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The Best Way To Get Started With LinkedIn Groups

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LinkedIn is one of the most impressive tools for building your brand, in large part because of the groups feature. If you use it correctly, this feature provides a highly efficient and powerful way to build and nurture your professional network.  Here’s the seven-step process to launching LinkedIn groups:

1. First, know your brand. You will waste your time if you start engaging in groups without a clear message and strategy. It all starts with figuring out who your target audience is so you can find the right groups. In addition to identifying the decision makers and influencers who will impact your success, you need to get clear about your brand differentiation and your point-of-view. Here’s a link to my simple yet powerful 3-step personal branding process from an earlier post. Understanding your brand is critical if you want to be effective in using LinkedIn groups.

2. Choose the right groups. LinkedIn allows you to belong to 50 groups. Join groups related to different aspects of your life. This may include:

  • alumni (schools and previous companies),
  • thought-leadership (your area of expertise, industry and job function),
  • social causes (philanthropy, volunteer groups, etc.),
  • interests/passions,
  • local groups (the New York City Running Club, for example).

You want the right mix of groups to help showcase your brand. The groups you belong to not only allow you to increase your visibility and build relationships with others, they say something about your brand. When someone looks at the groups you’ve joined, they make a determination about who you are based on the company you keep.

3. Research. For each of the categories you chose in the previous step, research the potential groups. Type the appropriate keyword(s) in the search box at the top of the LinkedIn page and choose “Groups” from the drop-down (to the immediate left of the search box). Then briefly explore the groups provided in the search results by reading the descriptions.

Choose active groups that have a high number of discussions (this also indicates that the group members have a high level of engagement), paired with a high number of members who match your target audience. LinkedIn shows you the total number of members for each public group. This allows you to increase your visibility with a large yet targeted community of appropriate professionals.

4. Join and lurk. Join the groups that meet these criteria:

  • They have a high number of members who are in your target audience (it’s not always about quantity; if the ideal group for you has few members, but they are exactly “your people,” join if the group is active).
  • The members are active, adding content and comments regularly. Belonging to inactive groups is like attending a networking function where no one talks.
  • The content resonates with you. You are learning from the thought leadership and have an interest in sharing your own opinions and ideas.

For most groups, the group owner will have to accept you as a member before you will be allowed to enter into the group and the conversations. Once you’re accepted, you can begin communicating, but you don’t need to post content right away. Spend time understanding the culture of the group, discovering which members are most active, and finding out what makes the most engaging content. You can hang out in the background for a bit to acclimate yourself.

5. Get your profile in order. Group members will be checking you out once you post. When it comes to online branding, you are your LinkedIn profile – so make sure it reflects who you are in the real world. Pay particular attention to your Summary, which tells your story. Here’s the step-by-step approach to building a stellar summary.

6. Introduce yourself. After you join, it’s great to let people know who you are and that you are thrilled to become part of the conversation. Introduce yourself to the group and let them know why you are excited to be a part of their community. Other group members will likely reach out to you – and that will be a great opportunity to grow your relationships within the group.

7. Become an active member. Only after you have completed the previous six steps can you start to maximize the value of groups. In my next post, I will share ways to tap the potential of groups:

  • For personal branding – to promote your thought-leadership and express your point of view
  • To build and nurture your professional network
  • To expand your expertise and grow professionally by learning from your peers

Remember to make your profile relevant, authentic and accurate. Here's the first step: watch my recorded webinar on creating a compelling LinkedIn summary here.

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