The best hashtag strategy to use right now on LinkedIn

• Use three hashtags
• Use specific hashtags to your post
• Use LinkedIn search to identify hashtag frequency
• Place hashtags at the end of content
• Go big & broad with two hashtags and use one niche hashtag

The differences between general and niche hashtags

Adding hashtags on LinkedIn is all about finding your sweet spot, and using a long list of hashtags in each post is best saved for Instagram. In general, Twitter best practices suggest a maximum of three to four hashtags per post, which is closer to what you want to aim for when posting to LinkedIn.

As LinkedIn indicates that we should use three hashtags, using three hashtags is slightly counterintuitive because if you use more than three hashtags, your post still appears for all of the hashtags used. However, you want your content to be favored by the algorithm to show it to more people. I suspect that LinkedIn recommends 3 hashtags, so content looks professional on the platform.

So with three hashtags to play with, the best strategy to use right now is a mix of large and small hashtags. You should use two broad hashtags to increase the reach of your content, reserving one hashtag to cover a niche that is relevant to your target audience or as a personal hashtag for your brand or business.

With hashtags, you are striking the balance between competition and search volume. 

• Large hashtags have high search volume, meaning they can increase the reach
  of your posts. But they are also more competitive. 

• Niche hashtags are searched for less, but these hashtags also have less competition.

Example Below:

As you can see from the two hashtags, there is a significant difference between how many people follow the more general hashtag #socialmedia compared to the niche hashtag #socialmediatips.

How do I select the best hashtags for my posts?

Choosing the right hashtags for your LinkedIn updates will change on a post-to-post basis.

Overall, you should aim to use hashtags specific to your industry and niche consistently across different posts. For example, if you’re sharing a job post, include hashtags like #jobpost or #opportunity. You can also include event-specific hashtags to draw people who might be searching for fellow attendees.

Also, consider looking at the hashtags LinkedIn recommends at the bottom of your posts while you’re crafting them. These are populated automatically through LinkedIn’s algorithm, which means that they’ll likely be a good match for your posts.