Using Hashtags to Gain Visibility on LinkedIn

It is necessary to be a giant wave of words to become visible in this ever increasing ocean of digital content.

Of course, the value of your content helps you in becoming that giant wave but to keep that visibility high, you need to use some of the content boosting techniques.

One of them is HASHTAGS!

Instagram has been ruled by hashtags and now it's LinkedIn where hashtags have become one of the essential factors to make your content stand out.

Hashtags are labels to identify a particular topic of content.

If digital world is a library and different kinds of content represent different books, then the label used to place a particular kind of books together will be the hashtag by which the content on a particular topic is identified.

When you click on a hashtag, all kind of content with that hashtag appear in the results. However you can click only on those hashtags which are in "blue" color. All hashtags appear in blue color on LinkedIn posts but the hashtags used in LinkedIn articles and profiles do not appear in blue color so you can't click on those hashtags.

How to use Hashtags?

There are two ways to use hashtags:

1. Use hashtags along with the content

You can use hashtags as a part of the content. In this way, it looks neat and effective. Pick important words only which can be used as hashtags. Like,

Not many people use #LinkedIn for networking. 8 out of 10 people are using it for #job hunting instead of #networking

One should pay attention to the long term benefits of a strong #network. Surely, it takes time to build a network but the results are all worth it if it's done properly.

Avoid over cluttering of hashtags in your content. Otherwise it'll appear noisy and the focus will be deviated from main context. Below example shows excessive use of hashtags which is not a good idea.

Not many people use #LinkedIn for #networking. 8 out of 10 #people are using it for #job hunting instead of #networking

One should pay #attention to the long term #benefits of a strong #network. Surely, it takes #time to build a network but the #results are all worth it if it's done properly.

Please notice that there is no use of using the same hashtag more than once in same piece of content. #network and #networking are definitely two different hashtags so they can be used in the same piece of content but using #networking more than once makes no sense.

2. Use hashtags at last of the content

You can use all relevant hashtags at the end of your post.

Not many people use LinkedIn for networking. 8 out of 10 people are using it for job hunting instead of networking.

One should pay attention to the long term benefits of a strong network. Surely, it takes time to build a network but the results are all worth it if it's done properly.

#LinkedIn #networking #jobs #network

Include only relevant hashtags. Please keep in mind, over cluttering is bad even if you do it at end of the post.

Which hashtags should you use?

Picking "relevant" hashtags is most important to make your content visible in right context. Using irrelevant hashtag is like putting a non-fictional book in the shelf of fictional books. You can choose a relevant hashtag by using following methods:

1. Use already available hashtags

There are many popular hashtags already available on LinkedIn which you can use to gain visibility.

To check the popularity of a hashtag, go to search bar, type that hashtag and hit enter. In below message I searched for #marketing

?#marketing has over 18M followers, so yeah definitely it's a popular one.

When someone searches for the marketing content, there's a high probability of your content landing to the searcher's screen if you've used #marketing in your content. So, choose hashtags wisely.

2. Create a catchy hashtag by yourself

This is one of my favorite LinkedIn activities :D

Remember that library and book labels analogy? How about creating your own book shelf in that library with some unique label?

Sounds exciting, right?

You have the option to create a hashtag by yourself so that all of your content can be found at one place. It's like a signature mark which you can leave in your every post.

You can create as many hashtags as you want. But make them relevant.

The first LinkedIn hashtag which I ever created was #AshionQuest to find newbies of LinkedIn and present them before my network.

Then I moved to #1Day1Letter in which I used to write a letter daily to my goals, fears and feelings. This hashtag became very interesting when other people started participating in it. It's good to have others' books in your book shelf ;)

Currently my hashtag is #demystifyLI where I share tips to make people understand LinkedIn in a simplified way.

Please remember,

Before creating a hashtag, make sure it is new and not been used by people.

Create a hashtag which is catchy, easy and short. More catchy it is, better will be the engagement.

More About Hashtags

The world of hashtags is quite big. Here are few more things about hashtags:

1. You can search for a hashtag

By using search bar, you can search for a hashtag.

Don't forget to include #

If you want to search for a hashtag "wow", type #wow in search bar not just "wow".

If you search for a hashtag by just typing the word without #, you'll get the content having word "wow" instead of #wow

When I search for #demystifyLI, I get following results as shown in this image.

Since, I have used #demystifyLI in my profile, hence it's also appearing in results.

As highlighted in above image, by applying suitable filters, you can get the filtered results.

Since, there's a filter named "People" so it's much effective to use appropriate hashtag in your profile to boost your profile visibility.

If you use a hashtag anywhere in your profile's headline, summary or any other section, your profile also appears in hashtag results on applying filter 'People'

If someone is searching for #DataScience and since you have used this hashtag in your profile, your profile will appear in the search results. It can create an opportunity for you.

After all, opportunities always come in disguise :)

2. Hashtags are not case sensitive

It means,

#LoveHashtag

#lovehashtag

#loVEHASHtag

These all will give same results.

Since you can't use space between words in hashtags, so to make it easily comprehensible, you must use capital letters appropriately. Also you can use underscore like,

#love_hashtag

Though I personally like hashtags without any underscores as it keeps a hashtag intact.

3. You can follow/unfollow and manage hashtags

You can follow a hashtag to get its content in your feed. Simply click "Follow" button to follow a hashtag. Just like that, you can unfollow a hashtag.

You can also manage your hashtags.

Go to your home page, at left side you'll find a pane with groups and hashtags you follow. Use that to manage your current hashtags and to discover more hashtags.

If used properly, hashtags can boost engagements on your content, ultimately boosting its visibility.

There is no certain criteria to use hashtags. You are free to use your creativity.

As I always say, do as much experiments as you can to figure out methods which work best for you!

Keep Exploring!

Keep Experimenting!

If there is anything about hashtags which is not been answered in this article, do let me know in comments, I'll answer. Also, looking forward to hear your thoughts about hashtags :)

#demystifyLI