What are LinkedIn hashtags?
LinkedIn hashtags are any combination of letters or numbers, without spaces, that follow the # symbol.
How do hashtags work on LinkedIn? They act as labels for your content and bring more impressions, clicks and connections. Clicking on a hashtag brings up all posts on LinkedIn sharing that tag. Users can also search for a hashtag in the LinkedIn search bar.
Why use hashtags on LinkedIn?
Hashtags on LinkedIn can help you:
Find and connect with people in your industry.
Increase your organic reach and become viral.
Build a community around your organization.
Promote your events or products.
Getting eyeballs on your content is half the battle for social media marketers. Hashtags help with that. But that's not all they do.
Get noticed
Most people are on LinkedIn to connect with peers or hunt for their next job (or both). Hashtags on LinkedIn are the best way to signal and get noticed for your content, whether your goal is to build your personal network, gain followers for your company page or recruit talent.
Creating posts with trending hashtags on LinkedIn is a good idea, as it can earn you a ton of impressions if your content goes viral. Be careful about trending, though. Make sure it fits your brand and content strategy and that it makes sense for you to post it. If not, skip it and wait for a popular trend that fits your brand.
Survey your audience
Find out what your audience wants by following hashtags about topics they are interested in. What hashtags are they using? What hashtags are your competitors using?
Tracking hashtags is an easy and free way to gain first-hand knowledge of your target audience and update your competitive research.
How to create a hashtag on LinkedIn
There are two types of "hashtaggable" content that you can post on LinkedIn:
A post that can be text or have photos, video, document or other media attached.
Article, intended for long forms and functioning as a kind of mini-blog. They are mostly used on personal profiles.
Add a hashtag to a post on LinkedIn
Click Start a post at the top of the LinkedIn home page and type your post, then click Add hashtag in the LinkedIn post editor. This simply puts the # in your post, so you can also type the # yourself, which is much faster....
When you type in your hashtag, LinkedIn will suggest some popular options.
Best practices for using hashtags on LinkedIn
Capital letters in every word
For hashtags consisting of multiple words, it is best to capitalize the first letter of each word. So instead of writing #socialforgood, write #SocialForGood.
Capitalization makes reading easier for everyone, but most importantly more accessible. Blind and visually impaired people use screen readers to read aloud web content. When it comes to hashtags, screen readers rely on capitalization to identify each word in a hashtag and read it aloud accurately.
Put hashtags at the end of your post
Depending on the length of your post, LinkedIn only shows a line or two in users' home feeds.
Where you put hashtags in your posts doesn't affect the algorithm, so putting them at the top won't make it appear more often. In fact, it would probably hurt your reach, since you should try to grab attention right away with your main point.
Use both general and niche hashtags in each post
LinkedIn recommends using only 3 hashtags per post, but there is no limit. If you add 10, your post will still show up for all 10 hashtags. LinkedIn's recommendation is probably based more on aesthetics and doesn't want people jamming 100 hashtags into each post, cluttering users' home feeds.
So while you don't have to feel limited to 3, don't overdo it.
For each post, choose 1 or 2 general hashtags and 1 or 2 very specific hashtags. Why. This gives you the best chance that the right audience will see your post: People interested in your general topic and people who share your unique point of view or specific interest within that topic.
With such hashtag knowledge, you are not afraid of any post!
