Professional Or Social? Linkedin Groups Explained
One thing we often say about content marketing is that to get people to search out and respond well to your content you have to position yourself, or your company, as the experts in your field.Having that gravitas will underpin your content and make it instantly more trustworthy and reliable, but it can be hard to get to the top of the tree without some serious effort, which can mean taking time away from your core focus. Luckily, that is one of the services we can provide, and by using LinkedIn groups you can easily position yourself as a field leader within your industry, with very little effort on your part.
LinkedIn groups are like Facebook groups in that they provide a space for people to discuss a particular topic and share information, and the look and feel is very similar. This familiarity makes a LinkedIn group very attractive to professionals, and because it's hosted through LinkedIn it already carries a more professional, authoritative air. The process of setting one up is similar, and something we have a lot of experience in.
Choosing the topic or title of your LinkedIn group is really important, so you should think long and hard about what to call it and what you want to discuss. Check around for other groups in your industry – there's no point replicating the same group as competing with an established group is often a wasted endeavour.See whether there is a gap in the discussions, or a particularly stubborn problem that could be addressed, and use this as the theme and title for your group. As long as it's something relevant to your product or service it will attract the right type of potential customers, and perhaps even staff to headhunt for the future.
LinkedIn is a social site, but the emphasis is very much on the professional aspect – people don't share their holiday pictures, photos of their new wallpaper or funny things their kids said on their LinkedIn profile in the same way they would on Facebook or Twitter (unless it's relevant to their business somehow), so it bridges the gap between the professional and social worlds – a bit like a networking event held online.It follows then, that to make a success of a LinkedIn group, you should look at how successful Facebook groups operate.
The most successful groups have pretty strict rules against advertising, spam, harassment and inappropriate content and this is the same for LinkedIn. Having clear rules means you can remove people who break these rules, and set an example to other members about the standards of behaviour expected. The group should be checked every day to remove inappropriate content and to approve new members; slacking on this can mean your group growth falters – it's best to put the effort in at the start and create a positive, welcoming atmosphere with clear standards. Doing this can actually create a self-policing group – if everyone knows what's expected of them and feels part of the group they will start to protect it themselves. Managing a social media group is a service we can provide.
Once you have a successful, engaged group up and running you're then in a great position to be one of the leading experts in your industry, and the proof is in that group as well as the success of your business. Some business owners have been deterred from making a Facebook group because they think it might seem unprofessional, but LinkedIn have the answer, so the time is right to get involved with professional social media.
