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Create Business Value with LinkedIn Groups

I love my LinkedIn Groups. They are rich with knowledge, ideas, discussions and smart people who love to share. My LinkedIn Groups create business value for me. How about you?

LinkedIn Groups as a Business Tool

Creating meaningful value on LinkedIn requires three very deliberate steps:

  1. Build a LinkedIn Profile
  2. Growing your LinkedIn Network
  3. Engage with your Most Important Viewer

LinkedIn Groups are an OK place to Engage. (my opinion as of 9/2018)

You can be a member of up to 100 LinkedIn Groups. This is a huge number for most people. I encourage you to join only as many as you can effectively participate in on at least a monthly basis.

Most LinkedIn members fall into one of four categories using LinkedIn Groups:

  1. Yeah, I’m in a LinkedIn Group. All done.
  2. Yeah boss, I joined that LinkedIn Group and I shared marketing’s article.
  3. Dang right I’m in that LinkedIn Group. I posted there every few hours until something broke and I can’t post anymore. Oh well, I’ll find another group to SPAM.
  4. I use the LinkedIn Groups I am in. I learn, I share and I make some cool connections.

I prefer to be in the fourth category.

The following four tips help me to get measurable business value from my LinkedIn Groups and if used properly, you can too:

Tip#1 – Join LinkedIn Groups that are relevant & of interest to you.

If you are in the Healthcare industry, likely LinkedIn Groups related to healthcare will be where you meet your peers and share ideas that can help each other.

If you are interested in local economic development issues a local group where these topics are discussed would be a good LinkedIn Group for you.

Tip #2 – Join LinkedIn Groups with your primary target audience.

Too often I see LinkedIn members only in industry groups with other industry experts. You need to join groups where your target audience is. Maybe more local groups, entrepreneurial groups, leadership groups, etc. Look at the LinkedIn Groups your primary customers are in. These may be good LinkedIn Groups for you to join and engage in.

Tip #3 – Get Involved in LinkedIn Groups.

If you are going to get value from the groups you are in, you’ll need to Contribute & Collaborate.

Contribute – bring a good conversation to the group. Maybe a relevant article you found online. Maybe a TedX Video or YouTube video you found interesting and relevant to the group. Maybe your own article as long as it’s all about the primary purpose of the group and not about you.

Collaborate – jump into conversations where you can add value through supporting discussion or a different perspective of the topic being discussed.

Tip #4 – If you’re not getting value from a LinkedIn Group, get out.

As of today (9/21/18) there are 1,863,870 LinkedIn Groups. Across all types of subjects. You need to pick your groups carefully and evaluate them for value. There are three reasons a group may not be for you:

  1. It’s a dead group with no activity.
  2. It’s not being managed well and is overrun with jobs and promotions.
  3. The members and discussions are not relevant to you.

You have to review LinkedIn Group members and the discussion topics to determine if this is a good LinkedIn Group for you to invest time in.

I love my LinkedIn Groups.

Because I strive to join groups that are relevant and of interest to me, have the right mix of members and discussions and I work to engage in them on a regular basis.

If you are not getting value from LinkedIn Groups maybe we need to talk about your LinkedIn Strategy. Reach out to me and let’s talk.

LinkedIn Groups Rock!

Teddy

 

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