When it comes to business networking, no social media platform has the reputation of LinkedIn. Unlike other platforms whose primary functions are casual conversation, entertainment, and connecting with friends and communities, LinkedIn is designed specifically for professionals. It successfully established itself in this niche and quickly began to expand.

LinkedIn continues to grow, going from 467 million users in 2016 to over 645 million by 2019, demonstrating an impressive growth rate. It also boasts a truly global audience, offering 24 different languages and users in more than 200 countries and territories. For B2B organisations, the fact that 45 percent of users are in upper management should attract attention, as this means they can find and connect with the decision-makers who will impact their business growth.

Understanding hashtags

LinkedIn promotes the use of hashtags as a way for users to get their content in front of leads and potential clients. One of the platform's stated aims is to build a professional and economic graph, enabling them to understand both their users and the business ecosystem, and connect people to opportunities around the world. The introduction of hashtags, and their adoption by the community, provides a layer of data to that graph that also has clear benefits for organisations. Not only does adding tags to your posts enable you to research topics and connect with people who have similar interests, but they also make your profile and pages more searchable, and improves the targeting capabilities of the platform.

What are hashtags?

A hashtag is a word or phrase that follows the symbol '#'. Even if you have not used them before, you have probably seen them on other social media platforms, especially Twitter and Instagram. By including hashtags, you can add your message to the broader social media conversation on a specific topic.

Hashtags also make your messages searchable. People interested in particular topics can follow hashtags to read the messages sent on the subject and add their posts to the conversation.

People can use both existing hashtags and ones they invent. For example, businesses hosting events can ask attendees to use a specific hashtag to start a social media conversation about the event. They can also encourage attendees to use popular hashtags related to the topics covered.

The key to using hashtags is focusing on relevance and specificity. The tag should help to accentuate keywords related to the message and make the post easy to find. Those creating hashtags should verify that they are specific enough that they are not repeats of tags others have used at various points. On LinkedIn, hashtags should also always be appropriate for a business-focused audience.

Why businesses should use LinkedIn hashtags

Discover ideas for content

With LinkedIn hashtags, you can gain a better understanding of what people like to read and uncover new insights for content creation. Just as you want to monitor conversations across social media platforms to know what customers discuss and gain a better understanding of their pain points, you want to track essential hashtags for your niche on LinkedIn. Following hashtags that are relevant to your industry or target audience allows you to see what the hot topics are. LinkedIn hashtags really complements other activities like joining relevant LinkedIn Groups. Following LinkedIn Groups will let you understand what’s top of mind for specific interests and industries. You can share content, using your hashtags, to your LinkedIn Groups when you post.

Tracking these hashtags will help you see the types of content other people publish as well as the reception they receive. If your target audience is discussing particular issues, you can create material to cater to their needs and that will help them troubleshoot or introduce a new point of view, while also allowing you to cast yourself as an expert.

Better content targeting

Given LinkedIn's enormous audience, not only is there tremendous potential for finding new leads and buyers, but there is also steep competition. Ninety-four percent of B2B marketers on social media report that they publish content on LinkedIn. If you want to make an impression on your prospective buyers, you will need to find a way to stand out from the crowd and improve engagement.

Regular research of LinkedIn hashtags can provide you with this insight and help you to uncover information about your audience's interests and needs so you can target material for these prospective buyers. You can also research gaps in your competitor's content and strategies and use relevant tags to target their users. When new topics begin to spark conversation in posts and comments, you can produce content that addresses these trending issues.

As you begin to capitalise on the potential of LinkedIn hashtags to drive your content engagement, you can see tremendous growth potential. Eighty percent of B2B leads generated on social media came from LinkedIn.

Engage with people relevant to your business

Hashtags work. Use Linkedin hashtags to help you research prospects' interests and engage more meaningfully with people. Ninety-one percent of executives report that LinkedIn is the best source for content relevant to their profession. People on this platform are in a professional mindset, want to learn more about their industry and solutions to their problems. They are primed to engage with new contacts and useful people.

Targeting your LinkedIn content through adding hashtags makes it easier to find the people most likely to be interested in your industry and connect with these buyers. You can search LinkedIn to find specific targets or people in particular sectors or roles, see what they're interested in and find relevant hashtags to their activity and articles. Using those hashtags allows you to join their conversations, comment on posts related to their interests, and otherwise begin to nurture relationships by being in their orbit. You will also have a means of promoting content that applies to their situation and needs, so it appears in their timeline.

How do I use LinkedIn Hashtags?

As we've seen, LinkedIn's hashtags help organisations categorise their content and users can easily find the material they find relevant and engaging using LinkedIn hashtags search.

When you use LinkedIn hashtags on your posts, you can get your content in front of a wider audience and expand your readership by attracting the attention of new prospects. In short, hashtags make it easier to find and connect with more potential leads on the platform.

There are several tips people can put to use to maximise their visibility on the LinkedIn platform. Here are the ones we think you should pay attention to.

1. Add hashtags to your LinkedIn posts and status updates, LinkedIn articles, and comments. These hashtags are searchable; therefore it will be easier for LinkedIn users to find your material.

2. You can also add hashtags to your Linkedin profiles and company pages. These hashtags are not searchable, so don’t serve the same purpose as the hashtags placed on posts. They can, however, help to highlight themes and draw attention to your skills and capabilities.

3. Find hashtags relevant to your organisation and the content you produce by using the search bar at the top of the screen. Type in potential hashtags and receive suggestions for similar hashtags you may want to use. You can then click on a hashtag you want to learn more about. Follow particularly useful hashtags so you can see what other people produce on the topic and track conversations. The search results tell you how many followers a hashtag has. Try to find ones with millions of followers, but only choose ones that are relevant to your content.

4. On the Followed Hashtags page, you can see what hashtags you already follow and edit your list. You can access this part of the site by clicking on ‘Followed Hashtags’ in the left hand side bar of the dashboard. You can also see additional information about your followed hashtags, such as numbers of followers, by clicking on them. Use this data to help you evaluate hashtags based on how popular they are and the size of the audience you will likely reach.

5. Underneath the hashtag summary page, you can click 'Discover More' to get suggestions based on your interests, your recent activity, and what other people in your community already follow. LinkedIn's recommendation engine can help you uncover more potential topics that people in your intended audience pay attention to. Use this information can spark content ideas.

6. As you begin using hashtags, make sure that you keep your profile public. If you set it to private, your hashtags will not gain the same level of visibility, making it harder for you to take advantage of the potential here.

7. As you choose hashtags to add, prioritise the ones that have the most relevance for your content and use them sparingly. You do not want to have an excessive number of hashtags on your posts as this looks spammy. Instead, select maybe 3-5 hashtags that have the best value for what you want to promote. Consider the goal you have for the content and select the tags that align best with this objective.

8. Make your hashtags part of a broader message. Your content strategy should focus on keywords and topics and your content written with a specific audience in mind. Your LinkedIn posts and articles are the same. They should also centre on a particular goal and target audience. Select the hashtags that will help you reach this target audience and see the best possible return for your investment.

9. Watch your formatting. Hashtags on LinkedIn function in a similar way to those on other social media platforms: you cannot have spaces, symbols, or punctuation that break up the words of the tag. For example, if you want to use, #SocialMediaMarketing, but type #Social Media Marketing, the only word included for the classification purposes will be 'social'. Also, note that capitalising the first letter of each word in a multi-word tag makes it easier for people to read. In the example we just gave, #SocialMediaMarketing is easier to read than #socialmediamarketing.

10. Use a combination of niche tags and popular tags to reach the broadest possible audience. Popular hashtags might have the most extensive exposure, but their feeds move faster, giving your content less time in the spotlight. Think about other types of tags - such as location-based tags. If location impacts the relevance of a particular post, include it to help you target people in that specific area.

11. Create custom hashtags to help you promote your brand. For example, if you host an event, creating a custom hashtag that people can use on various social media platforms can be a great asset to your social media marketing plan. People at the event will easily find each other's posts and thus be able to engage with each other and get the most out of what you offer. At the same time, seeing people use this custom hashtag will increase the visibility of the event, product, or brand you want to promote, bringing attention to your LinkedIn profile and expertise. Finally, using unique hashtags also makes it easier for you to track the success of your posts, and you can see who shared your posts and articles when you click on your hashtags.

LinkedIn offers an incredible means for brand representatives to connect with other professionals to network, learn from each other, and promote their content and material. Understanding and using LinkedIn hashtags is a critical layer that can help organisations unlock these benefits.

From helping LinkedIn better understand the global job market, to helping people find jobs, relevant organisations and qualified employees, to making it easier to understand the conversation around important industry topics, hashtags have incredible potential. If you're active on LinkedIn, you should carefully consider how hashtags can boost your marketing and networking strategies. Consider the tips above and witness how implementing them will allow you to start using LinkedIn to the best of your ability.

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