Getting started with LinkedIn hashtags

Are you using hashtags on LinkedIn? Although everyone takes hashtags for granted on Twitter and Instagram because it’s how it’s always been done, few know that LinkedIn introduced hashtags a year or so ago, specifically to help users reach a wider audience with their content.

It makes sense to start using them, but before diving in head first, you need to know how to use them appropriately, and to optimise them ensure your content is discovered by others outside your immediate network.

Firstly, take a look at the ‘Explore the Hashtags You Follow’ feature, that LinkedIn introduced to encourage its users to post and search for specific hashtags, by making use of the ‘Your Communities’ section on the left-hand side of their LinkedIn feed. This section enables users to more easily manage hashtag use and conversations, by clicking on the pencil icon to add hashtags to their list.

In addition, users can click on any hashtags they’re following to keep an eye on, and join any conversations that is being had around them. Next, they can click ‘Show More’ to view the complete list of LinkedIn hashtags that they are following. The list can be customised by using the ‘Pin’ icon next to the relevant hashtags the user wants to show.

Pinning the most relevant hashtags saves users a few steps, and keeps those hashtags top of mind every time they go on to LinkedIn.

Lastly, the ‘Discover More’ feature helps users to discover new hashtag suggestions. This is an awesome way to see how many followers a specific hashtag has, which is a good way of knowing whether or not they should be using that specific hashtag. And following a hashtag is easy – simply click on the ‘+’ symbol and it will be added to the list.