How The Right LinkedIn Hashtags Make Your Business More Visible
How Are Hashtags on LinkedIn Important?
Hashtags are a big part of social media as a way to categorize and sort through content.
Regardless of the social media platform, content creators use hashtags for the same reason:
They want more of their target market to discover them.
It's the same even for LinkedIn.
Businesses don't congregate on LinkedIn merely to establish their online presence and authority. It's also a platform to build long-standing partnerships and find more qualified leads.
Hashtags may function the same on LinkedIn as other social media sites, but LinkedIn has particular standards for them.
Overusing them in a single post, for instance, can instantly cause your content performance to suffer.
As far as using hashtags on LinkedIn goes, I have collected all the best hashtag practices so you can fully leverage its power on LinkedIn.
What Are The Best Practices When Using LinkedIn Hashtags?
Quantity
LinkedIn recommends 3-5 hashtags for every LinkedIn Post. This way, your content won't be flagged as spam.
Position
Add hashtags after your content, not within the body text. It improves readability and appears your content appearance.
Variety
Use a niche hashtag with fewer followers to counterbalance broad hashtags. It may be tempting to use three hashtags where all of them have millions of followers. However, you'd be competing with millions of others who have the same mindset of wanting to reach a broader audience.
In short, use a mix of hashtags, and keep them specific to your content. Don't use the same hashtags for every single post.
Branded/Personal Hashtags
If you create content consistently, you'll want to create a hashtag unique to your brand or business.
Followers of your LinkedIn content can typically see your updates on their newsfeed, but adding your unique hashtag makes it easier for them to find your older content.
If they've missed some of your previous posts, they just have to type in your hashtag in the search bar, and all your posts that revolve around a specific topic will be at their fingertips!
How To Find The Most Effective Hashtags for LinkedIn?
Branded or personal hashtags are great if you already have an established following. If you're still building up your follower base on LinkedIn, pre-existing hashtags are the way to go.
However, not all hashtags are equal, so which should you use for your LinkedIn Post?
Most people typically use auto-suggestions by LinkedIn or whatever comes to mind. Some may go the extra mile and do research, browsing through lists upon lists of popular hashtags on LinkedIn.
However, I've found a quicker method to find the most relevant hashtags for your LinkedIn post:
Hashtag Analytics Chrome Extension
This free tool provides you with free real-time analytics on LinkedIn hashtags, including:
Number of followers
The highest number of likes and comments on a post with the hashtag you're searching
Since it's a Chrome extension, you don't have to leave your LinkedIn page to get data on any hashtag.
The tool has various functionalities (I've saved my favourite one for last!):
Icon panel
Here, you can retrieve insights on as many hashtags as you want simply by clicking 'Search'.
Hashtag auto-suggestions
If you can't think of a niche hashtag that will work for a specific topic, you'll love this one!
A drop-down menu containing a list of relevant hashtags will appear as you're drafting a LinkedIn Post.
Reach calculation
Once you've decided on the hashtags for your post, you can click on the ‘sum’ button, so you know your total reach before publishing the content.
Hover over any hashtag
Last but certainly not least, you can directly check a hashtag's follower counts anywhere on your newsfeed or any other page on LinkedIn. If you see a post getting a lot of attention and engagement, you should definitely check out the hashtags used and save them for later!
With this Chrome extension, you can now find and use the best hashtags for your LinkedIn posts in less than a minute.
Start getting real-time LinkedIn hashtag analytics by installing it now.
Happy posting!
Author bio:
Jacob Hill is the founder of LinkedIn Hashtag Analytics. He leads the production and marketing of analytics tools for business owners and marketers who want to maximise their reach and opportunities on LinkedIn.