wider audience. Using hashtags strategically can help your content get discovered by users interested in your industry or topic.
Now, let’s go through the key aspects of creating effective LinkedIn hashtags, including researching relevant keywords, using a mix of broad and niche hashtags, tailoring hashtags to your target audience, and using analytics to measure success.
Researching Relevant Keywords
The first step in creating effective LinkedIn hashtags is researching relevant keywords for your content. By using popular and industry-specific keywords, you increase the likelihood of your content being discovered.
Most people will first brainstorm a couple of keywords. These will always be related to either your industry or the topic of the post. If unsure which to use, try a keyword research tools like Google Keyword Planner or SEMrush to help identify popular keywords within your industry.
It is wise to go through those keywords and check if they are used as keywords. This will give you an insight of which hashtags are commonly used in your industry and by your target audience. Make sure you check the number of followers a hashtag has, as this can indicate its popularity.
Remember, you should never spam random hashtags. Using irrelevant hashtags can frustrate users and make your content appear spammy.
There are several different LinkedIn hashtag generators available on the market, some paid some free. We love to use Webmatrices Free LinkedIn Hashtag Generator.
To maximize your content’s reach, use a mix of broad and niche hashtags. Broad hashtags are high-level industry or topic-based hashtags, such as #marketing or #technology. These hashtags can help your content reach a large audience but may also have more competition.
Niche hashtags are more specific to your content and target audience, such as #B2Bmarketing or #healthtech. These hashtags are used less frequently, which means your content may face less competition and be more likely to appear in users’ feeds.
Using a mix of both types of hashtags increases the likelihood that your content will be discovered by a variety of users, including those with general industry interests and those with specific interests in your niche.
When selecting hashtags for your LinkedIn posts, consider your target audience and their interests. This way, you can tailor your hashtags to reach the right people and make your content more engaging.
Consider the following points when tailoring hashtags for your target audience:
- Use industry-specific hashtags that your target audience will likely follow.
- Identify topics or issues related to your niche that your target audience is interested in and use relevant hashtags.
- Create personalized hashtags for your brand or campaigns that resonate with your target audience and serve as identifiers for your content.
Remember to keep hashtags relevant and appropriate, as irrelevant or spammy hashtags can diminish your content’s credibility and deter users from engaging with it.
Using Analytics to Measure Success
LinkedIn analytics allows you to track your content performance and gain insights into your audience’s preferences and demographics.
The most important data you can find are impressions, likes, comments, and shares. By observing those, you can gain insights into the impact of your hashtags on user engagement.
Then, use that insight to adjust and refine your hashtag strategy. Skip on low-performing ones, use the high-performing hashtags instead.
By using hashtags strategically, you can expose your content to a wider audience and increase engagement, which can then lead to new connections and potential business opportunities. Learning how to properly utilize hashtags is one of the ways to optimize your profile for recruiters.
To effectively implement LinkedIn hashtags in your content strategy, you should focus on four main areas:
- Including hashtags in your posts
- Adding hashtags to company pages and personal profiles
- Incorporating hashtags in LinkedIn articles
- Engaging with industry-related hashtags
Posts on LinkedIn have the power to reach a broad audience, especially when you use hashtags effectively. To incorporate hashtags in your posts, keep the following tips in mind:
- Choose relevant hashtags: Always try to use hashtags relevant to your content and industry. By doing so, you’ll increase the likelihood of your post appearing in hashtag feeds and attract users who are genuinely interested in your content.
- Use popular and niche hashtags: It can be tempting to use the most popular hashtags in your industry, but always try to use a mix of popular and niche hashtags. This approach can help you reach a more extensive audience while also targeting specific, smaller communities.
- Don’t spam: Adding too many hashtags can be counterproductive. So, as a general rule, aim for 3-5 hashtags per post. This will ensure that your content appears relevant and professional.
- Test and analyze: Regularly review the engagement and reach of your posts to determine which hashtags are most effective. Adjust your hashtag strategy accordingly to optimize your content’s performance over time.
LinkedIn articles offer a long-form content format that can benefit from the strategic use of hashtags. Here’s how to incorporate hashtags in your LinkedIn articles:
- Filter hashtag use: LinkedIn only allows a limited number of hashtag choices for your article. Choose your primary hashtags thoughtfully, focusing on relevance and audience size.
- Include a mix of hashtags: Use a blend of popular, niche, and branded hashtags to optimize your article’s reach and engagement.
- Place hashtags throughout the article: Hashtags can be included within the body of your article as well as in headers or subheaders. This can make your article more visible and increase its relevance to hashtag feeds.
Actively participating in conversations surrounding industry-related hashtags can help build your presence on LinkedIn and develop important connections.
- Follow relevant hashtags: Be sure to follow hashtags related to your industry, expertise, and interests. This will provide you with regular content that you can engage with and share.
- Engage with content: Leave thoughtful comments, like, and share posts that use industry-related hashtags. This can increase your visibility and create potential networking opportunities with key players in your industry.
- Monitor trending conversations: Keep an eye on trending discussions in your industry by searching relevant hashtags regularly. This can help you join critical conversations and stay up-to-date with industry news and insights.
By integrating hashtags into your LinkedIn content strategy, you can boost your content’s visibility, grow your audience, and increase engagement with industry professionals.
LinkedIn hashtags are keywords or phrases preceded by a hash symbol (#) that users include in their posts. These hashtags increase content visibility, facilitate networking, and help users search and follow topics relevant to their industry or interests.
When choosing the best hashtags, focus on relevance, industry, and audience engagement. Research industry-specific keywords, check which hashtags influencers are using, and consider creating unique branded hashtags for campaigns or content series.
LinkedIn has no set hashtag limit, but overusing them may diminish the content value or appear as spam. Aim for 3 to 5 relevant and targeted hashtags per post to ensure a balance between discoverability and professionalism.
Yes, LinkedIn hashtags can enhance content visibility for both personal profiles and company pages. By incorporating relevant hashtags, users increase the likelihood of reaching and engaging with their target audience.
Analyzing content performance regarding impressions, likes, comments, and shares can determine hashtag effectiveness. Monitor these metrics through LinkedIn Analytics, measure user engagement, and adjust hashtag strategies accordingly.
Yes, include relevant hashtags in the About, Experience, and Recommendation sections to increase keyword-based visibility and showcase areas of expertise. However, prioritize readability and professionalism while integrating them.
