A resource you can use with LinkedIn, to help you get into medical writing
LinkedIn hashtags you should follow
Contents
- What is a hashtag on LinkedIn?
- Where can I find hashtags on LinkedIn and how do I follow a hashtag?
- What happens when I follow a hashtag on LinkedIn?
- Which hashtags should I follow on LinkedIn?
1. What is a hashtag on LinkedIn?
A hashtag is this symbol #
When you type # and a word straight after it, the hashtag becomes a link to your post.
For example, #medicalwriter
Hashtag words are created by people on LinkedIn, simply by typing them on LinkedIn posts.
When that hashtag is used by someone, anyone following that hashtag will be able to see the post.
A hashtag on a LinkedIn post looks like this:
2. Where can I find hashtags on LinkedIn and how do I follow a hashtag?
Before you can follow a hashtag, you need to find out if it exists, and you can do this in 2 ways.
First, you can look at people’s posts and click the blue hashtag text. For example:
Then you will see this big # at the top of the page, and you can click the blue follow button:
You’ll also notice the number of followers the hashtag has.
Here there are 796 people following #medicalwriter
This is how many people you will reach if you use the hashtag in a post on LinkedIn.
Second, you can search for the hashtag by typing it in the search bar like this:
There is no need to press enter after you type it in the search bar.
Click it as soon as you see it on the white list above.
Then you will see this, where you can click follow:
If you do press enter after you search for a hashtag in the search bar, you will get a list of posts that have used that hashtag. And it won’t take you to the nice follow button!
3. What happens when I follow a hashtag on LinkedIn?
When you follow a hashtag on LinkedIn, you will see posts written by people who use that hashtag. This means you can discover people who are interested in the same hashtag as you, including recruiters!
You can also think about reaching out and connecting with them.
If you don’t want to see posts with that hashtag anymore, you can unfollow a hashtag by clicking the blue following button:
4. Which hashtags should I follow on LinkedIn?
When it comes to which hashtags you should follow on LinkedIn, you need to think about:
- Who is likely to use that hashtag?
- What information you are interested in seeing?
- Are a lot of people following that hashtag?
So will the hashtag be used by a recruiter, other writers you can learn from or people that post resources? If the answer is yes, then it’s probably a good idea to follow it.
You might want to see information about networking, or specific companies. For example, if you want to work at a company like Pfizer, you might follow #Pfizer
Generally, you shouldn’t worry about how many people follow a hashtag, but it might give you an idea of how popular that topic is. If there are a few people following a hashtag, it means the audience is quite specific and they have a particular interest. This could make it more popular for use, for example, by recruiters.
When a hashtag is made up of more than one word, it makes it more specific for the audience too. For example, #writing could mean all types of writing, and it might not be that useful to follow. However, #medicalwriting is much more specific and the people that post about this topic might share experiences, jobs or resources that you might be interested in.
Here is a list of hashtags you might want to follow on LinkedIn if you are thinking about getting into medical writing:
| #medicalwriter #medicalwriters #medicalwriting #healthwriter #patientcommunication | #medcom #medcomms #medicalcommunications #medcommsjobs #healthcareagency | #regulatorywriting #medicaldeviceregulation #clinicalwriter #scientificwriter #medicaleducation |
Of course there will be new hashtags that you see people post on LinkedIn, or those that have just been created! Be sure to click on any you find interesting and follow them to see what comes up!
You can follow as many hashtags as you like, good luck 😊
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Virginia Chachati 