Why And How You Should Create An Active LinkedIn Group - Semalt Prompts



When many business owners search for an active way to communicate with their co-workers, it's not uncommon to hear suggestions such as LinkedIn groups. This is an excellent option because it provides the company with opportunities to connect with like-minded individuals. An added benefit is that it is also social media. This is why you need a LinkedIn group. 

Here you will see how to create a group and ensure that it is a success.

LinkedIn is a huge platform. They currently have over 706 million users in over 200 countries and regions across the globe. And although it does not have as many users as Facebook or Instagram, it offers just the right amount of professionalism needed in the office. Think of it as the social media version of emails. It is a unique platform that has been designed to accommodate the needs of businesses and professionals. 

With LinkedIn, you get to build your business network, increase your knowledge of the industry, and connect with potential clients. LinkedIn is no foreign name, and if you've been looking to build your business, it's likely something you've been advised to join. If you haven't, well, now is the time to learn about it and how you can exploit it to benefit your business.  

Building LinkedIn groups benefits your business as they help professionals connect with you and share ideas. However, the real question here is, "Is creating or joining a LinkedIn group a good idea?" If so, how? 

Let's begin.

Three benefits of creating your own LinkedIn group

To answer your question, yes, building and growing your LinkedIn group takes time and effort, but in the end, it will be worth it. Here are three reasons why having a LinkedIn group is important.  

1. LinkedIn groups help grow your network

Imagine that you create a compelling audience-centered post on LinkedIn, and then you get tons of engagement and likes on that post. Sure enough, the people that found your post interesting will leave encouraging comments on your post. But that will be all, except you find a way to connect with more people who have similar interests and goals. 

By owning or joining a LinkedIn group, you make this possible. One group could open you up to millions of members who share similar interests. But as a brand owning a group sends a greater message than being a member of a group. 

2. LinkedIn allows you to connect deeply with your audience

Know your customers. That is one of the first and most important instructions in marketing. LinkedIn provides a near-perfect way to know and speak to your audience. With an active LinkedIn Group, you can publish your surveys, ask and get answers from your audience, create polls, and many more. All these help you learn more about your audience hence serving them better.  

3. You boost your web traffic

This is probably the part you've been hoping for the most. And we get it. Your website needs all the traffic it can get, and you should try out LinkedIn groups. Have you just published content you know your audience will love? You can cut out some parts and interesting aspects like what we do with snippets, and then post them on your LinkedIn group.

Of course, this will have more words than a snippet, but it will serve almost the same function. By doing this, you entice members by the excerpt, and then you attach links to the main story. No doubt, readers will click to see the full content on your website.  

This means increased traffic to your site and higher ranking on Google. In the end, you benefit from more leads and better positions on SERP.

Building an active LinkedIn group

No, you won't be the first person in your niche to have a group on LinkedIn. In fact, there are over 2 million groups on LinkedIn today. This inevitably means that you can get lost in a sea and fade away with other LinkedIn groups without reaping its benefits. But if done right, you should expect a completely different result. 

Here are five critical steps in surviving and thriving as a group on LinkedIn. 

1. Be 100% clear about your objective

You do not want to have a group with absolutely no objective competing against thousands of other groups. For instance, if you settle as a fitness group, you immediately go up against about 6,500 related groups.

Here are a group of questions you can ask to help streamline the objectives of your group:
By answering these questions, you're well on your way to creating an ideal group. Just like your business, you must understand that your group name matters. 

The great idea is to make a combination of your topic + your audience for a group name.

For instance, you could call your "fitness group" "fitness for busy adults". Or something of that nature. Your goal should be to get as specific as possible. It should imply what members stand to enjoy by joining your group. 

2. Not everyone must belong

You should be careful of who you add to your group once you've successfully created your group; it's natural to want to add everyone you're connected to on LinkedIn. Don't do this; the last thing you want to do is make your future members feel that your group is loaded with irrelevant members and topics. Also, you want your group members to be active and interested in the topics you're discussing. 

It wouldn't be wise to add a dentist to a sports enthusiast group. The chances are that they'll skip over every post because it has no use to them.

You shouldn't invite everyone to join your group and stick to inviting only people you know will benefit by being a group member. 

3. How do you find the right group members?

First, you go through your already existing connections. As you go through each name, ask yourself if this is someone who will be delighted to be in the group. Another way is to type relevant keywords to LinkedIn's search field. You can also use filters to help narrow your search radius. 

4. Add value to your members' lives

At this point, you've created a living and breathing LinkedIn group with great members. You can get excited but also remember that this is only the beginning. Keeping your members engaged is more difficult than getting them. But keeping them engaged, you make them want to stay. 
Here are some ways to give your group members a great experience:

5. Take care of your group

You should take care and ensure that your group members do not get bombarded with irrelevant and spammy content. Members will only stay if you take the time to take care of the group and remove all kinds of content that would not benefit them.  

Create guidelines for your group to ensure that it doesn't deviate off course. LinkedIn itself advises that you create ground rules. Kept your ears to the ground to find and weed out spammy content. Having ground rules wouldn't be enough; you need to review every post in the group to avoid spam.

6. Promote the group

This is the final step in getting your LinkedIn group to peak conditions. The best way to do this is by giving your current group members the very best experience. Once you get your current members to love your group, they will no doubt invite people in the network to join your group. 

You can also promote your group through other social media platforms. Add links to join your group in your blogs and email messages.

Conclusion

Creating a LinkedIn group is not as hard as it seems. Having a group can lead to faster growth of your network, gain loads of leads, and boost traffic to your website. You need to know your audience, what they want, and invite them to come and join.

Ensure that you offer a great experience to your audience and watch your group grow bigger than you've ever imagined. 

Nevertheless, if you need to learn more about the subject of SEO and website promotion, we invite you to visit the Semalt blog.