Ought to You Use Hashtags on LinkedIn? [Poll]

Do you employ hashtags in your LinkedIn posts? Do you have to?

During the last week, we polled our audience on LinkedIn to get their perspective on whether or not they’ve added hashtags into their LinkedIn method, and the overwhelming majority now have, based on the over 3,000 those that took half.

However nonetheless, 15% haven’t – so the query is must you trouble utilizing hashtags in your LinkedIn posts, and are hashtags really serving to to enhance your content material efficiency?

As a fast refresh, LinkedIn really supported hashtags back in 2013, earlier than deactivating them for a number of years attributable to lack of utilization, the re-instating assist once more in 2016. Given the platform’s personal shifts on such, it is sensible that questions stay as as to whether folks ought to or shouldn’t use them, however during the last couple of years, particularly, LinkedIn’s labored to put more emphasis on hashtags as a connective tool, in serving to to point out customers extra related content material, and serving to manufacturers link-into area of interest pursuits.

For instance, customers can now manage their followed hashtags as a way to regulate their information feed, whereas firm pages can even connect themselves to sure tags by way of the ‘Community Hashtags’ function, which then allows you to put up as your model in associated discussions.

We really spoke with LinkedIn about hashtag use on the platform final 12 months, and so they beneficial these key practices:

• Use them appropriately – Be sure you embrace the # signal earlier than any key phrase or phrase. Keep away from any areas, punctuation, particular symbols or emojis
• Don’t overdo it – We advocate utilizing not more than three hashtags per put up, and leveraging each broad and area of interest hashtags for elevated publicity
• Do your analysis – Earlier than together with a hashtag, sort it into the LinkedIn search bar to verify it has robust utilization with a view to join you to essentially the most related audiences.
• Go area of interest – Attempt going as particular as doable for elevated publicity (#TED2021 vs. #advertising and marketing)

So we have now some perception right here into optimum hashtag use on LinkedIn, direct from LinkedIn itself, in addition to some useful recommendations on the right way to discover the correct tags to your posts.

However do they really assist?

It’s exhausting to say. In our expertise, posting to the SMT web page, we haven’t seen a major enhance in site visitors from LinkedIn on account of utilizing hashtags. We add two hashtags to each put up, and in evaluating our referral site visitors numbers, the outcomes are comparatively regular over the previous two years, if not decrease final 12 months than earlier, whereas we’ve been including tags.

After all, it additionally is dependent upon your focus – we’re usually centered on referral site visitors, and we measure that over in-app efficiency, so it’s doable that whereas we might not be driving a heap extra clicks, we could possibly be producing extra dialogue on LinkedIn on account of linking into sure tags. Definitely, our LinkedIn follower rely has elevated over time, and that may have its personal advantages. However outcomes will range, and the one strategy to know for certain what the most effective hashtag method is to your viewers is to take baseline efficiency measurements, then check for 3-6 months, or extra, to see if any adjustments you make affect these numbers.

In case you’re in search of additional LinkedIn hashtag perception, you may check out the tags that LinkedIn recommends under every of your posts within the composer, whereas you may as well seek for hashtags within the app to glean extra perception into what number of followers every has and different, associated tags.

LinkedIn additionally recommends following LinkedIn Editor Dan Roth’s Creator Weekly publication, by which he often shares trending subjects on the platform, which may spotlight new hashtag alternatives.

The consensus, based mostly on our ballot, would recommend that you need to be utilizing hashtags, however our advice is to conduct a extra conclusive check of your personal to measure their effectiveness. And perhaps, as the brand new 12 months is shifting into gear, now could be the correct time to strive them out and see what outcomes you get.