There are two way of using hashtags on LinkedIn
(1) Following hashtags
You follow few hashtags to receive specific content on your news feed along with the regular content and participate in the relevant discussions. For example if you follow #entrepreneurs so LinkedIn algorithm will show you the post related to this hashtag and this will give you an opportunity to participate in discussion where you can grow your profile visibility among your target audience. If you use #career #jobsearch #interview etc you will reach people who must be looking for job change, corporate professionals, students who are searching job.
How to follow relevant hashtags?
Go to Homepage>click on My network and the will show you following window > Click on Hashtags> then click on "follow fresh perspectives" to follow new hashtags of your choice
You may follow as many related to your business but 15-20 would be sufficient. I am currently following 9 hashtags.
(2)Add hashtags to your post
You can reach more audience and grow your post views by adding relevant hashtags to your post. Hashtags help users find content on a specific topic. And, if you add hashtags to your content, it will get discovered by other users, including those who not connected to you and this way you can reach more audience.
Your hashtags should be relevant to your post, using no related or trending hashtags just to get attention is not perceived well by your audience.
Do not use too many hashtags, 3 hashtags works best. If you use more that three your post will go downstream in the search and algorithm.
Where to add hashtags on your post?
Use them while writing a post, the position of the hashtag does not matter you can use them anywhere in your post.
What kind of hashtags you can use?
There are 3 kind of hashtags which you can use to your post
(1) Post Content: These hashtags are directly related to your post content and closest in defining your post context. Such as if I share Facebook tips with my audience I will use #Facebook . If you share the job search tips them #jobsearch
(2) Generic or Trending: These are the trending and generic hashtags which may not represent the content but the niche of the content. Or generic words related to your content. For example if I share Facebook tips and I use #Socialmedia if you share job search tips you use #career
(3) Business or Brand hashtags: These hashtags are related to your business or brand name.
These hashtags may not help you reach more people in beginning as they are created by you for your business but consistent use of these hashtags will help you reach your target audience in your network and promote your business. For example I use #ibrand this is related to my company name Ibrand Consulting. These hashtags should be chosen carefully. These hashtags should not be taken from trending or generic hashtags but should be unique to your business.
In my following post I have used all the 3 kind of hashtags
#LinkedIn is a post content hashtag
#Socialmedia is a trending and generic hashtag
#ibrand is my business and brand hashtag
Find trending hashtags on LinkedIn:
Click on my network>hashtags
choose mostly used hashtags related to your business, brand or target audience.
Hashtags are quite powerful on social media, if used in a proper way they will help your grow you audience, reach your target audience and be found by the right people.