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Audio Transcript:

Here’s your social selling tip of the day for February 22, 2020. I’m Greg Hyer of Linking into Sales.

You’ve seen them used on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Google+ and now LinkedIn. Hashtags are a way to categorize status updates and make them easier to find when searching for a specific topic. When you use a hashtag in an update it is immediately visible to anyone clicking on it to see who else has something interesting to say or connect with.

On Twitter, hashtags are helpful to find people talking about a specific topic. Broadcast media has been showing a show’s hashtag in the bottom corner of the screen for the past few years. Show hosts encourage viewers to participate in the conversation using a hashtag. Businesses will use hashtags to host what’s called a Twitter Chat. These are scheduled events that people can participate in by including the hashtag in their tweets. Usually participants are asking and answering questions about a specific subject.

In LinkedIn’s most recent desktop UI update, they have added support for hashtags. Now both the mobile and desktop experience support hashtags. While you can’t host a chat on LinkedIn the same way you can on Twitter, hashtags can be helpful for getting your updates in front of people with an interest in that topic. If you flip the perspective, now you can find people on LinkedIn that are actively engaging in a conversation on that subject. This makes prospecting a little easier.

Try searching for a hashtag on LinkedIn. In the search bar enter #ILovePuppies. Who comes up in your results?

LinkedIn will first show you who has that hashtag in their LinkedIn profile. As you move across the results bar you can select if you want to see Jobs, Posts, Companies, Groups and Schools that are using that hashtag.

Now, go to your LinkedIn profile and add a hashtag to the bottom of your summary section and click save. Use something unique like #IHuntZombies or #VoteForGreg. Now, go back to the search bar and enter that hashtag. What’s in the results?

Let’s think about that for a moment. How else can you use this tip to gain visibility? Need a little help? Try putting the hashtag for the next conference you’re attending in your profile. Let me know if that drives up profile views and get’s you a few new connections.

That does it for this social selling tip of the day. In addition to this daily tip, check out the Social Selling Podcast by Linking into Sales on iTunes, Google Play Music, Stitcher, YouTube and Tunein. You can even ask Alexa to play the Social Selling Podcast by Linking into Sales.

If you want to check out any of my other social selling tips, visit LinkingIntoSales.com/alexa to listen to each tip or read the transcript. And for social selling training on-demand visit SocialSelling.Training.

This is Greg Hyer. Let’s Start Linking into Sales!