LinkedIn is the best place to engage with professionals in the world. One of the most effective ways to increase your visibility on LinkedIn is to use hashtags. By creating relevant hashtags in your content, you can reach a larger audience.
If you don’t know how to create a hashtag on LinkedIn, in this guide, we’ll walk you through simple and quick steps of making hashtags on LinkedIn so that help your content get noticed on this platform.
To create a hashtag on LinkedIn, simply include the '#' symbol followed by a keyword or phrase (without spaces or special characters) in your post or comment, and it will automatically become a clickable hashtag linked to relevant posts.
How to create hashtag on LinkedIn?
Using hashtags on LinkedIn is a great way to expand your reach and interaction with your target audience, as well as get discovered by prospects. However, creating and using hashtags can be challenging, especially if you’re new to this platform. Here, we share hot tips on how to create hashtag on LinkedIn that work well.
To create great hashtags on LinkedIn that help you achieve your business and career goals, you need to start by choosing unique, memorable, and simple keywords that are relevant to your industry or niche, reflect the topic of your content, it’s easy to understand, clear and readable for the reader, etc.
Anyway, you may not know the correct definition of hashtags and confuse them with tags on LinkedIn, therefore, in the first step, we want to explain the meaning of hashtags on LinkedIn.
So stay with us.
What are hashtags on LinkedIn?
Hashtags on LinkedIn are keywords or short phrases that are placed before the “#” sign and perform the same task of searching or tagging and categorizing content in Google.
LinkedIn is also well aware of the importance of this very widely used feature. And accordingly, it has made this capability available and usable for its users in recent years.
Given that LinkedIn has allowed the use of hashtags since 2016, you may be wondering if hashtags work on this platform as they do on other popular social media like Twitter or Instagram.
Yes, of course, hashtags work well on LinkedIn.
By creating an effective hashtag on LinkedIn, you can significantly increase the chances of your content being discovered by people who are interested in your industry, profession, or topic.
As a result, you can enhance your presence and engagement with a wider audience on the world’s most professional social media.
LinkedIn allows you to use hashtags in your profile updates, such as the Headline, Summary, or other sections of your LinkedIn profile.
In addition, you can add hashtags to your articles & posts on LinkedIn or to your business page to reach out to a wider range of your target audience even beyond your network.
You can also use LinkedIn‘s search engine to browse hashtags to see what relevant content is going on around the business and career you want to share.
Not to mention, if you want your content to get a good click-through rate and get the most views on LinkedIn, consider the following killer tips on how to create an effective and successful hashtag on LinkedIn.
So let’s dive into them.
How to create hashtags on LinkedIn that work well?
1. Keep it short and simple
When it comes to hashtags, simplicity is key. It means you should make sure your hashtag is easy to remember and easy to type.
If your hashtag is too long or complicated, people might get tired of using it.
Ideally, your hashtag should be no longer than three words.
It’s recommended to avoid using special characters, numbers, or spaces in your hashtag. Stick to letters and words.
2. Make hashtags relevant
Some people believe that the more the number of hashtags in published posts or articles, the higher the position of the desired hashtag on the LinkedIn search results pages.
But this is not so!
Hashtags are a great way to categorize your content and make it easier for people to find it.
To ensure your hashtag is effective, It’s recommended to use a hashtag that is highly related to the content you want to share.
So, try not to use generic hashtags that are not related to your post, because irrelevant hashtags can even lead to your LinkedIn account being suspended.
For example, if you’re sharing a post about social media marketing, use hashtags like #socialmediamarketing, #digitalmarketing, or #contentmarketing.
These hashtags are specific to your niche and help your content reach the right audience.
3. Use trending hashtags
Trending hashtags are popular hashtags that are currently being used more on LinkedIn and are, in other words, trending.
These hashtags can provide a great opportunity to quickly get your content in front of a larger audience.
To discover trending hashtags that are relevant to your niche, click the My Network icon at the top of your LinkedIn homepage and then scroll down to see the trending hashtags in your network.
However, be careful not to leverage every trending hashtag.
Using popular hashtags on this platform will improve your speed in attracting followers and increasing visits.
But this process continues as long as your posts have a good relationship with the trending hashtag.
So, before using a trending hashtag, make sure it’s relevant to your content.
4. Research your hashtags
Before you start using hashtags, you need to research them first.
Keep in mind that Look for hashtags that are popular in your niche and see what kind of content is associated with them.
You can use LinkedIn’s search engine to find relevant hashtags or use third-party tools like Hashtagify. On top of searching and finding the best hashtags, this tool provides insights into hashtag popularity, relevant hashtags, and influencers using specific hashtags.
As such, by doing your research, you can identify the hashtags that work best for your brand and target audience.
5. Keep it varied
It’s important to know that using the same hashtags over and over can make your content look spammy and reduce engagement.
So, to keep your content fresh and engaging for readers over a long period of time, it’s better to be diverse in the use of hashtags and to mix up your hashtags.
That is, use a combination of broad & specific hashtags, brand & industry-specific hashtags, and trending & search-optimized hashtags.
Generally speaking, with diverse and mixed hashtags, you can reach a larger audience and keep your content more eye-catching
6. Build branded hashtags
Branded hashtags are hashtagged keywords or phrases used on social media that are specific to your business, brand, or company.
They can help you build a sense of community around your brand and increase brand awareness.
Branded hashtags can be added to your LinkedIn content, including your posts and articles.
However, this will ensure that your LinkedIn followers and connections, whether 1st-degree, 2nd-degree, or 3rd-degree connections, will be able to find all of your content in one place.
When creating branded hashtags, it’s highly recommended to keep them concise, simple, and easy to remember.
For this purpose, you can also use your brand name as a hashtag to make it more recognizable.
How to search hashtags on LinkedIn?
If you’re looking to expand your network on LinkedIn, searching hashtags is an effective strategy for social selling and prospecting, as well as for finding and connecting with like-minded professionals.
It’s so important to find and follow hashtags that are trending, specific, or relevant to your target audience on LinkedIn.
But most importantly, before you follow the hashtags that LinkedIn suggests, it’s worth checking if they’re popular or not.
LinkedIn’s search feature makes it easy for you to test the validity and popularity of hashtags on the platform.
On the other hand, it’s worthwhile to note that hashtags on LinkedIn can change over time as more members participate on the platform.
However, as more content is produced on LinkedIn, there will be more competition for the attention of your published and shared content in hashtag feeds, so searching for hashtags on LinkedIn may seem a bit challenging.
So, here’s how to search for hashtags on LinkedIn in order to follow them.
Let’s get started.
Step 1:
Log in to your LinkedIn account and navigate to the LinkedIn search bar
Step 2:
Enter the hashtag you want to follow in the search box at the top of your LinkedIn homepage and be sure to type “#” before it.
For example, if you’re interested in the topic of social media marketing, you can find it in the LinkedIn search bar by typing #socialmediamarketing.
In addition to typing your desired hashtag in full, you can click on an option from the drop-down menu of suggestions that appear as you type.
Besides, to further refine your search, by selecting filters such as Events, Groups, People or Companies, Schools, and more, you can narrow down your search results.
Step 2:
As soon as you click on a hashtag, you will be taken to the hashtag feed where you can see content related to the topic of the hashtag.
In other words, LinkedIn will show you a list of posts, articles, and other content that contain your searched hashtag.
Step 3:
To follow a hashtag, click the follow button next to the hashtag.
By following hashtags, they will be added to your feed and you’ll see relevant updates & posts in your feed that include those hashtag topics.
A hot tip to keep in mind is that if the number of followers of the hashtag you searched for is not significant, it means that not many people are searching for that hashtag. As a result, less content enters the feed and you may get less traffic.
Now, by following these steps, you can easily search for popular hashtags on LinkedIn and learn about the latest trends and conversations in your industry.
How to add hashtags to LinkedIn headline?
The LinkedIn headline is one of the most important sections of your profile.
Because it’s the first thing people see when they come across your profile, and it can determine whether or not they click through to learn more about you.
Therefore, paying attention to this section and adding hashtags to it can be an effective way to increase your visibility and attract more views to your profile.
Before adding a hashtag to your LinkedIn headline, it’s important to keep these points in mind:
1. Identify the right and necessary hashtags to use in your headline
Before you start adding hashtags to your LinkedIn profile, it’s worth knowing which ones will work best and the most effective for your goals.
Hence, choose the essential keyword-based hashtags you want to stand out on your profile that are relevant to your industry or niche and likely to be searched or followed by your target audience.
Therefore, it’s recommended to identify the keywords you would like to be associated with the most.
Accordingly, enter your first keyword in the “Search” box at the top left of your LinkedIn homepage by typing a # before the word or phrase without spaces.
Now you see that everyone uses this hashtag in their posts or profiles.
For example, if you’re a digital marketing expert, you might want to add hashtags like #digitalmarketing, #socialmedia, or #contentmarketing.
Or if you’re a software developer, you can add hashtags like #coding, #javascript, or #python.
2. Make it concise and relevant
Considering, your LinkedIn title is limited to 220 characters, you need to be strategic in your hashtag usage.
Don’t try to include too many hashtags in your headline, as it may look cluttered and spammy.
In addition, it’s recommended to avoid repeating hashtags in your headline.
Instead, choose two or three highly relevant hashtags that will help your profile in search results and not only attract the attention of people and potential employers but also get a high conversion rate.
3. Use the right formatting
When adding hashtags to your LinkedIn headline, it’s important to use proper formatting so they are easy to read, as well as stand out on LinkedIn.
One option is to put them in parentheses, like this: “(#digitalmarketingprofessional).”
Another option is that in addition to using the # sign, make sure to bold or highlight the phrase or keywords, such as #digitalmarketingprofessional
4. Consider using LinkedIn’s suggested hashtags feature
LinkedIn now offers a suggested hashtags feature that can help you find relevant hashtags to include in your LinkedIn posts and profile.
To access this feature, just start typing a keyword or phrase in LinkedIn’s search field and LinkedIn will suggest related hashtags based on what you typed.
5. Try and adjust different strategies
As with any aspect of your LinkedIn profile, it’s important to test different strategies and adjust your right approach as needed.
Try putting different hashtags in your headline and evaluate the results to see which are more effective in getting views and engagement.
You can also use the LinkedIn Analytics tool to track your profile views and see which keywords and phrases drive the most traffic to your profile.
Accordingly, you can use this information to modify your hashtag strategy over time and increase your visibility on this platform.
If you want to know how to add hashtags to LinkedIn headlines, read the rest of the article.
Here’s how to do it:
Step 1: Click the Me icon at the top of the LinkedIn homepage and select the View Profile tab.
Step 2: Click the pencil icon on the top right of the profile page under the background cover.
Step 3: On the Edit intro page, go to the Headline section at the bottom of the page and type or enter your desired hashtag and keyword or phrase.
Step 4: Click the Save button.
How to remove hashtags on LinkedIn profile?
While hashtags are a great way to further identify content and increase visibility and engagement, there may be times when you want to remove them from your profile.
If you’ve used unnecessary and unrelated hashtags in your LinkedIn profile and want to remove them, as a matter of fact, it’s much easier to do this than you thought.
Here are the steps to remove hashtags from your LinkedIn profile:
Step 1:
Log in to your LinkedIn account and click the Me icon on the top of the LinkedIn homepage.
Step 2:
Go to your profile page by clicking on your View Profile from the drop-down menu.
Step 3:
Click on the pencil icon that indicates editing your profile located in the upper right corner of your profile page.
Step 4:
Scroll down to the sections where you’ve used hashtags on your profile.
Step 5:
Simply delete the hashtagged word or phrase from the text of the Headline or About section.
Step 6:
After removing all the hashtags you want, ensure you save the changes you make by clicking the “Save” button at the bottom of the Edit page.
Repeat this process for all the hashtags you want to remove from your LinkedIn profile.
Hot tips to remember:
1. Removing hashtags from your LinkedIn profile doesn’t remove posts or comments that contain those hashtags. It just deletes them from your profile.
2. If you use hashtags specifically to promote your personal brand or business, removing them may affect your visibility on the platform.
How many hashtags on LinkedIn posts?
Although using hashtags on LinkedIn is highly recommended to reach out to more audiences, find new content, and have more interaction, the question that may arise in your mind is how many hashtags should be used.
Unlike other social media such as Instagram, which encourages users to add many hashtags to their posts, on LinkedIn, it’s recommended to choose between 2 and 5 targeted hashtags in each post.
However, you’re under no obligation to leverage hashtags for every post on LinkedIn, though LinkedIn suggests using only 2 or 3 hashtags per post.
This allows you to categorize your content without overwhelming your audience with too many hashtags.
Any number of hashtags you add to your LinkedIn content, LinkedIn will display the same number of hashtags in your posts.
In short, when it comes to how to use hashtags on LinkedIn posts, the key is to use them strategically and in moderation.
On top of that, if you want to know how to add hashtags to your LinkedIn post, just follow these simple steps:
Step 1: Click on the Start a post box at the top of the LinkedIn homepage.
Step 2: In the Create post pop-up window, enter or type your post in the given box.
Step 3: Type the # symbol before entering your target phrase or keywords to add the hashtag directly to the post.
Step 4: After adding hashtags to your post, click the Post button at the bottom of the pop-up window.
Conclusion
Hashtags are an important element of any social media marketing strategy, and LinkedIn is no exception.
With over 900 million professional members, LinkedIn is one of the most popular professional networking platforms in the world of digital marketing, which has provided users with the use of hashtags to reach more professionals and more content views as well.
If you want to know how to create hashtag on LinkedIn that engages with a huge range of target audiences, remember that you require to follow hot tips.
So, you need to do more research, creativity, and experimentation in relation to hashtags. Additionally, you need to keep them simple, relevant, and varied to make the most out of your hashtags.
FAQ
How do I create my own hashtag?
Creating your own hashtag involves thinking of a unique and relevant phrase or word related to your content or message. Start with the “#” symbol followed by your chosen phrase, ensuring there are no spaces. Before finalizing, do a quick search on the platform you intend to use it on to ensure it’s not already widely used. Once you’ve determined its uniqueness, you can start using your hashtag in your posts to build its visibility and popularity.
Are hashtags effective on LinkedIn?
Yes, hashtags are effective on LinkedIn. They help categorize content, making it easier for users to discover posts related to specific topics or industries. By using relevant hashtags, you can extend the reach of your posts to a wider audience beyond just your connections. It’s a useful tool to increase engagement, drive conversations, and enhance the discoverability of your content.
How do I create a branded hashtag?
A branded hashtag is a hashtag unique to your brand or a specific campaign. To create one, start by brainstorming keywords associated with your brand, products, or services. Aim for something short, memorable, and directly tied to your brand’s identity. Ensure that it’s not already in use by searching for it across various platforms. Once created, promote your branded hashtag across your marketing materials, social media profiles, and encourage its use among your audience and followers.
How do I change my hashtag on LinkedIn?
On LinkedIn, you don’t directly “change” a hashtag as you would modify account settings. Instead, if you wish to shift focus to a new hashtag, you can start incorporating that hashtag into your posts. If you want to remove or replace a hashtag from a published post, you’ll need to edit that particular post, adjust the hashtag as needed, and then save the changes.
What happens if you use too many hashtags on LinkedIn?
Using an excessive number of hashtags on LinkedIn can make your post appear cluttered and less professional. It may also dilute the impact of your message as users might get distracted or view the post as spammy. While LinkedIn doesn’t have a strict limit on the number of hashtags, it’s generally recommended to use between 3-5 relevant hashtags per post to maintain clarity and maximize engagement.