Utilizing The Power of LinkedIn Groups

Importance of LinkedIn Groups

• LinkedIn Groups are a great way to connect and interact with others

who have similar interests and promote yourself to a targeted market

• Through a LinkedIn Group you have the potential of reaching a huge

number of people

• Group members will consist entirely of people interested in a particular

topic

• There are 2 ways of discovering the right LinkedIn Groups for you

• Similar to a telephone directory LinkedIn has a directory to search for

LinkedIn Groups

• Browse through LinkedIn Groups alphabetically to find the groups that

you are looking for

• http://www.linkedin.com/directory/groups/

Joining the Right LinkedIn Group

Joining the Right LinkedIn Group

• Search for Groups in the LinkedIn Search Field

• Type the keyword that you are looking for in the Search field.

• Select the Group filter on the right hand side of the window

• Browse through results for the required keyword.

Joining the Right LinkedIn Group

Joining the Right LinkedIn Group

Search Field Keyword

No. of Discussions

Group Filter No. of Members

•Things to look out for:

Number of Members

Number of Discussions initiated

For more insights visit the Group Statistics tab

• View Group Statistics to better understand the Group you are about to

join.

Look in the “Activity” section to determine how active a particular Group is

Joining the Right LinkedIn Group

Joining the Right LinkedIn Group

There should be a good ratio of comments to discussions – This shows that group members are responsive to discussions initiated. A comments to discussion ratio of 0.8 to 1 shows a highly active Group

Joining the Right LinkedIn Group

Discussions on LinkedIn Groups

You can initiate discussions on your own or respond to discussions

initiated by others -

Start a discussion with the group; doing this will post your discussion in the

“discussion” tab and will be visible to all group members. Members can

respond to your discussion by leaving a comment

Discussions on LinkedIn Groups

Leave a comment on a discussion initiated by others to take

part in the conversation or reply privately

Why is it important to take part in conversations on LinkedIn Groups?

- Leads from LinkedIn Groups

- Top Contributor

- Profile Views

- Building a network and Credibility

- Group Manager

Discussions on LinkedIn Groups

Why is it important to take part in conversations on LinkedIn Groups?

Discussion Initiated

Response Received

Lead Generation from LinkedIn discussions is more often than not, NOT so straight forward. Therefore, it is important to focus on

creating a conversation with your target audience and building your network

Leads from LinkedIn Groups

Why is it important to take part in conversations on LinkedIn Groups?

Leads from LinkedIn Groups

Some discussions may be industry queries or even questions posed by competitors. Why should you respond to these

discussions?

Why is it important to take part in conversations on LinkedIn Groups?

Leads from LinkedIn Groups

•Identification of relevant discussions

Step 1

•Respond to these discussions

Step 2

•Establish a relationship

Step 3

•Connect using Tags

Step 4

•Take relationship offline

Step 5

•Respond to leads

Step 6

Why is it important to take part in conversations on LinkedIn Groups?

Top Contributor Taking an active part in group discussions can result in you becoming a top

contributor – This increases the visibility of your profile on the group

Why is it important to take part in conversations on LinkedIn Groups? Profile Views The increase in visibility from LinkedIn Groups will result in an

increase in profile views. LinkedIn provides us with some

interesting stats in this regard. “Who’s viewed your profile” will

give you an indication of the number & names of people who’ve

viewed your profile.

Why is it important to take part in conversations on LinkedIn Groups? Profile Views (How is this useful) Connect with or message your target audience who have

shown an interest in your profile

Monitor the results of

your LinkedIn Group

efforts

Why is it important to take part in conversations on LinkedIn Groups? Building a network and credibility on

the platform On LinkedIn you can only see information of people

who are in your network

Your network consists of 1st degree connections

(people you’re connected with), 2nd degree

connections (connections of your connections) & 3rd

degree connections (connections of your connections,

connections)

Thus, having more 1st degree connections drastically

increases your network on LinkedIn

Through LinkedIn Groups you can dramatically

increase your network with people directly relevant

to your business

Why is it important to take part in conversations on LinkedIn Groups? Group Manager Active participation in a group has resulted in one of our clients being made Group Manager of the group. This essentially

means that he can manage the community which consists off 6,000+ members. Advantages include but are not limited too –

1) Can send out weekly Group Announcement which goes to the inbox of each and every group member

2) Monitor discussions posted by others in the group and delete inappropriate ones

3) Chose manager’s choice discussions which appear at the top of the group (get more traction)