How to Optimize Your Use of #Hashtags* on LinkedIn

 As Seen on The Impact Lawyers magazine

Because I have been using LinkedIn for more than 17 years, have over 16,000 connections on LinkedIn, and have been named a Top Thought Leader on LinkedIn, I wrote this article as a step-by-step guide on ways to optimize your use of hashtags on LinkedIn.

Please note: This article is not intended to be a 100% comprehensive or exhaustive discussion of all the things that can be done to optimize your use of hashtags on LinkedIn, but it does contain over seventeen best practices. Learning and mastering LinkedIn is a time-consuming science and art, and there is always something new to learn about it.

Hashtags have been available on LinkedIn for only about two and a half years, and based on what is known about the LinkedIn algorithm, here are some things to know and consider when using hashtags on LinkedIn:

• Hashtags work much differently on LinkedIn than they do on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and other social media platforms.
• Hashtags on LinkedIn work best when 1) included in your unique LinkedIn posts, 2) sharing posts of others and adding select hashtags in your comment before posting the share, and 3) you include up to five hashtags in LinkedIn articles you post. 
• Adding hashtags to the comments of a post on LinkedIn does not boost its visibility or engagement, but you can add them when you would like to make or emphasize a point.
• The biggest mistake most people make (way too often) is adding too many hashtags in a LinkedIn post.

o   Use up to three concise hashtags in each post or share, and up to five in each article.

o   Keep hashtags short. If you use several long hashtags in the same post, users may see them as spam instead of a legitimate message. 

o   Here is an example of a recent LinkedIn post that only contains hashtags and way too many hashtags to be optimal:

The best practice is to include and use only up to three hashtags in your LinkedIn posts and shares, and up to five in LinkedIn articles. Why? Adding any more than three to five hashtags in a LinkedIn post is flagged as spam by the LinkedIn algorithm and will not be distributed. Plus, many users on LinkedIn find more than three to five hashtags in a post confusing or annoying.

• Make sure to look at the hashtags LinkedIn recommends at the bottom of your posts while you are writing and posting them. LinkedIn’s algorithm automatically populates suggested hashtags while you are typing, which means that the suggested hashtags will likely be a good match for your post.

 Specific tips to optimize your use of hashtags on LinkedIn:

1.                  Write a relevant, interesting, compelling, typo-free, and great post (use up to around 700 characters) or an article (which is not easy and is an art and science on its own). Once that is done, consider which hashtags to add.

2.                  Always keep your ultimate objectives in mind when selecting hashtags to include in your post. Your goal and objectives should be to 1) reach your target audience, 2) attract readers, likes, comments, and engagement, 3) add followers, 4) increase your credibility by adding interesting, useful, and relevant content, and 5) increase top-of-mind awareness about you and your company or firm.

3.                  Carefully consider which three hashtags might be best to add to your post. Remember: A good hashtag is strategic and targeted.

If you want some ideas or are not sure which hashtags might be best to use, check with your LinkedIn network. How? Click on My Network, on the left menu, scroll down to # Hashtags, and click on it, and you will see the hashtags trending in your network. Below are the hashtags trending in my network when I wrote this article. Since these are trending (i.e., are hot topics), I will likely use one or more of these hashtags in my LinkedIn post once this article is published.

A best practice is to first search for each hashtag you are thinking of using on LinkedIn. Run the hashtag through LinkedIn Search to see how many followers it already has. How? In the LinkedIn search bar (on the upper left), type in a hashtag symbol (shift-3) then the words, with no spaces. You should see a dropdown showing what you typed in.

 

For example, when writing this article, I typed in “#marketing” then clicked on the first hashtag listed in the auto-dropdown and saw that the marketing hashtag (#marketing) has 20,366,443 followers. Twenty million is a large number of followers. But not all hashtags have that many followers.

 

  

Generally, you should choose hashtags:

1.     --- That have the most followers on LinkedIn,

2.      ---That are unique to the content in your post, and/or

3.     --- That reinforce your brand/event/conference or message.

Here are some best practices for each of these three types of hashtags.

Alternate your use of hashtags for each post or article and over time. But you may want to include your branded hashtag in each of your LinkedIn posts, shares, and articles.

It is not always a good idea to use hashtags that have the most followers on LinkedIn because your content might get lost among the many other posts. 

According to Hootsuite, branded hashtags have high potential. If you create a hashtag worth following, chances are the LinkedIn algorithm will surface posts that use it to the hashtag’s followers. Examples from major companies include Lyft’s #LifeAtLyft, Nike’s #SwooshLife, or Adobe’s #AdobeLife. Here is an example of a branded hashtag in the legal industry.

John Croft, President of Elevate – one of the first and most well-regarded law companies - uses (and encourages others to use) the hashtag #lawcompany in his LinkedIn posts. Why? Because “law company” is key to Elevate’s brand, and Elevate is at the forefront of companies providing a new type of legal services to law firms and legal departments. 

By using the hashtag #lawcompany, John and Elevate communicate their brand and fuel this relatively new trending topic. Yet, if you type “#lawcompany” into the LinkedIn search bar, LinkedIn does not provide drop-down options; probably because the hashtag #lawcompany is relatively new and has not yet amassed many followers. However, it’s clear to see all the other posts that have used the #lawcompany hashtag.  #Lawcompany is unique, and by using it, John and his company are reinforcing their position as market leaders.

Consider business- or practice-related hashtags. For example, I work in the legal industry with and for law firms and law departments. So, each year, we look up the number of followers of hashtags related to law and legal services. Here is the post I did about it. Almost every industry, topic, issue, and subject has a niche community online, and there are often existing and specific hashtags to consider using (or you can create a new one).

Consider location-specific hashtags. For example, if you work or practice in a certain city, state, province, county or country, consider using the name of that location as a hashtag, such as #NovaScotia, #Leeds, #NYC, #Boston, #ClarkCounty, #Ireland, etc.

Consider using hashtags of trending issues or topics. But use them only if these hashtags have an authentic relationship to the content in your post or article. Adding your voice to a hashtag that is already popular can help attain your goals and objectives. For example, some recent trending hashtags on LinkedIn (and on most other social media platforms too) are #blacklivesmatter and #COVID19.

Create and use a unique hashtag for events, conferences, and awards. This is probably the most effective single use of the hashtag. For example, the event hashtag #ABATECHSHOW is popular in the legal industry, and other groups also create and use unique hashtags for their events, such as #CLOC2020, #IntappConnect 20, and #CLIO2020. Creating your own unique hashtag for your event and conferences and using these hashtags can piggyback your content with a popular conference hashtag and are great ways to move your content toward parties known to be interested and increase your followers/connections on LinkedIn.

As mentioned at the beginning of this article, the use of LinkedIn AND optimizing your use of hashtags on LinkedIn are each arts and sciences on their own. They both take considerable time and commitment to master but can never truly be mastered because there is always something changing or new.

Remember that choosing the right hashtags for your LinkedIn posts and articles will change on a post-to-post, share-to-share, and article-to-article basis. A best practice is to try various hashtag combinations and options, test, then track and measure the results to decide which hashtags work best to attain your goals and objectives on LinkedIn.

The best practice is to do some research, make strategic choices, and create a plan and deploy it. Every year, for branding and optimal SEO purposes, many companies/firms make and distribute a list of optimal hashtags to encourage all employees to use and follow consistent hashtags as they desire.

*If you are not sure what hashtags are and the benefits they can provide, or are not sure how to optimize the content you post on LinkedIn, you may want to study these and other many other resources available online.

If you would like assistance to optimize your use of LinkedIn, please contact me, Julie Savarino, the author of this article:

Email - Julie@BusDevInc.com,

Connect with/message me on LinkedIn,

Phone +1 (734) 276-1900

 

 

General Counsel Discuss Moving from a Global Pandemic to Inspiring Innovation

 By: Julie Savarino, author of the highly rated book Survive and Thrive Post-Pandemic

 As seen on JD Supra

The general counsel panel discussion held during the Corporate Legal Operations Consortium (CLOC) Global Summit was excellent! This article summarizes some key takeaways.

 

Panelists:

Maaike de Bie, group general counsel and company secretary, easyJet

Bradley Gayton, senior vice president and general counsel, Coca-Cola

Dev Stahlkopf, corporate vice president, general counsel, and corporate secretary, Microsoft

Moderator:

Mike Haven, CLOC board member and senior director, associate general counsel, and head of legal operations at Intel.

On the current state of the legal industry -

• With crisis comes opportunity. Legal departments and lawyers have a continued opportunity to shine in the current environment because many business issues, projects, and problems have new, developing, or novel legal implications. Plus, lawyers are known to remain cool, calm, and collected in crisis situations, so all lawyers — those working in-house, in law firms, in government, etc. — are valued now more than ever.
• The challenges of working from home are not relenting.  Keeping everyone engaged while working from home is not getting easier. The need for leaders to stay abreast of and remain focused on improving both individual and team communications by frequency and type was emphasized.
• It is hard to fully understand others when you are only with them virtually. Listening intentionally and without distraction is hard to do in the current environment but is more important than ever. Without hallway talks and dropping by colleagues’ offices to check in or to say hello in person, a lot of subtle communication cues and nuance can be lost.

Trends -

• Being purpose-led. There are numerous companies, businesses, and industries that are currently suffering financially. Those that receive government or public support will face more pressures from society. Businesses can and should step up to fill the void not filled by government. For example, having a basic diversity, equity, and inclusion department or program is no longer enough. Many companies, firms, and organizations need to refresh their strategic purpose, plans, and accompanying efforts.
• The pressure to deliver legal services better, faster, and cheaper will not let up. The mandate to be more efficient and save costs comes from the C-suite, permeating the entire company/organization, and the legal department is no exception.
• The pace of digital transformation is increasing. The legal profession is notoriously slow to adapt; lawyers are paid to be risk-averse, rely heavily on precedent, and tend to approach every legal problem as bespoke. This is the mindset of many lawyers, but it is not how business professionals think. There are now enough success stories and proof of how the strategic procurement and deployment of technology can and do create and deliver efficiency, reduce time spent, save costs and fees, and impact the bottom line.

On moving forward -

• Legal technology and innovation are now client- and market-driven demands. Many lawyers do not think or perceive that knowing about, spending time to learn, or using technology is part of their job. But for the reasons above, the need to continue to upscale the practice of law and deliverables is necessary for all lawyers.
• Innovation and digital transformation need not be daunting, perfect, or comprehensive.
• For example, one simple yet innovative (for legal) thing to do is to formally change the name “in-house legal department” to simply “legal department.” The word “in-house" is superfluous, since most legal departments and outside law firms now work collaboratively to handle and deliver all corporate legal services. This change would be relatively simple to do yet would be innovative for the legal profession.
• Panelists discussed the importance of embracing the fact that digital transformation and innovation do not happen overnight, easily, or with one single project. Instead, they are a journey with no ultimate destination. A consistent investment of people, resources, time, and budget is needed over time.
• The journey can also be messy and imprecise and involve iterations and failure. It is important that lawyers and teams realize that perfection is not possible with innovation and digital transformation. The need to embrace the possibility of failure and to “fail fast” was emphasized.
• A good place to start on the journey is to ask about, survey, and identify common, repetitive tasks and work by department, team, or group. Inquire who is using what technology currently, what’s working, where is time wasted, etc., and then pick a priority project — one that will measurably improve productivity and efficiency and save costs. It helps to have one person be responsible for planning, tracking, managing, moving the project along, and reporting.
• Raise these issues with the outside law firms the organization or company uses. Perhaps their technology can be leveraged and applied to the company’s legal department’s needs.

Culture and change management are constants -

• Leaders must embrace a growth mindset, buy into innovation and digital transformation, accept that there may be some failure along the journey, encourage the team to try new things and fail fast, and agree to be evangelists for strategic innovation.
• Leaders also need to be committed, intentional, and dogmatic, because the moment they give up or let the pedal off the metal, progress stops.
• Never underestimate the aversion to change, and consider team-building exercises that expand thought processes, approaches, and skills.
• The need to remain agile, adaptable, and fluid is critical.

 

How to Avoid Common Mistakes When Using Virtual Video Backgrounds

Virtual backgrounds on Zoom and other video-conferencing platforms often make the person’s head/shoulders pixelate and appear to dissolve to others watching on the video-call. This can be quite distracting! Given that #remotework and #WFH is not ever going away completely, here are some possible solutions:

Do not use fake backgrounds at all. Instead consider:

• Making sure your lighting is even.
• Using an uncluttered background.  
• Adding a few, select knickknacks on a shelf or some books, which can add some nice depth to your video background.
• Putting a branded banner, sign, or other select piece(s) within the frame of your video camera.
• Blurring your background (not available on Zoom).

If you are using a fake background, here are some ways to optimize your use of them from video expert Rob Kates from Kates Media:

• Check that your computer has the right specifications for the video platform you are using. For Zoom, check here - https://support.zoom.us/hc/en-us/articles/360043484511-System-requirements-for-Virtual-Background.
• Check your lighting.  Even lighting is best.
• Check your webcam’s software settings.
• Check your bandwidth: 10Mbps upload and 5Mbps download.
• If the videocam on your computer does not meet the above specs, consider investing in a new one that can be plugged in.
• Use a green screen. But make sure there is even lighting on it.

For more tips on how to optimize the use of videocams, check out these free tutorials by Nancy Myrland from Myrland Marketing:

• One Quick & Easy Way To Look Better On Camera - https://www.linkedin.com/posts/nancymyrland_zoomtips-microsoftteams-video-activity-6699383211388129281-Rwj0
• Head and Eye Placement For Maximum Connection and Impact With Others - https://www.linkedin.com/posts/nancymyrland_zoomtips-microsoftteams-video-activity-6702643728835756032-SpYb

How To Optimize Your LinkedIn® Connections in 30 Minutes a Week

Is it possible for busy lawyers, accountants, financial advisors, consultants, and other professionals to develop business and clients using LinkedIn for only 30 minutes a week?! And to do so without posting content? The answer is yes, but with some caveats. Read on for best practices, how tos, and tips.

LinkedIn 2021: LinkedIn has now been around for over 17 years! It currently has over 610 million members and approximately 303 million active monthly users (40%, or approximately 120 million, of whom visit the site daily), and includes 90 million senior-level influencers and 63 million decision-makers who are active users. Plus, LinkedIn has over 700,000 users with a General Counsel title, and over 800,000 with the title Corporate Counsel.

Yet many busy lawyers and other professional services providers still do not use LinkedIn regularly, or do not use it optimally, even though – in this largely remote and digital world – LinkedIn is one of the best places to develop new clients and referral sources and nurture and expand existing relationships.

Main reasons busy professionals have not optimized using LinkedIn:  The fact is that learning and mastering LinkedIn is a science and art in and of itself. It can be extraordinarily time-consuming and distracting, and there is always something new to learn about it.

The main reason busy lawyers and other professionals do not use LinkedIn optimally is due to a lack of time. Billable time demands, plus life, easily take up 24 hours each day, so busy professionals simply do not have the time to devote to LinkedIn. Other reasons LinkedIn is underutilized by busy professionals include:

Fear of making mistakes or fear of social media in general;

The misconception that you must post content on LinkedIn to get anything out of it; and

The lack of enough knowledge to be confident when using LinkedIn.

I am here to help. Why me? One law firm retained me to join LinkedIn in 2003 to learn and master it for them, get all the firm’s interested lawyers on LinkedIn, and then train and coach them how to use it and get the most from it (which I continue to do). As a result of my joining LinkedIn early on, I now have over 15,000 connections, have been named a Top Thought Leader in Legal on LinkedIn, and consider myself an expert user of the platform. In 2020, my program that handholds busy lawyers and other professionals through the process of getting on LinkedIn and making the most of their LinkedIn presence and connections has been in great demand.

Here are some tips from my program on how to optimize your connections on LinkedIn in 30 minutes a week (assuming you already have a profile on LinkedIn and ideally have optimized it – a separate and complex topic that this article does not cover).

An important note: Do not feel like you need to do all these things at one time on LinkedIn. Instead, I recommend you do one of these things for 30 minutes maximum each week (or spend more time on LinkedIn if you have it or are getting results, but make sure your notifications are set appropriately so you can be responsive).

 1.       Commit to Self-Discipline and Consistent Use of LinkedIn Over Time:

a.    It is very important to schedule 30 minutes each week for yourself (and your LinkedIn coach if you have one) to work on LinkedIn. To do so, reflect on a typical week and identify a day/time when you can carve out 30 minutes to devote to working on LinkedIn. There may not be one good day/time, but the best practice is to pick one and schedule an automated calendar meeting with yourself or ask your assistant to remind you each week. If something urgent or more important comes up on that day/time, do not “dismiss” the calendar reminder, instead move it to another day/time that week when you will most likely be able to spend some time on LinkedIn.

b.    If you simply do not have the time to devote to LinkedIn on a weekly basis, ask a professional with knowledge, skills, and discretion, such as your assistant or your firm’s marketer, to handle your account for you and post and/or connect on your behalf, or hire a qualified coach (like me) to do so for you. But be sure to take the time to meet with them first to discuss your privacy choices on LinkedIn, how you would like to handle connections and other key issues, etc.

 2.       Make It Easy to Access LinkedIn and the Best Features for You:

a.    Create a shortcut on your desktop for LinkedIn.

b.    Download the LinkedIn app on your cell and tablet from the App Store or Google Play.

c.    Adjust the notifications settings on LinkedIn to optimize your productivity and avoid distractions.

d.    If you are not a premium member of LinkedIn or do not subscribe to LinkedIn’s Sales Navigator, consider doing so, but only if you currently use or plan to use LinkedIn consistently for at least 30 minutes a week.

3. Decide How You Want to Protect Your Connections (or Not):

a.    Unless you are an open networker (known as a LION - LinkedIn Open Networker), meaning you are open to connect with anyone on LinkedIn - acquaintances and strangers alike - you may want to be selective with whom you “connect” and from whom you “accept” connection invitations on LinkedIn. For example, some judges, public officials, and lawyers may choose not to link to direct competitors or opposing parties.

b.    If you are already very well connected and do not want anyone to see your connections or access them, you may want to change the default LinkedIn setting that allows all your connections to see your personal connections (i.e., your “Rolodex”). REMEMBER, power comes from whom you know, and lawyers may want to protect that power to the greatest extent possible. To change the settings, click on your name/icon in the upper right corner; on the dropdown menu, choose “Settings & Privacy”; on the left menu bar, select “Visibility of your profile and network,” then scroll down to “Who can see your connections” and, based on your privacy preference, select “Only you” or “Your connections.”

 4.       Best Practices to Maximize Your Network, Contacts, and Connections on LinkedIn:

a.    As a rule, when sending invitations to connect to a person on LinkedIn, unless you know the person well, the chances of your connection request being accepted increase exponentially if you do NOT use LinkedIn’s default message to connect. Instead, take a minute to include a tailored message in the connection request. How? Mention a specific reason why you are inviting them to connect, such as “Dear Pete, since we are both in legal technology, would you like to connect on LinkedIn?,” or “Hi Alice, we met several years ago at the DRI Conference in Nashville. Would you like to connect on LinkedIn?”

b.    If you have not imported all your contacts from Outlook or a web-based email account like Gmail, you may want to consider doing so selectively. Once you upload all or some of your contacts to LinkedIn (do so by clicking on “My Network” [found on the upper toolbar, once you are logged in], then “Connections,” and then in the upper right corner click on “Manage synced and imported contacts” and follow the directions to upload your contacts), you can select each to connect to separately or select all to connect to at once. If you select all, LinkedIn automatically sends a generic connection request to each.

c.    To maximize “My Network,” on the left bar, click on “Teammates” and scroll though the list. If you are not already connected to every other professional in your firm/company on LinkedIn, consider doing so. One never knows where the next referral (or new client) will come from.

i.               Another way to see everyone employed by your firm/company on LinkedIn is to type your firm/company name in the LinkedIn search bar and you should be able to see and click on your firm/company’s LinkedIn page. On the right side will be a line that says, “See all ___ employees on LinkedIn.” Click on that and send a tailored connection request to all you know or even those you do not know.

a.    Your tailored connection message could read something like, “Dear Sarah, although we have not yet met, we both work at ____, so would you like to connect on LinkedIn? Please let me know if you would like to schedule a time to chat so we can learn about each other’s practices. Thank you. – NAME.”

           b.        You can do the same for your prior places of employment,                         charitable/pro bono entities, and all your alma maters (if the                entity/firm/company has a page on LinkedIn).

d.      Under “My Network,” you can also scroll down to the “People You May Know” section, which LinkedIn automatically populates with professionals you may know from the information in your profile and your connections. Select those with whom you may want to connect but insert a tailored connection message as described above.

These are just a few of the many best practices and tips that busy lawyers and other professionals can use to make the most of their time spent on LinkedIn in 30 minutes a week.

If you would like professional assistance to optimize your LinkedIn presence and connections, please contact me, Julie Savarino, the author of this article:

Email - Julie@BusDevInc.com,

Connect with/message me on LinkedIn,

Phone +1 (734) 276-1900

 

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