In 2018, LinkedIn introduced the ability for users to leverage hashtags to better navigate and categorize the content. Since then it has become easier to search and find relevant and informative materials on the platform.
However, without a proper understanding of hashtags and their use, your posts could wind up lost in a sea of content. Fortunately, there are a variety of tools and resources available to help you identify the best hashtags to use for your business.
How To Use Hashtags
As stated, hashtags are a great way to help get your content in front of your audience when they search for specific keywords or phrases. Like materials published on your website, the more you can target specific or trending topics, the more you can make sure that your content is seen.
When someone searches for a particular keyword or phrase on LinkedIn (and other platforms) if your posts are leveraging those terms as popular hashtags, your content will have a better chance to be displayed for that search.
This can greatly benefit you if you are trying to widen your audience based on a specific topic or niche or are trying to target specific groups of people based on a topic or specific activity.
Here are some simple suggestions to use hashtags correctly:
- Hashtags should either be included in your content or at the end of the content you share online.
- Keep your hashtags short and simple
- Include hashtags that are relevant to the content that you are posting (don’t try to fool the system by using tags that aren’t aligned with the content)
- Research and post hashtags that include trends or current topics that are relevant to you and your content (see resource list below for where to research popular hashtags)
- Use 2-3 hashtags at most to keep your post from looking like SPAM
- Make sure that your content is adding to the conversation of that specific hashtag topic
For example:
Creating great content and categorizing it using hashtags will help your posts be seen by more people. #digitalmarketingtips #onlinecontent
This is a great example of creating a post that gives advice and uses relevant hashtags to help add to the conversation.
Vs.
Post your digital content on Mondays to be the first in people’s news feeds. #digitalmarketing #relevancy #mondays #business #movies #digitaltrends #online #workweeks #garfieldhatesmondays
As you can see, this post tries to be clever by stuffing the post with trending hashtags that might not be relevant to your audiences or searches.
Even though you might be posting some quality content, your message tends to get lost in a large volume of hashtags. Also, your content will show up in unrelated searches which will only diminish the engagement of your content since people searching for #garfieldhatesmondays may not necessarily be looking for digital marketing tips.
Finding the Right Hashtags
There are a lot of resources and services that can help you find the right hashtags. Here are a few services that we have found to be useful:
- Sprout Social: This is a hashtag search tool that will allow you to find relevant or trending hashtags in an easy to use platform.
- RiteTag: This website has a live trending hashtag ticker on its front page that will help you with real-time digital marketing efforts.
- me: This tool allows you to search for a keyword and see similar or related hashtags. This is great to help you broaden your scope and audience range.
- Hashtag Expert: This phone app allows you to search hashtags on the go as well as see relevant and trending hashtags keeping you up to date no matter where you are.
In summary, if you haven’t been using hashtags or rarely use them, this is the perfect opportunity to start adding them to your online content to help improve reach and engagement with your audience. Simple tweaks will help you start to see immediate gains in your views and reach.
Are you still struggling with using the right hashtags or you want to review your online outreach strategy, don’t hesitate to hop on a call. More than happy to take a peek at what you are doing well and see where we can offer advice on how to improve your performance.
