During our last seminar on Instagram, a participant asked about the use of hashtags on LinkedIn , where they were reintroduced starting in 2016, when they were only available in the Linkedin mobile app.
Starting in 2018, the social network has "forced" the use of hashtags up to today, and it is possible to say that yes, they are useful and it is appropriate to insert them in your posts and not only .
This post therefore arises from a subsequent analysis that I would like to do because I believe that question is a doubt of many LinkedIn users at this moment.
What are hashtags and why are they used?
Like Twitter and Instagram, hashtags on LinkedIn are "labels" that categorize content . They are therefore used to help people who have that interest find specific content.
The difference is that in the first two social networks the use of these labels is part of the platform's routine, while LinkedIn introduced them at a later stage and after two failed attempts .
This makes it still "strange" to have to put them in a post or comment.
But by the way, where to use them?
Hashtags on LinkedIn work in your posts and comments , but are not indexed if used on your profile (personal and company).
It is therefore good practice to include them in all the posts you write and in relevant comments that you want to tie to your personal branding.
Yes, because your use of LinkedIn should be planned to maximize visits to your profile rather than seeking generic visibility of your content.
This is because it is a network of people based on building reputation and trust , not a source of traffic for your site (like “Facebook might be considered”).
They can also be used in the profile description, but they do not become a blue clickable link and are therefore not searchable.
How to use hashtags on Linkedin
They can be used for two main purposes: finding important conversations by following the ones you are interested in and incorporating them into your content so people can find you.
Hashtags can be used:
In a profile status
In posts you publish within groups
In the comments you write on other people's posts
How to Choose Them
There are several tools to understand which hashtags are related to a specific topic, such as Hashtahgify or Rietag , however these tools are not specific to Linkedin.
So I recommend you get an idea of the hashtags related to your topic with Hashtagify and then check them one by one in the Linkedin search bar, to check the number of posts associated with them.
Once you’ve done that, continue reading and find out how to mix them.
How many hashtags and which ones to use
Remember that your hashtagged posts are first shown to your first and second level connections who follow the same hashtags.
Visibility to people not in contact with you is relegated to the general feed of those who follow the hashtag (for example the image you see with the hashtag marketing feed).
In short, not exactly a place where it is easy to attract attention and bring people to your profile.
At the moment, therefore, the most "promising" strategy from my point of view is to choose to use hashtags in your content that refer to niche categories (and therefore not with millions of posts, but with thousands of posts) or to use geographic hashtags to be easily found in the context in which you operate.
But not only that.
On LinkedIn it makes sense to create your own Hashtag
To more easily link people to your profile and your company, it makes a lot of sense to create your own tag that you put in all your posts and comments, and which can then easily link to a feed where basically all your content is.
Not bad, huh?
In summary
The advice is therefore to avoid mainstream hashtags, especially if they are English, because if you work in an Italian linguistic context (and especially if local) it makes no sense, and you throw yourself into the fray.
Choose 2 or 3 from your niche (but use them), 1 or 2 geographic and 1 that you use only .
Let me know how these tips go, and if you have any questions or thoughts the comments below are there for that ;-).
Ps. If you want a place for direct comparison on corporate (web) marketing, remember that there is also our Facebook group Marketing for Small and Medium Enterprises in addition to the Linkedin group of the same name.
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