If you have a LinkedIn presence for your business and want to leverage the platform to grow your following, the humble hashtag may be just what you need. By selecting a few targeted, relevant hashtags, users can discover and engage with your posts and page, ultimately leading them to your website.
Here’s how to use LinkedIn hashtags to boost your #engagement and grow your #business.
What are LinkedIn hashtags?
LinkedIn hashtags are keywords or phrases written as one word without spaces after the pound (#) symbol. They’re used as tags and labels to categorize content on the platform, allowing users to easily find posts on specific topics in one place.
For business owners, using LinkedIn hashtags can increase your brand page’s visibility, attracting more followers, clicks, and connections that ultimately translate to sales. Including hashtags in your LinkedIn marketing strategy can expand your reach, placing your brand and posts in front of a larger audience. When done right, it can even propel your content to virality.
How to find and follow hashtags on LinkedIn
To find and follow hashtags on LinkedIn, enter the keyword in the search bar at the top of the page. The results will show posts that include the hashtag. Click the hashtag to visit its dedicated page, where you can follow it for real-time updates. Following hashtags related to your industry and business can help you stay on top of trends and discover other relevant hashtags for your own posts and pages.
Ways to add hashtags on LinkedIn
You can employ LinkedIn hashtags in various ways across the platform’s multiple features. Here are the main approaches to using hashtags on LinkedIn:
Business page hashtags
Say you’re setting up a LinkedIn page for your new subscription-based hair care brand that ships customized products monthly. Start by adding hashtags to your page. Click “Edit Page” on the left side of your profile. Then, go to the Community tab, select “Hashtags” and then “+ Add a hashtag.”
Choose up to three different hashtags that represent your business. In this case, you might opt for #haircare, #beauty, and #retail. This allows your page to appear in searches for these keywords or hashtags.
Post hashtags
Include the right hashtags in your LinkedIn posts. To launch your brand, you might start by drafting a handful of introductory posts to schedule throughout the week, including a company overview, your personal bio highlighting your hair care industry expertise, and a behind-the-scenes video of your shampoo and conditioner formulation.
For each of these posts, choose two to three hashtags to include at the end. For example, in your personal bio, you can use #Entrepreneurship and #WomenInBeauty to broaden your reach into these categories.
Article hashtags
If you publish articles on LinkedIn, you can include hashtags within the post or at the end. For your hair care line, you might share an article about customizing shampoo and conditioner to a customer’s hair texture, color, length, thickness, and personal preference. You sprinkle in hashtags like #customization, #personalization, and #productformulation to increase visibility.
Comment hashtags
You can use hashtags in comments on your own posts or when responding to other businesses’ or users’ posts. Including relevant hashtags helps index and promote your comments and expand your reach.
Tips for optimizing your LinkedIn hashtags
- Research your target audience
- Narrow your focus
- Use trending hashtags
- Track hashtag performance
- Experiment with different hashtags
Hashtags are essential for audience development and brand building on LinkedIn. The key is to determine a savvy hashtag strategy by adhering to these key tips:
Research your target audience
If you’re trying to reach a particular demographic of users, spend time looking at the hashtags they’re using and following. This can help you identify content themes and serve as a good starting point for selecting your own hashtags that best resonate with your target audience.
Narrow your focus
When hashtagging on LinkedIn, less is more. LinkedIn recommends using between two and five targeted hashtags per post, saying it “allows your posts to be more focused and help you connect with a larger audience.”
While you may be tempted to use as many relevant keywords as possible (like some users do on other social media sites), overloading your posts with hashtags can be a surefire way to diminish user engagement. Stick to a few strategic keywords and let followers discover you naturally.
Use trending hashtags
LinkedIn users leverage the platform for networking and forming business connections, sharing professional achievements, searching for jobs, recruiting talent, and educating their communities. These activities have paved the way for popular hashtags with large followings, offering business owners a targeted audience browsing posts in their favorite categories.
According to LinkedIn, its top-performing hashtags of 2024 include #innovation, #management, #resources, #digitalmarketing, #technology, and #creativity. You can also research popular LinkedIn hashtags within your particular business community to narrow the scope and reach the right audience.
Track hashtag performance
LinkedIn’s analytics tools have a feature that lets you track your posts’ hashtag performance and engagement. Keeping tabs on this helps identify which hashtags attract more users to your page, posts, and articles, guiding your future choices and highlighting which to replace with others.
Experiment with different hashtags
Once you’ve analyzed the data, take the opportunity to reconsider low-performing hashtags and test out new ones using different keywords and phrases that might be more impactful for your brand. Maybe a trending hashtag didn’t drum up as much engagement as you hoped, but a niche hashtag is better at attracting your target demographic. Keep tinkering to find the right hashtags that work for you.
Top hashtags on LinkedIn
Ready to incorporate trending hashtags into your posts? This list of the 30 top LinkedIn hashtags in 2024 will help you get started:
1. #innovation – 38,411,129 followers
2. #management – 35,598,286 followers
3. #humanresources – 32,898,825 followers
4. #digitalmarketing – 27,095,863 followers
5. #technology – 26,161,748 followers
6. #creativity – 24,925,069 followers
7. #future – 24,304,980 followers
8. #futurism – 23,219,190 followers
9. #entrepreneurship – 22,469,540 followers
10. #careers – 22,286,006 followers
11. #markets – 22,001,983 followers
12. #startups – 21,011,950 followers
13. #marketing – 20,178,414 followers
14. #socialmedia – 19,491,703 followers
15. #venturecapital – 19,100,660 followers
16. #socialnetworking – 18,826,357 followers
17. #leanstartups – 18,782,560 followers
18. #branding – 17,838,214 followers
19. #advertisingandmarketing – 17,002,362 followers
20. #motivation – 15,629,846 followers
21. #personaldevelopment – 14,529,875 followers
22. #investing – 14,249,587 followers
23. #jobinterviews – 14,171,761 followers
24. #sustainability – 13,162,614 followers
25. #personalbranding – 10,350,194 followers
26. #education – 9,545,127 followers
27. #customerrelations – 8,514,104 followers
28. #productivity – 8,363,545 followers
29. #sales – 5,826,765 followers
30. #socialentrepreneurship – 5,746,331 followers
LinkedIn hashtags FAQ
What hashtags work best on LinkedIn?
The best LinkedIn hashtags depend on your business, objectives, and target audience. Generally, using a mix of broad and trending hashtags alongside industry-specific niche hashtags helps cultivate an engaged and diverse follower base.
Do hashtags still work on LinkedIn?
Yes. Though LinkedIn introduced hashtags in 2016, briefly retracted them, and later restricted their use in certain areas, they’re now a staple feature. Today, LinkedIn offers a robust list of trending hashtags—each with millions of followers. Hashtags remain integral to the LinkedIn experience, allowing users to discover content on specific topics and connect with communities.
How do you create hashtags on LinkedIn?
There are several ways to create hashtags on LinkedIn, including featuring them on your business page, including them in posts and articles you share, and adding them to comments you make on the platform.
