LinkedIn Hashtags the answer to Content Engagement

The value of using LinkedIn hashtags is completely misunderstood.

Even though that might sound like a completely generalized statement, I have found many LinkedIn users confused as to the real value of using hashtags.

Let’s do a deep dive into LinkedIn hashtags and how we can benefit from using it effectively.

The inclusion of hashtags for LinkedIn, had a bumpy ride.

In 2016 hashtags were only available on the mobile app but re-appeared in 2017 as part of a user interface upgrade. In 2018 some LinkedIn users reported unable to post updates without adding hashtags. LinkedIn confirmed later that they were running a beta test “to better understand the value of using hashtags in posts to help members discover and join relevant conversations.”

Today the use of LinkedIn hashtags is a powerful tool for brand awareness and reaching a larger audience with similar interests.

What are hashtags?

The purpose of a hashtag is to categorise your content and can be used to build a large following for your personal and business brand on LinkedIn.

LinkedIn hashtags are small snippets of text, always one or more words without spaces starting with the ‘#’ symbol and the occurrence of a space marks the end of the hashtags. You can include a variety of characters including the alphabet from A-Z, both in small and large caps, numbers and even emojis.

The LinkedIn algorithm use hashtags to better understand your content context and relevance to recommend your content to audiences interacting with similar content.

Hashtags are in fact a very powerful tool to attract your ideal clients and potential buyers.

If you are on LinkedIn to promote your brand and generate leads understanding how to use hashtags effectively is key to your success.

Don’t use hashtags just to gain more engagement on your posts, it can also assist in growing your network by responding and interacting with those who like, comment, and share your content.

Never ignore trending LinkedIn hashtags as they are the best marketing tool, if you are aiming to promote yourself or marketing your business.

Always remember posting content updates with relevant hashtags, will promote your content to laser targeted audience.

Include hashtags where possible

Taking into consideration that LinkedIn, even though a social media platform, is the best marketing tool available for B2B environments, using hashtags extensively to reach your target audience just make sense.

Include a hashtag, that relate to your content, industry, and marketing related focus, including:

• Text and Graphic post updates

• The About section of your individual profile

• LinkedIn articles

• Company page

• The comment section of others’ status and posts updates

LinkedIn hashtag mistakes to avoid

Hashtags will boost your organic reach. Mastering the use of hashtags will assist in your LinkedIn outreach campaigns while building a large audience.

But less is more and using hashtags effectively will yield the desired results, so avoid:

• Spaces and special characters in your LinkedIn hashtags

• Turning every word into a LinkedIn hashtag

• Repeating LinkedIn hashtags more than once

• Using too many LinkedIn hashtags

• Splitting up two- or three-word LinkedIn hashtags

• Using emojis in your LinkedIn hashtags

• Using irrelevant LinkedIn hashtags

LinkedIn hashtag best practices

So often inserting a hashtag is a last thought. All content creation efforts are focused on the actual content itself but very little, if any, time is spent on adding a relevant hashtag.

Always remember to plan the use of hashtags as it will be the vehicle to drive traffic to your content, gaining engagement and community growth.

Follow these guidelines to use of hashtags effectively:

• When promoting local businesses and events using location-based hashtags, for example #africa.

• Use LinkedIn hashtags at the end of the post update as it makes the content more readable. Using one key hashtag within the post will highlight the topic but overuse of hashtags will be a distraction.

• Use hashtags in your profile but remember to change your LinkedIn privacy settings from private to public, else only your connections will see your content updates and you will lose a ton of traffic.

• LinkedIn hashtags are case insensitive so use capitalization to personalize your LinkedIn hashtags. #LinkedIn will be discovered the same as #linkedin or #LinKedIn

• By creating your own branded LinkedIn hashtag will make your content more discoverable. #MarketingCX for example will assist your followers to find your content with ease.

• Remember to add spaces between LinkedIn hashtags otherwise LinkedIn will only recognise the first hashtag. #nospace#space#morespace will result in LinkedIn only recognising #nospace and the other hashtags will be ignored.

• Always use short LinkedIn hashtags, two to three words max. When using hashtags like #toomanywordsareadded are confusing and will be completely overlooked.

• Popular LinkedIn hashtags will yield better results but don’t focus only on the number of followers. What is also important is to know how many likes and comments the hashtags receives on average (see the LinkedInBuddy Guide below for some guidance).

Final Thoughts

Only add relevant hashtags as overuse in the post will look spammy. Plan the use of hashtags in your post and add 3-5 hashtags in a single post. You can add more hashtags but avoid using too many. If you use less hashtags measuring your hashtag usage success, will be easier and assist you to post content with insight, knowing what works best.

Always use LinkedIn hashtags as it will ensure your post to reach its full potential. Do your planning, through researching trending LinkedIn hashtags to use for your specific marketing purpose.