LinkedIn Groups provides businesses a place to connect with other members who are in the same niche or industry and share information, make connections, share content, post job vacancies and network.
As a member of LinkedIn, you can join up to 50 groups at a time. However, even though you can join up to 50 groups, this can spread you thin. It is much better to be active in just a few groups than to deplete your resources by trying to participate in too many.
LinkedIn Groups offers you the opportunity to connect and interact with other members, join discussions, share your knowledge and build influence, authority, and credibility in your industry, become a top influencer, expand your reach and find followers, and source information and increase your knowledge base.
However, it is important to remember that you shouldn’t use LinkedIn Groups to blatantly promote your products or services.
Joining a Group
One of the major advantages of joining a group on LinkedIn is that members appear in the search results of that particular group.
So, if you go to a group and click the number stating how many members the group has, you can see whether any of your connections are already members.
To find groups that you are interested in, you can click on the “Interests” tab on the top menu of your profile and then click on “Groups” in the drop down menu.
This will allow you to search groups based on keywords that you enter and start filtering and viewing the results. You can view “Open Groups” without joining but you can only view content of member only groups once you’ve joined.
There are over a million groups currently on LinkedIn so you can afford to be selective when choosing the groups you want to join.
Before joining, however, you need to make sure that you’ve worked out what your goals are. Are you looking to build connections and relationships or do you want to gain knowledge from key influencers, or establish yourself as a thought leader in your industry?
If your main goal is to drive traffic to your website or blog, then you need to look for groups that will allow you to post links.
When searching for groups you can view the descriptions of the group along with the group statistics. The group statistics will show you the number of members the group has, and the number of discussions and comments that have been made.
Joining smaller, lively groups with a lot of interaction may be more advantageous for you as opposed to joining larger ones with little activity. This is where quality can significantly outweigh quantity.
The demographics of the group are also important. It might be a huge waste of time joining a group where most of its members are international if you are running a local business. Taking a look at the group’s activity feed can help you see whether the group is relevant to you and whether you think you might be able to contribute in some way.
After you’ve made your selection and joined a group or two, you can introduce yourself and start commenting and joining in on the discussions. If you are looking to build influence then you need to stay active and engage with the other members and contribute to the discussions taking place.
LinkedIn keeps track of the interactions that take place in groups and appoints ‘The Top Influencers of the Week.’ You can view this list at the top right of the group page to see who have contributed and participated in discussions and liked and commented the most.
This is a tremendous opportunity for your business to gain exposure and for your brand if you are appointed to the list.
LinkedIn Discussions
Discussions on LinkedIn are a great way to communicate with others in your niche and build connections with like-minded individuals. To start a discussion in your group, hit the ‘Discussions’ link at the top of the group page and add a title and description for your discussion.
You can add an article or ask a question. You also have the ability to post relevant content with a link to your company page, website or blog. You should also check to see if your group has a special section for adding promotions and jobs.
You can participate in discussions by liking and commenting on the discussion and you can also follow a particular discussion and receive updates anytime someone comments on the post.
The Benefits of Starting Your Own Group
If you are unable to find a group that meets your needs, you might want to consider starting your own LinkedIn Group. Creating your own group has a multitude of benefits, especially if you are a company focused on B2B sales.
Raises Your Profile
When you create a group on LinkedIn, your name, as the creator, will be clearly featured as the owner of the group. Being able to successfully run a group will help you to be seen as a thought leader in your industry.
The more you contribute to the group personally, by interacting with its members and offering valuable content, the more you will build your credibility and be considered an expert in your niche.
Lets You Send Weekly Emails
As a creator of a LinkedIn group, you are afforded the ability to send emails to your members every week. This provides a great opportunity to gain attention by sending your members the links to your top quality content relating to the group subject matter.
Drives Traffic to Your Website
There are a few ways that you can use your LinkedIn group to drive traffic to your website or blog.
• Add your URL to the group profile to gain more exposure.
• Include your URL in the welcome message that you send to the group.
• Include your URL when you send valuable content to your
members in your weekly email.
• Create discussions within the group and including your URL.
Creates Community
People love to be part of a community and join with like mined people and engage in discussions. If you are the creator of a thriving group on LinkedIn, you can bring people together and help them make connections. This will create trust with your members and good will toward you and your brand.
Expand Your Personal Network
Creating a group on LinkedIn is a great way to build connections with others. If your group is active then members are going to want to connect with you because you are the authority and you are likely to receive numerous invitations to connect with other LinkedIn members.
Generate Leads and Sales
When you send out your initial welcome email and thank people for joining your group, you can include details and benefits of joining the group and provide a brief background and description of you and your business.
You can also invite them to join your newsletter or invite them to connect with you on your other social networks.
LinkedIn groups is a great way to become active on the social networking platform and can help you get connected with potential customers and other thought leaders in your industry.
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