How to use LinkedIn hashtag analytics to boost content reach

With over a billion members in 200+ countries and territories worldwide, LinkedIn is one of the most popular social media platforms for brands looking to reach a professional audience.

But with millions of posts flooding users’ feeds daily, how do you make sure your content gets noticed? Hashtags are the answer. LinkedIn hashtags are searchable, which increases your content’s reach and gets your posts in front of more of the right people.

In this article, we’ll dive into why hashtags matter, how they increase your brand’s visibility and how to use LinkedIn hashtag analytics to add fuel to the fire of your LinkedIn marketing strategy.

What are LinkedIn hashtag analytics?

LinkedIn hashtag analytics reveal how popular specific hashtags are on the platform and how they impact content performance.

For example, hashtag analytics offer insight into how many people see your posts because of the hashtags you use, which hashtags get the most traction and how much engagement your posts get because of those hashtags. Understanding the data behind your hashtag strategy supports you in fine-tuning your content to reach more of your target audience.

Why tracking LinkedIn hashtag analytics is important

On LinkedIn, 40% of users organically engage with a page weekly, making it an excellent choice for brands that want to get noticed without paid promotion. Adding LinkedIn hashtags to your organic content supports it in reaching an even broader audience, but you need to be strategic to make the most of them. This is where LinkedIn hashtag analytics come into play.

LinkedIn hashtag analytics deliver measurable business impact through four key areas:

• Performance identification: Discover which hashtags consistently drive engagement and reach
• Brand alignment: Find hashtags that complement your brand messaging and audience
• Sentiment tracking: Monitor how your hashtag usage affects audience perception
• Competitive intelligence: Analyze competitor hashtag strategies to identify opportunities

Identify the best hashtags for your brand

Have you noticed that a particular hashtag has a high follower count and consistently drives engagement on your brand’s posts? Those are good signs that you should keep using it. Analyzing these metrics over time will allow you to pinpoint the exact keywords and phrases that resonate the most with your audience.

Understand which hashtags compliment your brand

Prioritize relevancy over popularity to reach the people most interested in what you’re sharing. For example, suppose you’re a social media marketer at a B2B marketing software brand for small businesses. You would opt for the more specific #smallbusiness hashtag over the general #marketing. Picking the more relevant hashtag supports you in cutting through the noise to speak directly to your ideal customers.

Subscription design service Superside recently used this approach for a LinkedIn post promoting an upcoming webinar, using very niche hashtags like #aitutorial and #3dmoviestylecharacter with a broader but still targeted hashtag #characterdesign, which has over 14,000 followers.

Track the sentiment for certain hashtags

A solid social media strategy also tracks how people feel about the content you’re putting out. Monitor what hashtags drive more positive or negative engagement to ensure your content hits the right notes.

For example, creating a Listening Topic in Sprout Social supports your analysis of the topic’s most common keywords and hashtags and lets you see a breakdown by sentiment for related keywords and hashtags.

Monitor your competitors

Incorporating hashtag analysis into your competitive monitoring supports the optimization of your social media strategy by staying competitive and increasing your share of voice more relevantly. For example, if competitor posts with specific hashtags consistently get high engagement, that’s an indicator that those hashtags are hitting the mark with their audience and you should start incorporating those or similar keywords into your content.

Sprout Social’s Listening solutions make this process easy. They support you in gathering key metrics like volume, engagement, likes and impression breakdowns for specific competitor hashtags or a broader overview of your competitors’ top hashtags.

How to generate LinkedIn hashtag analytics

Not all social media analytics are created equal. Knowing how to generate this data will make all the difference in maximizing your post reach and engagement. From leveraging built-in LinkedIn tools to browser extensions to third-party social media management platforms, here are the primary methods for generating LinkedIn hashtag analytics.

Use the native LinkedIn hashtag analytics

LinkedIn offers follower count numbers for all hashtags. To see how many followers a hashtag has, use this URL formula:

https://www.linkedin.com/feed/hashtag/keyword

For example, if you wanted to see the follower count for #socialmediamarketing, you would enter the following URL into your web browser:

https://www.linkedin.com/feed/hashtag/socialmediamarketing

The follower count will be displayed prominently at the top of the page. It’s not the most efficient system, but this method will show you the popularity of specific hashtags. From there, make a shortlist of industry-specific hashtags and test them to see how they affect performance.

Use a LinkedIn hashtags analytics extension

Hashtag Analytics is a free Google Chrome extension by Engage AI. The tool allows you to check hashtag follower counts directly on LinkedIn, get real-time insights while scrolling through your feed and get hashtag suggestions as you write your posts.

It also offers additional data like hashtag follower growth over time, the maximum number of likes and comments based on the top 20 recent posts and the total reach of a post after incorporating hashtags.

To start exploring hashtags, add the extension to Chrome, log into LinkedIn and access the tool icon in your browser.

Use a third-party social media scheduling tool

Creating a tag for different hashtags in Sprout Social will enable you to track how each one performs in engagement, reach and clicks across your posts. Say, for instance, you work for a virtual event software company and want to compare posts with #eventprofs to ones with #eventtech.

A LinkedIn tool supports you in creating a tag for each hashtag, which allows you to generate Tag Performance Reports that provide metrics like impressions, engagements, engagement rate (per impression) and top posts. This data supports the refinement of your social media strategy and drives more meaningful engagements with your target audience.

LinkedIn hashtag research tools and strategies

Your hashtag research deserves more than guesswork. The right tools transform scattered data into strategic advantage.

 

Tool Type	Key Features	Best For	Limitations
Native LinkedIn	Follower counts, recent posts	Basic hashtag popularity research	Manual process, limited metrics
Browser Extensions	Real-time insights, follower growth	Quick analysis while browsing	Surface-level data only
Social Media Management Platforms	Performance tracking, sentiment analysis, competitive intelligence	Comprehensive strategy development	Requires platform investment

For comprehensive hashtag analytics that drive business results, you need a social media management platform.

Sprout Social’s analytics tools allow you to track hashtag performance over time, measure engagement and connect hashtag use to real business outcomes.

This level of advanced analytics moves you from guessing to knowing. You’ll uncover which hashtags drive your brand’s share of voice and gain critical intelligence on your competitors’ strategies. With Sprout Social’s tagging capabilities, you can organize your hashtags by campaign, content theme or business objective. Then, analyze each category’s performance with presentation-ready reports that executives understand.

Building a data-driven LinkedIn hashtag strategy

Random hashtags won’t cut it. Your hashtag strategy needs structure.

Group your hashtags into three strategic categories:

• Industry hashtags: Broad tags like #marketing or #socialmedia that tap into larger professional conversations
• Niche hashtags: Specific tags like #B2Bmarketing or #socialmediaROI that speak directly to your target audience
• Branded hashtags: Brand-specific tags that track conversations about your brand and campaigns

Don’t just chase high follower counts. A mix of popular and niche hashtags is the most effective approach. Popular tags increase visibility, while niche tags attract a more qualified and engaged audience who are predisposed to care about what you’re sharing.

Create specific hashtag sets for different campaigns, product lines or content themes. Tracking the performance of these sets in Sprout Social reveals what resonates, allowing you to continuously refine your strategy for maximum impact.

Balance is everything—too many general hashtags drown you in noise and too many niche hashtags limit your reach. The sweet spot exists where relevance meets scale. Your analytics will show you exactly where that is for your brand.

LinkedIn hashtag best practices for maximum reach

Precision beats volume every time.

Follow these proven LinkedIn hashtag best practices:

• Optimal quantity: Use 3-5 highly relevant hashtags per post—LinkedIn’s official recommendation for maximum targeted reach
• Strategic placement: Position hashtags at the end of your post to maintain message clarity while maximizing discovery
• Quality research: Verify each hashtag aligns with your brand values and attracts your target audience, not just high follower counts
• Spam avoidance: Avoid banned or flagged hashtags that suppress your content’s visibility
• Cross-platform coordination: Use Sprout Social’s reporting to align your LinkedIn hashtags with your broader social strategy
• Continuous testing: Set up regular reporting cadences to review hashtag performance and adjust based on data, not assumptions

Never worry about making the wrong move when you’re armed with comprehensive hashtag analytics. The brands that win on LinkedIn treat hashtag data as a strategic asset that informs every content decision.

Maximizing your LinkedIn hashtag analytics

Hashtags aren’t magic – but they’re powerful when used strategically.

The difference between content that gets lost and content that gets seen often comes down to your hashtag approach. When you monitor your hashtag analytics, you’re not just tracking numbers. You’re uncovering patterns that reveal exactly how to maximize your LinkedIn content efforts.

Your hashtag strategy should evolve with your business goals. As you expand into new markets, launch new products or shift your messaging, your hashtags need to shift with you. The brands that win on LinkedIn are the ones that treat hashtag analytics as a strategic asset, not an afterthought.

Of course, hashtags are just one feature that affects content performance. If you want to dive even deeper into the world of LinkedIn performance data and learn more about the best platforms to track metrics, check out our roundup of the top LinkedIn analytics tools on the market.

Transform your LinkedIn hashtag strategy from guesswork to data-driven results. Start your free Sprout Social trial to access advanced hashtag analytics, competitor intelligence and performance tracking that proves your social media ROI to executives.

Frequently asked questions about LinkedIn hashtag analytics

How many hashtags should I use on LinkedIn posts?

LinkedIn recommends 3-5 relevant hashtags per post for maximum targeted reach without appearing spammy.

What's the difference between hashtag followers and actual reach?

Followers are users subscribed to a hashtag’s feed, while reach represents actual unique viewers of your post through all discovery methods.

Can I track my competitors' hashtag performance?

Yes, tools like Sprout Social’s Listening track competitor hashtag usage, engagement rates and share of voice to identify strategic opportunities.

How often should I analyze my LinkedIn hashtag metrics?

Review hashtag analytics monthly for trend identification, or weekly during active campaigns for timely optimization.

Do LinkedIn hashtag analytics work the same way as other platforms?

No, LinkedIn users engage with hashtags for professional education and industry trends, requiring relevance-focused strategies over viral content approaches.