Boost your LinkedIn reach with this simple hashtag strategy

Every time I audit a social media account, I nearly always find the same issue. The brand might be writing brilliant, informative, engaging copy and their creative might be on point, but the hashtag use is all over the shop.

They are either not using them, using irrelevant ones or (my personal favourite) using hashtags that they've made up but never told anyone about. More often than not, hashtags are seen as a tricky beast its just safest to ignore or phone in.

LinkedIn isn't giving hashtags the same priority it once was, but they are still a way of extending the reach of your content and putting it in front of relevant people. And in the busy, shouty marketplace that social media has become, anything that helps you reach those decision-makers is worth putting thought into.

So, with that in mind...

If?you do one?thing this week, make it…. getting a bank of hashtags ready to use

Hashtag do's:

• think about the hashtags your ideal client is likely following, which will be based on the topics they are interested in. Spoiler alert: these hashtags won't match your business, because they won't necessarily be looking for content from your type of business. So for instance if you're a service business trying to reach decision-makers in insurance, they likely won't be following #creativeaagency or #websitebuild. So using them will likely put you in front of people like you.Action: identify 10 hashtags that reflect your clients' interests. An easy way to do this is to look at the topics your clients are posting about and the content they are reposting, paying attention to the hashtags being used that reflect these. Click through into each hashtag to see how many people are following and aim to have a mix of larger and smaller ones.
• tailor some of your hashtags to the content of your post, so that people looking for content on a specific topic have a better chance of seeing you. This won't be industry specific but there should be overlap if it's a relevant topic for your ideal client (and we're only posting relevant content right?). For instance, if you're talking about using AI to increase productivity, a hashtag that reflects this would make sense to include in amongst a few broader industry-specific hashtags.Action: identify 10 hashtags that would be relevant to the topics you regularly cover, so you have them ready.
• use 3-5 hashtags on every post - I'd recommend a combination of client-focused hashtags and hashtags that reflect the topic being posted about. Chop and change these as relevant.

Hashtag don'ts:

• avoid creating a brand or campaign hashtag unless you're specifically going to ask your audience to follow and engage with it. Otherwise you risk using up one of your 3-5 for nothing.
• avoid including multiple hashtags within the body of your text, it makes it much harder to read.

What now?

Test different combinations and review what works best for you. It's tricky to associate results specifically with hashtags, but you're looking for a general uplift in engagement and specifically engagement from people outside of your first degree connections.

Any questions? Drop me a DM, I'd love to chat.

See you on the socials,

Alex

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