Hashtags have been an important way to expand reach and visibility on Twitter. And with LinkedIn and Facebook adding hashtag capabilities this year, hashtags are more important than ever.
Given that, we felt it was time to update our popular post from last year “The Top HR Twitter #Hashtags.” In that post, we provided two lists—created Oct. 16, 2012—of the top 25 hashtags among HR voices, one for a one-week time frame and the other for three months. This post includes lists—created July 22, 2013—for the same time frames.
We’ll get to the lists in just a moment. First, some quick background. To compile this list we used our SocialEars HR software to monitor the tweets of about 10,000 people actively tweeting on HR topics—this included influencers, media outlets, journalists, analysts, HR professionals, recruiters, consultants, etc.).
So, let’s take a look at those top hashtags. A note on the display: the number in parentheses is the ranking on the same list in 2012, while “NR” means the hashtag did not rank in the top 25 in last year’s list.
One Week
1. #HR (1)
2. #leadership (4)
3. #TChat (2)
4. #socialmedia (9)
5. #recruiting (24)
6. #business (18)
7. #HRBlogs (NR)
8. #shrm (21)
9. #marketing (19)
10. #career (NR)
11. #emplaw (NR)
12. #innovation (NR)
13. #ausbiz (NR)
14. #law (NR)
15. #bigdata (10)
16. #socbiz (16)
17. #cloud (22)
18. #management (25)
19. #legal (NR)
20. #technology (NR)
21. #diversity (NR)
22. #dthr (NR)
23. #sales (20)
24. #SAP (NR)
25. #employmentlaw (NR)
Notes:
1. #HR is still No. 1.
2. Biggest jump: #recruiting from No. 24 to No. 5. Also notable: #business from No. 18 to No. 6, #shrm from No. 21 to No. 8 and #marketing from No. 19 to No. 9.
Three Months
1. #HR (1)
2. #leadership (3)
3. #TChat (2)
4. #SHRM13 (NR)
5. #leadfromwithin (15)
6. #socialmedia (7)
7. #business (17)
8. #quote (8)
9. #bigdata (12)
10. #dthr (10)
11. #recruiting (NR)
12. #marketing (18)
13. #HRBlogs (NR)
14. #career (23)
15. #shrm (20)
16. #cloud (16)
17. #ausbiz (NR)
18. #management (24)
19. #innovation (NR)
20. #peopleskills (NR)
21. #socbiz (13)
22. #SAP (NR)
23. #diversity (NR)
24. #sales (21)
25. #sapphirenow (NR)
Notes:
1. Again, #HR keeps its spot at the top.
2. Biggest jump: #leadfromwithin from No. 15 to No. 5 and #business from No. 17 to No. 7.
3. Hashtags around popular conferences are often volatile in the rankings. A conference hashtag is used much more around the time of the conference. Since this list was generated not long after the SHRM 2013 conference, it’s not surprising to see #SHRM13 rank No. 4 after being unranked last year, as that list was generated in October.
#HR
Since #HR consistently ranks No. 1, does that mean you should use it in all your tweets and LinkedIn and Facebook comments?
No.
For two reasons.
1. #HR is used so heavily on Twitter that it can be hard for your tweets to get noticed.
2. It is best to use a variety of hashtags on multiple tweets at different times for a given piece of content you are promoting (we don’t recommend multiple LinkedIn and Facebook comments). So, you could use #HR on one tweet, but use other hashtags in others.
Final Thoughts
Smart hashtag usage can significantly impact the visibility of your tweets—and eventually likely will do the same for LinkedIn and Facebook comments.
One part of smart hashtag usage we haven’t mentioned is being topic specific. For example, the hashtags you use to promote content relating to background screening should be different than those used to promote content on big data in HR. Use software like SocialEars HR to find the long tail of suggested hashtags for your content topics.
And if any of those content topics fit the popular hashtags above, try them out. If you do, you’ll probably like your results.
Learn more about how SocialEars HR can help you get more visibility for your content with a demo.
Related Content:
– The Top HR Twitter #Hashtags
– 7 Tactics to Get More People to Read Your Content
– Twitter Tools: What the HR Influencers Use
