Hashtags are not just for Instagram and TikTok, they are also great for your LinkedIn posts. Just like on other platforms, using hashtags categorizes your content, making it easier for your posts to reach their intended audience.
That being said, picking a bunch of hashtags at random and sprinkling them through your posts isn’t going to cut the mustard. To get them working to their full potential, you need to create an effective LinkedIn hashtag strategy and understand how data can guide you towards better visibility.
Are hashtags effective on LinkedIn?
Whether your niche is marketing consultation or recruiting technology, LinkedIn hashtags are small yet powerful tools for ramping up visibility and engagement for your content. Choose your hashtags wisely, and the right professionals will be able to find you. They can increase your reach, generate meaningful engagement, and help you connect with your target market.
However, let this be your mantra: Not all hashtags are created equal. It’s tempting to plump for the most popular ones, hoping for a wide reach, but that approach rarely delivers results.
Successful hashtag use requires relevance, a balance between broad and niche terms, and an understanding of what drives engagement within your industry. Without this focused approach, your content risks getting overlooked.
Choosing relevant hashtags
So, how do you choose the right hashtags? Use these tips to make sure yours hits the mark.
- Industry-specific: Niche hashtags offer a direct path to your desired audience. Whatever industry you specialize in, identify the hashtags that your ideal audience members actively use.
- Target audience: Who are you trying to connect with? Are they marketing managers, software developers, entrepreneurs, etc? Next, think about what their pain points are and the specific lingo of their profession.
- Research: Stay on the pulse of your industry. Analyze both your competitors and broader trends to spot popular hashtags, evolving conversations, and new opportunities to participate. Are there relevant hashtags popping up about diversity and inclusion, or emerging skill sets in your field?
What is the 3×3 hashtag strategy?
The 3×3 hashtag strategy is a framework for organizing your hashtags on LinkedIn. The basic idea is to create three groups of three hashtags each, with each group focusing on a different aspect of your post.
Who?: These hashtags define your ideal audience. They might be job titles, such as #marketingmanager, or industries, like #SaaS or be informed by your latest applicant pool example, so you know you’re targeting the right people. Alternatively, they could be around broader interests related to your content, e.g., #valuecreation.
What?: In the second group, you’re focusing on the specific topic of your post, offering a mix of broader and slightly more niche terms, for example, #contentstrategy or #socialmediamarketing.
Why?: What is your content solving and who will benefit from it? That’s the purpose of this final group of hashtags. You might be looking at options like #brandvisibility or #engagementtips.
The 3×3 strategy strikes a balance between reach and precision. It helps you connect with your target audience, accurately describe your content, and highlight the immediate value someone will derive from your post. Following this structure will help you narrow your hashtag selection and maximize the engagement potential of your posts.
Mix and balance
Your hashtags should be a healthy mix of broad and niche. Broad hashtags cast a wide net, increasing your potential reach but with less precision. They could include terms like #marketing, #business, or #leadership. On the other hand, niche hashtags focus on your specific area of expertise. Examples might be #startupmarketing or #webdesign.
Include a mix of one or two broad hashtags with a few more niche ones for the best results. This approach balances visibility with targeting the right people. Too many hashtags can look cluttered and present a red flag to LinkedIn’s algorithm that your content might be less valuable.
Take the Sephora example below, they use 3 hashtags throughout their post and combine wide-reaching hashtags for International Women’s Day alongside their own brand and message of inclusion.
Native insights
LinkedIn provides some basic analytics for any hashtags you follow. You’ll see metrics like impressions, clicks, and engagement. This data is a starting point for analyzing how your hashtags are contributing to your overall visibility.
While they might not be as in-depth as the analytics offered by dedicated third-party tools, they kickstart your understanding of performance. Impressions, for instance, give you a sense of potential reach. Did posts using that hashtag appear in people’s feeds a significant number of times?
Clicks tell you if the hashtag kindled any curiosity, motivating people to actively explore more. Engagement, on the other hand, is the most telling metric – it indicates whether the hashtag is attracting conversation and genuine interest in content related to that topic.
Third-party analytics tools
While LinkedIn’s built-in analytics are a start when it comes to planning your campaign, dedicated social media management tools are on a whole new level. They offer far more nuanced metrics than simply impressions and clicks.
You can track precisely which hashtags are bringing new followers to your profile, giving you a clear picture of which resonates best with your target audience. Some tools even provide demographic breakdowns of who engages with your hashtags, helping you understand your audience better.
Sentiment analysis is also available to tell you whether the overall tone around your chosen hashtags is positive, negative, or neutral – in essence, how your brand is currently perceived. Options like Keyhole’s hashtag analytics tools are so popular because they can take these detailed data insights and present them in a clear and easily digestible format.
Their ease of use makes hashtag analytics simple and understandable for marketers and newbies alike. Using these tools removes the guesswork and supports you in creating a data-driven LinkedIn hashtag strategy.
Identifying top performers
Using LinkedIn hashtags should be seen as an ongoing project that needs to be consistently revisited and revised. Make it a habit to check your analytics and identify your top performers. Which hashtags consistently drive those high impressions and engagement numbers?
Pay attention to whether your winning hashtags are those broader terms or the more niche ones. This offers valuable clues about your audience. If broader hashtags are performing well, it signals your content has appeal to a wider group within your industry.
However, if those niche hashtags are shining, it means you’re effectively connecting with a smaller, highly targeted subset of your ideal audience. Both are wins, but they guide your future hashtag choices differently. Analyzing this data helps you understand what types of topics your audience wants to see more of.
Spotting underperforming hashtags
Spotting underperforming hashtags is as important as spotting your flyer examples. If a LinkedIn hashtag consistently generates few impressions, minimal clicks, and hardly any engagement, it’s time to dig a little deeper. This analysis is integral to achieving your social media goals, as it reveals where your efforts might be misdirected.
In a sea of content, overly broad hashtags struggle to stand out. You’re shouting your message into a crowded marketplace – it might be heard, but it won’t cut through. Try using more targeted and specific hashtags to reach a better-defined audience.
The flip side is going too niche. If there isn’t much search volume or active conversation around a hashtag, your content will have limited reach. Experiment with slightly broader variations relevant to your topic.
Hashtags, just like content, must stay fresh. Hashtags that were once popular but are no longer trending make your content seem disconnected. Your hashtag choices should reflect what’s happening in your industry right now.
Ensuring content alignment
Avoid using popular but irrelevant hashtags just for the sake of potential reach: your hashtags must genuinely relate to the content you’re posting.
If you’re chasing clicks with misleading hashtags, it will disconnect your content from the right audience. You might momentarily widen your reach, but without genuine interest, it won’t translate into engagement or lasting results.
Focusing on hashtags that accurately represent your posts builds trust. It signals to LinkedIn’s algorithm that your content is reliable and relevant. Ultimately, this alignment helps you connect with the people who truly value what you have to share.
Fostering community engagement
Community engagement goes beyond simply tracking your own LinkedIn hashtags and post performance. Watch the conversations around hashtags you use. What topics are people discussing? What questions are they asking? Are there recurring themes within your industry that people are passionate about?
This type of active listening reveals audience sentiment – what excites them, what frustrates them, and where their interests lie. You might even spot evolving industry trends before they become mainstream.
For instance, following hashtags related to hiring trends could reveal that people are looking for “talent acquisition strategies” as they aim to understand the types of skills companies are seeking or solve the challenges they face in finding qualified candidates.
This allows you to tailor content that addresses those needs. Consider it market research, conducted directly within the hashtag communities you want to be a part of.
LinkedIn hashtags: Your key to greater visibility
Using LinkedIn hashtags effectively requires constant attention and refinement. Start by researching, then analyze the data, and evolve your approach over time. All this work will be worth it.
Hashtags are incredibly effective at increasing reach and engagement, driving greater brand awareness. To help you achieve your goals, book a demo and watch your brand visibility soar.
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Frequently Asked Questions
1. How many hashtags should I use in a LinkedIn post?
While there's no one-size-fits-all answer to this question, it's generally recommended to use a moderate number of hashtags in your LinkedIn posts. Using too few hashtags may limit the visibility of your post, while using too many can come across as spammy and detract from the overall quality of your content. Aim for a balance by including around 3 to 5 relevant hashtags per post.
2. Should I use the same hashtags for every LinkedIn post?
Consistency can be beneficial for branding purposes, but it's also important to vary your hashtags to reach different segments of your audience and tap into a wider range of topics and conversations. Experiment with different combinations of hashtags and remember to monitor their performance to identify which ones are most effective for your content and goals.
3. What are personal hashtags and why are they useful?
Personal hashtags are when you create your own hashtag (such as a company name, phrase or slogan) that you want people to follow so that they can easily identify your content. They’re great for developing your brand, especially because when someone follows your hashtag they will receive notifications whenever you post new content.
