Navigating the Art of Hashtags on LinkedIn
In a bid to boost organic reach and recognition on LinkedIn, it's essential to approach hashtags strategically, treating them as routing metadata rather than decorative elements. Here's a step-by-step guide to creating a compounding LinkedIn tag library.
Establish a Structured Tag Library
Organize your tag library hierarchically, starting with broad categories and moving towards more niche topics. This "broad → topic → niche" ladder helps in effective content organisation and ensures discoverability.
Align Your Tag Library with Profile Architecture
Choose tags that resonate with your brand or campaign themes and repeat their use across multiple touchpoints and campaigns. This compounded effect enhances distribution and audience retention.
Monitor and Govern Your Tag Library
Regularly measure hashtag performance on engagement and reach, iterating your tag list based on data to keep it relevant and effective. Approve new tags and remove underperforming or irrelevant ones to maintain clarity and focus.
Ensure Consistency Across Posts and Team Members
When using tags internally in tools like Hootsuite, everyone should apply the relevant tags consistently to campaign posts for better tracking, categorization, and cross-campaign analysis.
Use Format-Aware Execution
Adapt tag use for different content types (video, documents, live streams), as formats may affect distribution and engagement patterns.
Skipping Relevant Tags
Avoid using irrelevant tags that don't contribute meaningfully to the topic or audience, as they can reduce reach or confuse the audience. Also, steer clear of non-responders, overly broad, poorly spelled, or multiterm tags that could be overlooked or misunderstood. Lastly, keep hashtags focused and place them at the bottom for neatness.
In summary, a compounding LinkedIn tag library is built through strategic selection, consistent use across campaigns and profiles, measurement-driven refinement, and discipline in skipping irrelevant or ineffective tags to maximize organic reach and recognition over time.
Additional Tips
- Avoid stacking @mentions in video/carousel footers unless those accounts reliably reply; the wrong mention mix can throttle distribution even if your hashtags are perfect.
- Slot "comment blocks" differently by format: 60-120 minutes post-publish for video, morning of Day 2 for carousels, and immediately after lives for recap posts.
- For live promotions, skip generic trending tags; route only through the lanes your buyers follow so replay engagement stays qualified.
- LinkedIn hashtags function as routing metadata, improving categorical matching and surfacing content to people who've expressed interest in a specific topic.
- When a leader's native post outperforms, promote the exact post via Thought Leader Ads rather than rebuilding creative to maintain continuity between organic and paid exposures.
- For document posts (PDF carousels), write the document title to mirror your Topic lane, then concentrate your hashtags in the post composer (not on-slide).
- Treat LinkedIn's algorithm updates as an opportunity to optimize hashtag usage for increased qualified impressions and sharper listening.
To expand your social media presence and leverage LinkedIn for entertainment purposes, create a well-structured tag library that effectively organizes content based on topics and niche areas. Use tags that align with your brand's identity or campaign themes, and repeat them consistently across multiple touchpoints and campaigns to build audience recognition and engagement. Regularly monitor and refine your tag library, using data to iterate and maintain its relevance and effectiveness. Maintain consistency in tag usage across team members and content types to optimize post performance and achieve increased organic reach and recognition. Remember, LinkedIn hashtags function as routing metadata, helping to improve categorical matching and surface content to people interested in specific topics, thus enhancing entertainment opportunities on the platform.
