LinkedIn groups contain pockets of users who will have similar interests, fields and professions. But, what makes them useful to you and why should you even use LinkedIn groups?
Joining a LinkedIn Group
What should you look for when joining a LinkedIn group? The audience, the content or the engagement? Well all three of these really, but the last is important. If a group doesn’t have a lot of engagement and you notice one or two of the same people posting you may have joined an abandoned group.
The Content Is Targeted
If you’re looking to learn more about your prospects, joining a group dedicated to their profession will be a great way to learn more about them. The content that will be shared will give an insight into what they’re working on, the challenges and what they are searching for in order to overcome those challenges. Make sure any content that you share on these LinkedIn groups are value driven and never sales driven, as you could get kicked out of these groups straight away for taking advantage of their audience.
Building Your Audience
Building your own LinkedIn group of prospects, connections and businesses will give you a captive audience of people looking for your content. If the content is informative and valuable enough your group will be shared and grow. Giving you the best opportunity to market yourself and your business daily. If you flood your group with sales posts you will find it hard to grow. Your group needs to be valuable and you need to drive engagement. Groups with very little user engagement may as well be company pages. Ask questions, inspire collaboration and get recommendations. Grow and thrive together whilst marketing along the way. That’s what makes having your own LinkedIn group such a powerful tool.
Why Not Facebook Groups?
A lot of research into social selling and getting clients online points to Facebook groups. The same principles applied above can be attached to Facebook groups. You can build a captive audience with targeted content and build your brand. The key difference is the traction and information you get form building your group on LinkedIn vs Facebook. LinkedIn profiles offer more refined and relevant information for your prospecting activities. They can have private profiles, just like Facebook, but not many use this feature as users on LinkedIn themselves are looking to grow their own network.
In short, LinkedIn groups are a great way to build a community of your fans and showcase your content to them in a space you’ve created.