How to create an active LinkedIn group

LinkedIn is huge, with 706 million users in over 200 countries and regions.

No, there aren’t as many users as Facebook and Instagram.

What is special about it, however, is that it is a unique platform specially designed for companies and professionals.

While you’re posting your vacation photos and cute cat videos on Instagram, head to LinkedIn to build your business network, expand your industry knowledge, and connect with prospects.

If you’ve used the platform to grow your brand, you’ve heard of LinkedIn Groups.

These groups are designed to help professionals connect with like-minded people who share the same goals.

The question is, is joining a LinkedIn group a good idea?

Should you create your own group?

If so, how?

In this article we answer all of these questions.

Let’s dive in!

3 benefits of creating your own LinkedIn group

Yes, building and growing your own LinkedIn group takes time and effort.

But if you get it right, the benefits will make your hard work worth your while.

Here are three reasons why creating a LinkedIn group is a great idea.

1. LinkedIn groups help you expand your network

Imagine that.

You create a compelling, audience-focused post on LinkedIn and wait for the likes to come in.

Sure enough, people you are connected with leave encouraging comments on your post.

But you wish there was a way to connect with more people who share your interests and goals.

Enter, LinkedIn groups.

With LinkedIn Groups, you can interact with millions of members with interests similar to yours.

Do people join groups on LinkedIn?

You bet.

In fact, a single group can have more than a million members.

And while you can easily join a group, creating and growing your own group will do amazing things for your brand.

2. A LinkedIn group enables you to connect deeply with your target audience

“Know your customer” is one of the first principles of marketing.

And what better way to know them than to speak to them directly?

With an active LinkedIn group, you can post polls, ask questions, and create surveys so you always know how to better serve your customers.

3. A LinkedIn group can increase your website traffic

Just published a blog that you know your network or audience will love?

Why not post a tempting excerpt from it on your LinkedIn group?

When you do this, entice members to click and read the full story.

This means more traffic to your website, a higher ranking on Google and more leads.

This is how Penn Foster does it with her contribution …

… Which leads to your blog on the topic.

5 steps to building your own active LinkedIn group

No, you probably won’t be the first person to create a group in your niche.

(Unless you create a group of square onion lovers.)

In fact, there are over 2 million active LinkedIn groups today.

Does creating a network like this mean that you will get lost in a sea of ​​noise and never get the chance to build a thriving network of your own?

Not if you’re doing things right.

Here are five steps to making the LinkedIn Group successful.

1. Make yourself 100% clear about your focus

The last thing you want to do is create a generic group and compete against thousands of other groups like yours.

For example, if you’re into fitness, you’ll compete against 6,500 related groups.

The key is to narrow it down with a few questions.

• What makes my group different from that of my competitors?
• What specific benefits can I offer my audience that other groups cannot?
• How can I make my group name stand out from the rest?

When you have answered these questions, sit down and plan out the name of your group.

A good idea is to create a combination of your topic and your audience.

For example, you can name your fitness group “Children’s Fitness for Busy Parents” or “Yoga and Fitness for Office Workers”.

Try to get as specific as possible, which means that members will have advantages in joining your group.

2. Do not add everyone to your group

Once you’ve created your group, your first instinct is to add everyone you’re connected to on LinkedIn.

Stop it now!

The last thing you want is to make your prospective members feel like their feeds are loaded with unrelated topics.

You also want group members who are actively engaged in your content.

If you add dentists to a group of sports enthusiasts, they’ll likely skip what you post because it doesn’t apply to them (unless they’re your best friends and they love you, of course).

Instead of inviting everyone to join your group, only invite people who you know will benefit as a group member.

How do you like these people?

First, make your own connections.

Ask yourself the same question as you check each name.

“Is that someone who benefits from being in my group?”

Another option is to type relevant keywords into LinkedIn’s search box.

You can use the filters to narrow your search.

For example, type the word “marketers” in the search box and use the location filter to find marketers in the United States.

The results you will get are people who have listed themselves as marketers in the US

Remember not to spam these people.

Avoid sending a generic, consistent message to everyone.

Instead, take some time to review a prospect’s profile before sending an invite.

Lastly, you can send invitations to your email list.

People who have subscribed to your list are interested in your offer. So you will love being in your group.

3. Add value to the lives of your members

Now you have a living, breathing LinkedIn group full of great members.

Congratulations!

Note, however, that this is just the beginning.

This is just the easy part.

The harder part is keeping your members busy so they’ll want to stay.

Here are three ideas that you can use to give your group members a great experience:

Create engaging discussions

People love to give their opinion.

To get a lively discussion going, ask timely questions that are spread across your industry.

Focus on hot topics.

For example, if your group is made up of content marketers, you can ask members what they think of GPT-3 and if it will take on content creation jobs in the future.

Craft content that your audience will love

You can treat your LinkedIn group the same way you treat your blog.

Find out what your audience needs, then create content to help them meet their needs.

If you don’t have time to create content specifically for your LinkedIn group, you can share relevant posts from the blogs of your own or other well-known websites.

Send engaging emails to your group

It’s a good idea to compose an interesting, fun email that highlights the week’s group activities.

Tell your audience what they missed (nice, of course), share the results of the discussions, and give them a glimpse of the exciting activities for the next week.

Of course, it’s up to you to figure out how to keep group members busy.

When you run out of ideas, you can always join a popular group in your niche and remember which members the staff enjoy engaging with.

4. Take care of your group

Do you ever join a social media group only to have your feed bombarded with irrelevant, spammy content?

I bet you left the group as soon as you could.

The same goes for a LinkedIn group.

Your members will only stay if you spend time looking after the group and removing all kinds of content that does not benefit them.

Here are three pointers to keep in mind.

Start with guidelines for your group

Before adding members to your group, write down some general rules.

For example, no hate comments, no spam, no sales messages.

LinkedIn itself encourages you to create ground rules for your group.

Take the time to weed out spam content

Just posting your basic rules doesn’t mean you can avoid all types of spam.

Make sure to review any posts posted in the group and weed out posts that violate your guidelines.

Remove members who break your ground rules

Send an alert to members who are continually breaking your group’s rules. If they persist, remove them from the group.

5. Promote your group

The first way to promote your group is to provide a great experience for your current members.

If they love your group, they will likely invite people on their network to join.

You can also promote your group on other social media platforms.

Adding a link to join your group on your blog and in emails also works.

Creating an Active LinkedIn Group: It’s not as difficult as it seems

Are you thinking of starting a LinkedIn group?

Great idea.

An active group can expand your network, bring you a ton of leads, and increase blog traffic.

The good news is that starting your own successful group isn’t that difficult.

All you have to do is know your audience and their wants, invite the right people, and invest the time and energy into making them a great experience.

If you keep doing this, you will be surprised to find your group grows bigger than you ever imagined.

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Photo credit

All screenshots by the author, October 2020