How to Make the Most of LinkedIn Groups

Are you a member of a LinkedIn group? Do you spend time networking in LinkedIn groups? LinkedIn groups are great way to build credibility and make new connections that can ultimately help grow your business.


You can join up to 50 LinkedIn groups. However, it’s difficult to gain traction in 50 groups as well as find the time to participate in that many. I recommend that you go ahead and join up to 50 groups, but select 5-10 groups to spend your time on in order to get the most benefit out of your participation.


With over 1.5 million LinkedIn Groups, it can be difficult to find relevant groups and determine which ones might be the best for you to join. It is also important to find groups that are well-managed. Unfortunately there are many LinkedIn groups that are not well-managed and that makes the experience within these groups less than optimal. Not to worry, I’m going to give you some insights on how to find the quality groups.


Below are 5 tips for maximizing your LinkedIn groups experience.
#1) Use LinkedIn Search to Find Relevant Groups to Join


In case you haven’t noticed, LinkedIn search has been significantly enhanced. This includes the ability to search for relevant groups (based on your network) and it also includes the ability to search for discussion topics within open groups!


To start with, search for groups using keywords that would be a natural fit for you based on your geographical location, industry, prospects, alumni, community/charity organizations, hobbies and interests. Try searching LinkedIn Groups with the keywords that actually describe your natural affinities. For example, type in the name of the college you attended to find potential alumni groups that exist on LinkedIn.


You can also take advantage of Boolean search operators for smarter searches on LinkedIn. (I recently discovered this Tip Sheet on Boolean Search from LinkedIn Corporate Solutions). To locate a LinkedIn Group that was in my geographical location and my industry, I searched LinkedIn Groups using the Boolean Search Operator “AND” for the keywords (social media AND Dallas). LinkedIn showed me 25 results of groups based in Dallas AND focused on social media!


Another interesting finding was when I typed the word “hiking” into LinkedIn Group search, I found a group with over 1000 members who share this passion. There is no better way to start relationships than connecting around a common passion or interest!


For each LinkedIn Group that is displayed in search results, you have the option to view members in your network who belong to the group as well as “similar groups”.


You can even reach out to your LinkedIn connections and ask them what they think about the groups that they belong to. This gives you a solid reason to reach out and connect with your network.


LinkedIn group search is extremely powerful for discovering the right groups to join.
#2) Review the “Groups You May Like” Suggestions from LinkedIn


The easiest way to navigate to the “Groups You May Like” feature is through your to navigation menu bar under “Groups”. There you will see these options. (The Groups Directory option is the primary search area for LinkedIn Groups)


When you click on the “Groups You May Like” feature, LinkedIn will list suggested groups for you to check out based on your network connections, profile information, skills and expertise, and existing group memberships. (You may also notice some groups (or subgroups) on this list that you already belong to.
#3) Evaluate the Quality of a LinkedIn Group


How do you know if the LinkedIn group you are interested in joining is going to be a well run, quality group?


In some cases, you may just have to join the group and spend some time there to make that determination. However, here are a few ways to evaluate the group for quality:


Is this LinkedIn Group a Quality Group?


-Who is the group manager, and are they engaged and visible?


-What are the group rules? (hint: if the group rules don’t exist or they are not well written, chances are the group is not well-managed)


-Do a good majority of the discussions involve questions and dialogue?


-Are there lots and lots of promotional links or an abundance of “self-promotion”?


-Are the top influencers in the group credible?


-Is the group manager among the top influencers?


In a well-managed group, you are going to most likely see a manager who is visible throughout the discussions and a strong set of rules.


The quantity of membership and the activity level of a group aren’t always correlated to whether or not the group a quality group. I’ve seen some very large groups that are very well-managed and some very small groups that aren’t managed at all!


Be sure to evaluate the stats of the LinkedIn group you are interested in as well. There you can learn more about member demographics, activity, how long the group has been around, and more.
#4) Consider Joining Corporate Sponsored Groups


There are a number of corporate sponsored groups popping up on LinkedIn. This is where LinkedIn has officially partnered with brands or corporations to help them build robust groups. Within each of these groups, the organization can drive member visits and discussion participation while also controlling the ad display space within the group site.


Examples of these corporate LinkedIn Groups include: Intuit (small business group), Citi (Professional women’s network), Staples (small business network), and Capital One (Business traveler network).


What I love about corporate sponsored groups on LinkedIn is that they are very well-managed. The discussions tend to be in-depth with rich dialogue amongst members. These brands/corporations have a vested interest in making their groups successful, and in every case there are dedicated group managers in place who facilitate the dialogue and keep the groups spam-free.


I have found as a member of several of the groups listed above that the discussion questions submitted weekly (and delivered via email) by these group managers are intriguing and enticing. They make you want to jump right in and give your own insights and opinions!


If you run your own LinkedIn group or you’re thinking about starting one, you could learn some terrific strategies as a member of these corporate sponsored groups.
#5) Adhere to LinkedIn Group Participation Best Practices


In order to make LinkedIn Groups serve as authentic forums for discussions and dialogue, we can all do our part to maintain the integrity of the groups we belong to. This will make the LinkedIn Group experience better for everyone.


Additionally LinkedIn is doing its part by helping group managers fight promotional posts. If you are thinking about posting a discussion that contains the words me, my, or I, don’t count on it showing up. Most likely it will end up under the “promotions” tab where it’s highly unlikely that anyone will see it.


In order to successfully build influence in LinkedIn groups, your best bet is to authentically engage in discussions and contribute value-added insights.


Below are some best practices to remember as you find the right groups to join and start engaging with members:


-don’t just drop into groups and promote your products or services


-don’t auto-post your blog articles into LinkedIn groups (Instead, provide links to reputable sources of information within the context of discussions that can help members. This can include your blog articles if they truly serve that purpose.)


-ask questions and provide thoughtful answers


-contribute to ongoing discussions and new discussions consistently


-share meaningful, helpful, interesting, and reputable content


-send invites to connect with mutual group members only after you’ve spent some time participating in the group (Ideally the best time to send the invitation is when you’ve interacted with members in a discussion!)


I hope that these tips will help you make the most of your LinkedIn groups experience. LinkedIn groups provide an amazing opportunity to position yourself as a thought leader and an influencer. If you lead by example with your participation, others will follow.


Are you spending time in LinkedIn groups? How do you find the right groups to join? What are your thoughts about the value of LinkedIn groups? Leave your comments below.

Social Media Users – 10 Secrets of the Best Social Media Users

If you’re still waiting to see if social media marketing is worth your time, I have one question for you, what are you waiting for? Forget about all of the talk predicting social media marketing is going to play a big role in the future; it already is.
Forward-thinking web development companies are using social media to gain invaluable connections with their audience and to increase their online visibility. And they’re reaping the benefits of their marketing efforts.
Authority, inbound links, visibility, and trust are just a few of the things active online brands are earning through this form of marketing. So, are you ready to jump aboard the social media train? Here are 10 steps to creating a successful social media marketing strategy.
1. Do Your Research- Every successful marketing strategy is based on good research. You can’t just blindly go to a social media site to submit your content and expect immediate success. You need to find social media sites that fit your niche. For example, if you’re trying to promote your medical business, you should find sites where health related articles tend to be popular.
2. Interact with the Community- The biggest rookie mistake in social media marketing is to completely ignore the community. It’s called social media for a reason. Take advantage of the social platform by interacting with the community. The closer you become with community members, the more likely it is that they’ll help promote your content.
3. Write for Your Audience- This is Writing 101, but many people tend to ignore it. If you want your content to go hot, it has to be tailored toward the audience on the social media site. When you’re interacting with the community, get to know their likes and dislikes. Also, take note of what type of stories tend to get the most attention. You’ll see patterns develop in the types of themes and content that consistently go hot.
4. Be Relevant- Relevance is the key to social media marketing. Don’t believe me? Just go to the front page of Digg or any other social site. The vast majority of the top content is related to late-breaking news. Be the first to break a story in your industry; or, give your unique insight on a hot news item.
5. Keep it Short- Internet users don’t like reading long passages of text. They tend to scan online content rather than taking the time to fully read it. For this reason, you need to accommodate their reading habits by keeping your content short and easy to scan. Brief paragraphs and bold, descriptive headings are great ways to make your content more scanner-friendly.
6. Focus on Design- When users come to your page to read your content, are they greeted with a clean, welcoming website design? If not, they might just turn around and leave your site. Remember, it’s not just enough to have great content; how you present it is important as well. Use a design scheme that’s easy on the eyes and that assists the reader in scanning the content.
7. Stop Trying to Sell- Another social media marketing rookie mistake is to constantly try to sell your products. Sure, the ultimate goal of marketing is to promote your brand, but you’ll never gain any respect on these networks if you’re constantly pimping out your products. Instead, contribute useful content that the community can learn from.
8. Create Great Headlines- I don’t care if your article is good enough to be the cover story in Time Magazine. If it doesn’t have a great title, it won’t get any attention on these sites. Think about it- thousands of users are submitting content to these sites all day long. What makes someone click on a post to read more? An eye-catching title.
9. Help Out Others- This goes back to #2 and #7. If you want to become a top user on a certain social media site, you have to help others out. Don’t just submit and promote your own content. Find useful articles from different sources that your audience will enjoy. By promoting content that’s not yours, the community will begin to see you as a great resource for relevant information.
10. Convert Hot Content- One mistake many social media marketers make is to not capitalize on hot content. If you’re fortunate enough to have a piece rise to the top, you need to make that attention last. How can you do this? By creating another great post to follow the hot one. That way, when visitors come to your site to read the popular post, they’ll see you have new content. Ride that wave as long as you can!
The bottom line with social media marketing is there are no shortcuts to success. If you put in the time and effort, your brand will experience numerous benefits. Set realistic goals for your marketing campaign, and stick with it to the end.

How To Develop a Successful Social Media Campaign

If you’re at the beginning of your social media journey, your first question should always be about success. Anyone can throw together a social media campaign, or a campaign that uses social media – but very few people can do it successfully. In order to create a social media campaign that works (i.e. that sells and promotes), you need to know where to begin. Courtesy of make1kadaywithimmacc.blogspot.com Here is the basic social media campaign formula:Establish Brand – Gather Community – Interact, Sell, Promote. It looks simple, but it isn’t. People have problems at each step of this basic 3 step process. If your brand identity is wrong, you won’t gain a community or sell stuff – for example. Here is the right process to use when establishing a successful social media campaign.

#1: Research Until You ScreamAll great marketing campaigns are based on effective research. Know your target demographic intimately, what they want, need and are dying to learn about. Research your ideal budget, and investigate how much setting up a campaign is going to cost you. Figure out your time investment. Outline the supporting campaigns that will help fuel your social media marketing campaign – like Google Adwords. Before you begin, learn where you stand, and what’s on the horizon.

#2: Preparing Your Master PlanWhat makes your business different? How can you attract your target demographic and keep them interested? What should your brand identity be, or your writing tone? Use the research you have to answer as many pertinent questions as possible. Your master plan needs to clearly define your goals. This means knowing what you want to achieve, and then outlining a realistic plan to achieve it. Remember – failing to plan, is planning to fail! The most direct route to success is preparation, planning and research.

#3: Creating and Maintaining Awesome Content. The key to a successful social media campaign is getting the research and planning right, and then following through with consistent content creation and interaction. People respond to good content – that’s what you want! But the most important thing of course is sustainability. You need to grow your community and get them to interact. Any way you look at it, the more juicy content the better.

#4: Learning, Adapting, MonitoringThe battle is not over when you have your social media pages up and running. You need to learn all the time from the results that you get with your campaign. Use monitoring tools to track your progress, and review your campaign at the end of every month. The best campaigns are always evolving. As you learn more through application, your social media campaign will get better – especially if you’re a stickler for data analysis. Focus on developing closer relationships with your current community and others will follow. Don’t pour your efforts into growing your community just because you want to ‘look’ like a popular business. Every business is different. Yours might be perfect for Facebook, so focus your efforts there. Start with the basics – Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, a blog and a Youtube channel. If you can only manage 1 properly, stick with that for awhile. In the end, when your community grows, they’ll be begging for more!