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LinkedIn Groups: Ca$h in on this powerful tool

 

 

Joining and participating in groups on LinkedIn is consistently ranked in the top five features that people say really helps them build and brand their business as well as find the perfect job.

 

Groups are a great way to:

 

• Speak, share, and interact with a group of like-minded individuals who have common interests and are located around the world or right in your own neighborhood.

 

• Increase the size of the population you can search into when doing any type of search.  Once you find members of the group who meet your search criteria, you can communicate with those people even though they may not be connected to you at the first, second or third level.

 

You can join up to 50 groups on LinkedIn, and I suggest you take advantage of all this potential.

 

You may be cringing about all the e-mails you are going to get by joining more groups, but let me remind you that you control whether a group communicates with you and how often you receive those communications.  You can do this either by going to “Settings” on any LinkedIn screen (which you will find by scrolling over your name on the top right) and selecting “My Groups” or by selecting “Settings” once you are in a specific group.  You can even shut off all communication, and you may just want to do that.

 

To help you find the LinkedIn groups that will assist you in accomplishing your goals, I have developed the following worksheet.

 

 

7 Steps to Finding the Best LinkedIn Groups

 

Step 1

Fill in the blanks with the words that describe you and/or your situation.  To help you get your thought process started, included in parentheses are some of the words I might personally use.

 

• Geographic region or area you serve and/or where your suppliers are located (Midwest, Wisconsin, Milwaukee)

____________, _________________, ____________________, _______________

 

• Industries you sell to or receive supplies from (education, real estate, flooring)

____________, _________________, ____________________, _______________

 

• Professional interest or areas of expertise (accounting, interior design, sustainability)

____________, _________________, ____________________, _______________

 

• Products/services you are selling (office furniture, carpeting, interior design, LinkedIn consulting services)

____________, _________________, ____________________, _______________

 

• Professional titles of your customers or suppliers (president, flooring distributor, CFO)

____________, _________________, ____________________, _______________

 

• Your customers, vendors, employees (architect, facilities manager, attorney, designer)

____________, _________________, ____________________, _______________

 

• Clubs or associations (AICPA, ACG, Waukesha Chamber, Marquette Alumni)

____________, _________________, ____________________, _______________

 

• Your hobbies and interests (hiking, scuba, fishing, social media, classic rock music)

____________, _________________, ____________________, _______________

 

Step 2

 

Go to “Groups” on the top tab and select “Groups Directory.”  Then go to the box on the top left titled “Search Groups.”  If you want to search using specific keywords, use the “Keywords” box.  To narrow your search to a specific category (alumni, corporate, conference, etc.), make the appropriate choice using the “Categories” pull-down menu.  I personally haven’t found this to be very helpful, but it may be useful in your circumstances.  The default language is English, but you can choose a different language by using the “Choose” box.

 

 

Step 3

Finding Large Groups With No Specific Criteria

 

Joining large groups enables you to search a large database of people, find people who fit your search criteria, and then communicate with those people, even though they are not part of your first, second or third-level network.

 

Click the “Search” button (no need to include keywords).  You are now looking at a list of all the existing LinkedIn groups, which at the time of this writing is 791,982.  These groups are listed in size order, with the largest group listed first. The number of members is listed at the bottom of the group profile, right next to the group owner’s name.

 

You should now look through this list of group profiles to find groups that have any of the keywords you listed above.  For example, the largest LinkedIn group at this time is LinkedIn:HR, which has 350,139 members.  If you are either selling to HR professionals or need to hire an HR professional, this would be a great group to join—as long as you meet the membership criteria.  The next group is eMarketing Association Network, with 290,565 members.  If you are selling to people in the e-marketing world, getting supplies from them, or if you want to hire someone in the e-marketing world, this would be a good group to join.

 

Step 4

 

Finding Large Groups in Certain Geographic Regions (e.g., Wisconsin, Milwaukee)

 

The goal here is to find the largest groups in your defined geographic business area.  In the “Keywords” box, put a description of a geographic area.  Good examples of this would be the state, city or region you are living in, selling into, looking for employees from, etc.  Be sure to try lots of words and combinations of words.

 

I suggest you join the largest groups in your region that you feel can help you reach your goals.  You will then have the ability to search for members who meet a particular set of criteria.  You may also find it advantageous to use the Discussions function to take part in the group’s conversations. This is an especially important step if your customers are also included in this geographic area, because it gives you the ability display your expertise.

 

Step 5

Finding Groups in Certain Geographic Regions With Some Other Criteria (e.g., accountants in Wisconsin)

 

If you want to find the groups that include members who are accountants in Wisconsin, you would first use the “Keywords” box to search accounting Wisconsin and then search accountants Wisconsin.  The search logic here is all the words you type in this box must be included in the group profile. You do not have to follow the Boolean search rules, such as putting quotes around words, using AND, NOT, etc. It is based on just the words themselves.

Step 6

Finding Groups With Multiple Criteria (accountants who like social media)

If you type in accounting accountant social media, you get no results, but if you just put in accounting social media, you get six groups.  Remember—the logic is it will look for all words you have listed.  Do the same for accountant social media, and you will get different results.  It is sort of like a group treasure hunt.  You have to keep playing around with words and combinations of words, always remembering that the way you describe something may be different than how others might describe it.  Another example would be attorney, legal, lawyers, etc.  Try them all.

 

Here is a great idea for those of you who want to take your LinkedIn group experience to the advanced level.  If there is no existing group relating to a particular interest or expertise you possess, consider starting a group, and you will be a knowledge broker in that space.

 

Step 7

 

Repeat Steps 3, 4, 5 and 6 over and over, with different combinations of regions, industries, interests, etc.

 

Be sure to revisit these steps from time to time, because new groups are being formed all the time.

 

About the Author

Wayne Breitbarth was once a skeptic and now is an outspoken proponent of LinkedIn, “LinkedIn Guru” Wayne Breitbarth is passionate about helping business professionals–from entry level to CEO–learn how to combine their previous experience and relationships with this innovative tool in order to more successfully brand and market themselves and their businesses. Wayne’s diverse professional background uniquely positions him to assist not only individuals but corporate entities as well. With thirty years’ experience in the areas of operations, finance, management, consulting, and business ownership, he is able to “put it all together” for his corporate and individual clients. In addition to his consulting work, Wayne is a dynamic speaker. His practical yet entertaining presentations have inspired audiences both locally, at many of Milwaukee’s most prominent companies and organizations, and nationally, at conventions, industry association events, and corporate training sessions. You can download a free chapter from his upcoming book “The Power Formula for LinkedIn Success” Kick-start your Business, Brand and Job Search” at: http://budurl.com/m4bm. You can also get free weekly LinkedIn tips by email by contacting him at wbreitbarth@mmoffice.com.

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