Everything you need to know about using hashtags on LinkedIn

Hashtags are everywhere in the online world. They’ve become so popular that the word “hashtag” was added to the Oxford English Dictionary in 2014. There are no social media that hasn’t caught up on the hashtag trend. You can see hashtags on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and even on LinkedIn!

Why should you use hashtags on LinkedIn? Hashtags are great for boosting the visibility of your content. Adding relevant hashtags to your content will make it much easier to find.

So how can you use hashtags on LinkedIn? Let’s jump in!

Hashtags on LinkedIn: What to know

Using a hashtag on LinkedIn is very similar to using a hashtag on other social media platforms. All you have to do is type a word, a phrase, a number or an emoji after the hashtag symbol. #EasyPeasy, right?

Hashtags started to appear on LinkedIn in 2018. LinkedIn hashtags are a little different than your regular hashtags on Twitter or Instagram. While the #officeoutfit hashtag might be the perfect caption to a photo of you in that snappy suit on the ‘Gram, LinkedIn hashtags are a little more professional. Think like #personaldevelopment or #productivity.

How to add hashtags on LinkedIn

You can use hashtags on LinkedIn:

• In your posts. These are also known as “Updates”.
• In your articles.
• On your company page.

So let's find out how to add hashtags to your LinkedIn posts.

Adding hashtags to your LinkedIn posts (Updates)

You can add hashtags to your LinkedIn posts in just a few steps.

#1: Head over to the LinkedIn home page where you'll find the Share a post section.

#2: Type your content.

#3: Add your hashtags. Below the What do you want to talk about? field, you'll find the Add hashtag option. LinkedIn will suggest recommended hashtags as you add yours.

If you want to learn more about how to create a good post on LinkedIn, check out our guide What to post on LinkedIn: Best Examples and Practices.

Adding hashtags to your LinkedIn articles

Adding hashtags to your LinkedIn articles is as simple as adding hashtags to your LinkedIn posts. Let's look at the steps you should follow.

#1: Click on Write article on the homepage.

#2: Once you're done editing your article, click on Publish in the top right of the page. This will prompt a pop-up window.

#3: In the pop-up window, you'll have the option to include hashtags in your article. These hashtags will appear in the commentary section above the article.

Adding hashtags to your company page

You can add hashtags to your company page but they don't function as searchable keywords. You can add up to 3 hashtags to your company page in the Edit section.

Do's and don'ts of using hashtags on LinkedIn

There are a couple cardinal rules that you should follow while using hashtags on LinkedIn. Let's go over them quickly.

• DON’T use spaces between words #LikeThis
• DO capitalize each word #ReadabilityMatters
• DON’T use special characters
• DON’T use punctuation marks
• DO check your spelling DON’T hashtag every word

You can learn more about hashtag etiquette on LinkedIn here.

How many hashtags should I add?

LinkedIn's answer to this question is 3 hashtags. On LinkedIn, three's never a crowd.

Going overboard with your hashtag use can make your content look spammy. It can also distract from the message you want to share.

How to choose hashtags

It might be a little bit tricky to find the best hashtags to use on LinkedIn. There's a balance you should aim to find between broad and niche hashtags according to LinkedIn.

So why should you use both broad and niche hashtags?

Broad hashtags enhance your exposure on LinkedIn. The only downside is that there's more content in the feed of broad hashtags, so your post or article will disappear in the feed more quickly.

Niche hashtags have less competition in the feed which means that your post or article will appear longer.

You can also create personal hashtags to increase the visibility of your personal brand.

Let's check out an example below to see what I mean.

The hashtags in Adam Posner's post have the perfect balance between broad and niche hashtags. There's also the personal hashtag #thePOZcast which promotes Adam's brand.

How to follow and search for hashtags on LinkedIn

It's always a good idea to follow hashtags relevant to your business to broaden your horizon. When you follow a hashtag on LinkedIn, content that includes that hashtag will start appearing in your feed.

There are multiple ways you can find hashtags to follow on LinkedIn. Let's take a quick look at some of them.

#1: Use the good old search bar. If you click on the hashtag, LinkedIn will take you to that hashtag's feed where you'll see content that includes it. If you click on Follow, content with that hashtag will start appearing in your feed.

#2: If you see a hashtag that you want to follow in your feed, just click on it. Then click on the Follow button at the top of the page.

#3: Go to Followed Hashtags on your LinkedIn homepage and click Discover more. You will see a list of recommended hashtags related to the hashtags you follow.

If you want to learn more about finding relevant hashtags to follow and managing your followed hashtags, click here. Additionally, you can find out how to use LinkedIn hashtags for marketing purposes and grow your clients for your businesses. All you need is reading our detailed guide here:

More tips for using hashtags on LinkedIn

#1 Make sure your content shines. Hashtags are complementary to the content you post on LinkedIn, so you should make sure your posts and articles are #quality. Let's say a LinkedIn member is browsing through the feed of one of the hashtag's you've used. If your content is good, it's much more likely to grab the attention of that LinkedIn member going through the hashtag feed.

You can use Circleboom Publish to design, post, and schedule your LinkedIn posts. Circleboom Publish has the LinkedIn Post Design feature which will take your LinkedIn posts to the next level. It has ready-made post templates that will save you a lot of time while designing your post. You can also use Unsplash, Giphy and Canva to add the best visuals to your post.

#2 Create hashtags for your personal brand or your company. Creating your hashtags is a great idea to attract attention to your personal brand or your company. Make sure to use your custom hashtags consistently and follow the Do's and Don'ts of LinkedIn hashtags.

#3 Check out the feeds of hashtags you're interested in. See which posts are trending. You can get inspiration for your own posts. You can engage with other LinkedIn members to boost your visibility. Just remember that the hashtags in comments don't work.

#4 Analyze your successful posts. Which hashtags did you use in those posts? Analyzing your successful posts will give you ideas about which hashtags to use next.

#5 Identify common themes. What seem to be the recurring themes in your posts? When you identify them, you can break them down into keywords. This will make it easier to come up with hashtags to use.

On Circleboom, it is possible to manage multiple LinkedIn accounts for both LinkedIn profiles and LinkedIn company pages. So, you can add your profiles and pages to manage them all in one, simple dashboard!

Popular LinkedIn Hashtags in 2022

Let's look at some popular LinkedIn hashtags to give you an idea. This is a list of trending hashtags on LinkedIn in 2022:

1. #Networking
2. #Workfromhome
3. #Homeoffice
4. #workingathome
5. #Life
6. #Entrepreneurship
7. #Work
8. #Success
9. #mentorship
10. #Creativity
11. #Inspiration
12. #Mobileapplications
13. #Healthcare
14. #entrepreneur
15. #Mondaymotivation
16. #careers
17. #future
18. #innovation
19. #management
20. #humanresources
21. #digitalmarketing
22. #technology
23. #economics
24. #india
25. #leadership
26. #personaldevelopment
27. #branding
28. #marketing
29. #socialmedia
30. #jobinterviews
31. #futurism
32. #bestadvice
33. #socialnetworking
34. #whatinspiresme
35. #markets
36. #startups
37. #venturecapital
38. #leanstartups
39. #advertisingandmarketing
40. #motivation
41. #investing
42. #bankingindustry
43. #personalbranding
44. #education
45. #productivity

Top LinkedIn Hashtags with the most followers

Here's a list of top LinkedIn hashtags with the most followers.

1. #india — 68M
2. #innovation — 39M
3. #management — 36.2M
4. #humanresources — 33.4M
5. #digitalmarketing — 27.5M
6. #technology — 26.4M
7. #creativity — 25M
8. #future — 24.7M
9. #futurism — 23.7M
10. #entrepreneurship — 23M
11. #careers — 22.4M
12. #markets — 22M
13. #startups — 21.4M
14. #marketing — 20.3M
15. #socialmedia — 19.8M
16. #venturecapital — 19.4M
17. #leanstartups — 19.1M
18. #economy — 19M
19. #socialnetworking — 19M
20. #economics — 18.2M
21. #branding -18.1M
22. #advertisingandmarketing — 17.3M
23. #motivation — 15.5M
24. #personaldevelopment — 14.8M
25. #investing — 14.5M
26. #jobinterviews — 14.5M
27. #money — 14.2M
28. #bankingindustry — 14M
29. #sustainability — 13.3M
30. #alternativeenergy — 13M
31. #personalbranding — 10.5M
32. #hiringandpromotion — 10.1M
33. #healthcare — 9.7M
34. #education — 9.6M
35. #customerrelations — 9M
36. #productivity — 8.5M
37. #whatinspiresme — 8.1M
38. #bestadvice — 7.7M
39. #bigdata — 7M
40. #travel — 7M
41. #gettingthingsdone — 7M
42. #businessintelligence — 7M
43. #softwareengineering — 6.6M
44. #programing — 6.6M
45. #analytics — 6M
46. #softwaredesign — 6M
47. #datamining — 6M
48. #data — 6M
49. #socialentrepreneurs — 5.9M
50. #sales — 5.8M
51. #fundraising — 5.8M
52. #law — 5.5M
53. #lawandlegislation — 5.5M
54. #legalissues — 5.3M
55. #strategy — 5.1M
56. #projectmanagement — 5M
57. #culture — 4.7M
58. #userexperience — 4.7M
59. #fashion — 4.2M
60. #cloudcomputing — 4M
61. #mobileapplications — 4M
62. #consultants — 4M
63. #productmanagement — 3.6M
64. #business — 3.6M
65. #networking — 3.5M
66. #leadership — 2.8M
67. #artificialintelligence — 2.4M
68. #hiring — 2.1M
69. #health — 1.9M
70. #engineering — 1.8M
71. #mindfulness — 1.7M
72. #jobsearch — 1.5M
73. #jobseekers — 1.3M
74. #africa — 1.15M
75. #deeplearning — 855k
76. #hr — 810k
77. #smallbusiness — 800k
78. #workingathome — 800k
79. #recruiting — 785k
80. #inspiration — 760k
81. #job — 742k
82. #datascience — 725k
83. #contentmarketing — 640k
84. #research — 592,000
85. #success — 540k
86. #ai — 500k
87. #storytelling — 486k
88. #computerscience — 485k
89. #python — 450k
90. #entrepreneur — 510K
91. #fintech — 435k
92. #onlineadvertising — 400k
93. #selfhelp — 300k
94. #neuralnetworks — 296k
95. #partnerships — 260k
96. #jobopening — 340k
97. #cloud — 270k
98. #homeoffice — 146k
99. #openings — 178k
100. #automation — 141k

Final Words

Even the professional world of LinkedIn has caught up on the hashtag trend of social media. Using hashtags on LinkedIn is a #GreatIdea for boosting your visibility and growing your audience. That's not to say that your content matters the most. Think of your content as the lead singer and hashtags as your backup vocals.

It's always a good idea to get a little help while creating content on LinkedIn. Circleboom Publish helps you with making your LinkedIn posts shine. If you make sure your content is well-crafted, you can trust hashtags to take it from there.