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How to Boost Business Using LinkedIn Groups

Monday, November 17, 2014

Are you one of the six million Australians and more than 300 million professionals worldwide who have a profile on LinkedIn, the professional networking site often referred to as Facebook for business?

While your online resume allows people to connect with you easily, social media aficionados say there are more powerful benefits to be had from becoming active in some of LinkedIn's special-interest "groups".

The site hosts more than two million of them on every topic imaginable - from entrepreneurship, philanthropy and career development to drilling for oil in the Middle East.


Groups are created at the rate of 6500 a week and, on an average day, new posts total more than 150,000. In Australia, the IT, construction and financial services sectors boast the busiest groupies.


Just as online daters with photos attract more contacts than those without, LinkedIn members who join groups enjoy five times more profile views than those who keep to themselves, according to a LinkedIn spokesperson.

Besides being looked at more often, what are the business and professional benefits of getting in there and mingling up a virtual storm?

Here are a few:

I'm available

Looking for work? Where better to pick up job leads than in a virtual hall packed with others in the same game, digital marketer Ben Liau says. He founded a LinkedIn group for Australian online marketing professionals four years ago that now has more than 1400 members.

"As a group founder I get access to communicate with all my members easily, and have used it to find great online marketers that I have referred jobs to and discussed digital strategies [with]," Liau says.

"There are always jobs being posted, companies searching for great online marketers, and online marketers looking for the next step in the career. Start-ups also find skilled people to help them with their business, whether it be an online marketer or digital designer."

Position yourself

Want to become known as a thought leader in your field? Being recognised as the founder of a specialist group can give a big boost to "brand you", according to Karalyn Brown, founder of job interview coaching service Interview IQ.

She started her Interview IQ LinkedIn group in 2010 and has about 1200 members, many of whom joined while looking for work.

"You become a hub or a 'go-to person' and known as an expert in your field," Brown says.

"You can lead discussions. If you start a group, it helps you be seen as not just promoting yourself but also promoting discussion and networking in your industry."

Grow your own business

Looking for suppliers rather than customers for your business? Jump on in, says LawPath's digital marketing manager Tom Willis. The online marketplace brokers connections between small enterprises and lawyers who can help with common documents and provide cost-effective advice on demand. Highly targeted LinkedIn law groups were the first port of call when building a database of experts to bid for the work.

"The tactic was to post regular group updates on live inbound requests LawPath had received, requesting that interested parties would need to first sign up to the LawPath platform to be provided with all the details," Willis says.

"We'd mainly target categorical law groups - family law, business law - and provide a location in the posts to ensure the lawyer was appropriate.

"The result was a win-win - we connected the customer with an expert lawyer to help them with their matter; the lawyer gained a new client, which led them to join LawPath."

Form genuine bonds

While it is easy to connect virtually with everyone you have ever shaken hands with at a conference, interacting genuinely with someone in a group can see random contacts become trusted associates over time.

"As so few people do, the person who wants to help another person with some advice or provide a real insight that benefits the group comes across as a networker and gains credibility and trust," Brown says.

"It is the same as in real life. From helping someone in a group, you can create an online friend, with whom you can more easily deepen the relationship" [WAToday]
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17 comments:

  1. While it is easy to connect virtually with everyone you have ever shaken hands with at a conference, interacting genuinely with someone in a group can see random contacts become trusted associates over time.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Looking for suppliers rather than customers for your business? Jump on in, says LawPath's digital marketing manager Tom Willis. The online marketplace brokers connections between small enterprises and lawyers who can help with common documents and provide cost-effective advice on demand.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. There are always jobs being posted, companies searching for great online marketers, and online marketers looking for the next step in the career. Start-ups also find skilled people to help them with their business, whether it be an online marketer or digital designer.

      Delete
    2. There are always jobs being posted, companies searching for great online marketers, and online marketers looking for the next step in the career. Start-ups also find skilled people to help them with their business, whether it be an online marketer or digital designer..

      Delete
    3. We'd mainly target categorical law groups - family law, business law - and provide a location in the posts to ensure the lawyer was appropriate...

      Delete
    4. We'd mainly target categorical law groups - family law, business law - and provide a location in the posts to ensure the lawyer was appropriate.....

      Delete
  3. Just as online daters with photos attract more contacts than those without, LinkedIn members who join groups enjoy five times more profile views than those who keep to themselves, according to a LinkedIn spokesperson.

    ReplyDelete
  4. "There are always jobs being posted, companies searching for great online marketers, and online marketers looking for the next step in the career. Start-ups also find skilled people to help them with their business, whether it be an online marketer or digital designer."

    ReplyDelete
  5. "We'd mainly target categorical law groups - family law, business law - and provide a location in the posts to ensure the lawyer was appropriate.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Replies
    1. Want to become known as a thought leader in your field? Being recognised as the founder of a specialist group can give a big boost to "brand you", according to Karalyn Brown, founder of job interview coaching service Interview IQ.

      Delete
  7. Want to become known as a thought leader in your field? Being recognised as the founder of a specialist group can give a big boost to "brand you", according to Karalyn Brown, founder of job interview coaching service Interview IQ.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Looking for suppliers rather than customers for your business? Jump on in, says LawPath's digital marketing manager Tom Willis. The online marketplace brokers connections between small enterprises and lawyers who can help with common documents and provide cost-effective advice on demand. Highly targeted LinkedIn law groups were the first port of call when building a database of experts to bid for the work.

    ReplyDelete
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