In Part 3 of this series we explored the process of building your network of individual connections. With individual connections you are limited in that you can really only connect with your connections connections (if you see what I mean!) but what if you want to explore a new area or make contacts in a specific company where you have no way in through existing connections? This is where LinkedIn Groups come in. Used properly, Groups can be a powerful targeted marketing tool.

LinkedIn Groups

1. What is a LinkedIn Group?

Think of a LinkedIn group as a place where like minded people can hang out and discuss issues that matter to them. There are groups covering pretty much every discipline and subject you can think of. They also vary from the very broad (Digital Marketing) to very specific (Business Peak District – Open to anyone who does business in and around the Peak District National Park in the UK). In their broadest sense, they are discussion forums where people with a common interest can interact.

2. Are all groups good groups?

This is a difficult question to answer, but from a marketing perspective a good group is one where the people you wish to engage with congregate. Outside marketing, groups are also great places to discuss issue with peers from your industry. To assess whether a group will be good to join, the best place to start is the group statistics. These can be viewed by browsing to the group homepage, and clicking the ‘i’ icon in the top right corner: This will reveal a wide range of statistics relating to the group. Here are a few that are worth reviewing to decide whether its worth joining a group:

1. Size and growth – Although size isn’t everything, and certainly some of the more specialist groups will have relatively few members, a group with a lot of members is likely to be more useful.
2. Demographics – The stats will also tell you the type of people (job role, industry, location etc)- Obviously valuable information in assessing a groups relevance.
3. Location – Check out where most of the members are located as this can be a key factor in how useful the group is. Some groups are international while some are region-specific.

The key issue here is having a clear understanding of why you are joining the group, and what type of people you are trying to engage with. Reviewing the stats can go a long way towards establishing which groups are for you. The final thing to consider is how active the group is. This will be largely related to the size of the group, but given that the main aim of joining a LinkedIn group is to engage with people. the more activity there is within the group the more opportunities there are to engage.

3. How do I join?

Joining is simple. Simply go to the group homepage and click the “join” button. On clicking the Join button, if the group is open to all you will instantly become a member. However many groups are closed, and in these groups you have to be approved as a member by the group owner. This can take anything from a few minutes to a few months depending on how active the owner is in managing the group. In either case, you will receive an email when you are accepted as a member.

4. Okay, I’m a member, now what?

The first thing to do once you are a member is to keep an eye on the discussions that are going on. You can do this by regularly logging onto LinkedIn and reviewing the discussions. Alternatively if you sign up to group emails, you will get new discussions emailed to you either as they happen or as a daily, or weekly, digest. If you have joined the right groups, you should start to see discussions where you have something to add; and away you go….

5. Remember: No selling!

There are a few things to remeber when engaging with LinkedIn groups, and the first and most important is NO SELLING. If all of your input is blatant promotion, you are going to annoy people very quickly! The key is to remember why you are here. “You are an expert in your field, and you want to pass on some of your expertise and opinion”. Interactions with LinkedIn groups should be about sharing your knowledge, and demonstrating your expertise in a helpful and informative way, and ultimately to raise you profile, and engage with people in your marketplace.

6. Engage with your connections

LinkedIn is all about building a network of connections, and Groups allow you to build this network outside the scope of your immediate contacts. Once you are in a group, you can invite other members to link with you directly, and the more engagement you have had with them within the group, the more likely they are to accept your invitation, so get out there, join a few groups and get involved in some discussions. As previously in this series, I deliberately haven’t gone into a lot of detail on ‘How?’ in the above. My aim was to give you some ideas and food for thought. If you want more detail on the hows or more insight into using LinkedIn, as always feel free to get in touch. Alternatively, a web search on any of the above will turn up many pages of advice!