Test LA for Free
Written by
Giuseppe Gurrieri

Why LinkedIn Groups Can Be Great for Business (And How to Create a Successful One) - Its Power Explained!

Publisched on
29th June 2022

As a brand, you must create and own an active LinkedIn group. It will not only help connect you with your prospective clients, but it will also help you establish authentic relationships with your audience.

There are several reasons that professionals sign up for LinkedIn.

While some are there to build their brand, others are there to increase their industry knowledge.

Creating a group on LinkedIn will serve as a means of bringing your prospects together. It works best if you run a business-to-business (B2B) company.

When creating a group, remember that it is not a place to flood advertisements concerning your business.

It should be used as a channel to share valuable content with your visitors.

It will not only increase engagements but promote better interaction among professionals.

Being consistent in your posts will help you build credibility over time.

In this article, we will look at how you can create a group, the tips you need to make it successful, and the benefits you stand to gain from having a group.

HOW TO CREATE AN ENGAGING LINKEDIN GROUP

STEP 1

CHOOSE A TOPIC THAT YOUR CUSTOMERS CAN RELATE TO

For your group to remain relevant and valuable to your prospects, it should be centred on a topic connected to your brand.

Note, it doesn’t have to be about your brand all time, and people should join because they are interested in the topic, not just because you are a brand. When you can do this, your visitors will connect with both the subject and your brand. 

Find some of the questions that can help you decide the theme of your group.

What are:

  1. Your goals for your target audience?
  2. The conversations will be valuable to your prospects?
  3. Some frequent questions?
  4. The topics that relate to your brand?

STEP 2

CREATE A LINKEDIN GROUP

Once the topic is chosen, the next thing you need to do is to create your LinkedIn group.

Creating a group on LinkedIn is as easy as filling out a form online. 

Go to LinkedIn’s group section and click on “Create a group”.

Alternatively, click on the link below if you already have an account: https://www.linkedin.com/groups/create.

Some fields that you are required to fill out include:

  1. Group title
  2. Logo
  3. Membership of the LinkedIn Group
  4. Group rules (This field is optional but recommended)
  5. Description of the Group

When creating a group, you need to focus on the group rules because it will help your members understand what is allowed and what is not.

Clearly stating this will help you manage and moderate conversations in the group.

It might sound a little harsh to remove members from the group who break the rules by submitting links, promote other services, and try to start meaningless conversations, but it will help you manage your group better.

STEP 3

CREATE MESSAGE TEMPLATES

A message template is one handy feature for LinkedIn groups.

With this feature, you can create customized messages sent automatically to your site visitors willing to join the group. 

To change the default LinkedIn message templates, go to your LinkedIn group homepage and click on “Manage”.

Next, click on “Templates” on the left-hand side. Click on the “Create Template” and edit the one you will like to customize. 

STEP 4

INVITE YOUR CONNECTIONS TO YOUR GROUP

For you to ensure that the LinkedIn group upholds its trust for both you and your member to converge, you may need to invite only those you have built a connection with on LinkedIn.

To invite them to your group, click on “Manage” on your group homepage, and then click on “Invite Users” on the left.

You can also invite people from other marketing and social media channels to promote your new LinkedIn group.

Again, you can share the link to your group on your LinkedIn profile.

You can also encourage your colleagues and close friends to do the same.

To enhance the growth of your group, you can optimize your group information to include keywords.

These keywords are what your prospective members will find when they search for your group.

Another powerful but costly option would be to advertise your group with LinkedIn Ads.

To do this, click on the link provided for advertisement at the bottom of any LinkedIn page.

Advertising might have its advantages, but in a way, it can trick you into believing the bigger your group is, the better it will be.

You should know that groups with millions of members are mainly filled with links.

In most instances, it’s the smaller groups that have meaningful conversations.

STEP 5

BE ACTIVE ON YOUR LINKEDIN GROUP

Step five can either increase or limit your chances of having a successful group. 

After you have created and invited your connections to your group on LinkedIn, there is a possibility it will still feel empty.

It may happen because some members might not be active with their posts.

I will advise you to create a “Welcome post” as the first post to make your new members feel at home.

Next, you can share the group’s essence with them and then politely let them know the rules guiding the group.

As a gentle reminder, you can feature or pin that post so that everyone will see it.

To feature a post, click on the three dots in the top right corner and then selecting the ‘feature’ option.

After you must have pinned or featured the welcome post, the next thing you will need to do is to start some discussion with your group members.

Doing this will help get more members engaged in the group. It will also let your group members know what type of post is allowed and what is not.

Apart from starting a conversation in the group, you can also encourage engagement by liking and commenting on other people’s responses. 

People who are new to a group tend to follow the actions of those before them.

So if all they see is quality conversations and little or no self-promotional posts, they will be more focused on contributing to topics rather than promoting themselves.

STEP 6

CONTROL ALL POSTS

Once you have achieved enough engagement, it is time to moderate the posts in your group.

So many LinkedIn experts believe that most Linked groups fail because posts are not moderate.

Again, they believe spam is among the top reasons most people exit groups.

It is also one reason people become less active in groups, so if you do not want your efforts to go to the drainage, control all posts, and remove spams.

Most spam on LinkedIn comes in the form of links. Therefore you need to be sensitive with members sharing links in your LinkedIn group.

Let them know it is prohibited! If a member persists, delete or remove the person from the group.

This serves as a lesson to others.

WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS OF HAVING A LINKEDIN GROUP?

We have shared tips on creating and engaging your new members, and now it is time to share the benefits your business will gain from having a group on LinkedIn.

Research: 

As your group grows, it will serve as a reference point to people who will always run back for one advice or the other.

The more people feel that they can fall back to your group to get answers to their problems, the more valuable it will be.

They can also refer your LinkedIn group to others in your industry that will grow its membership.

LEAD GENERATION
  • It can serve as a lead generation channel:

You generate leads from potential customers in your group by using the search function and filter.

In each category, you can select them by filter their job titles, location, and company.

After you have created a list of prospects, send them a personalized message.

Try to identify their areas of difficulty and offer a solution if you can. It will help you build a connection with them.

Since they already have a pre-knowledge about you, your target audience will be more receptive to your messages.

Ensure you establish your presence in the group, and your profile is well optimized to generate the leads you desire. Your website should also be visible.

While composing your messages to your prospects, let them known you’re also open to their messages concerning business opportunities.

FIND PASSIONATE EMPLOYEES
  • It will help you find new employees:

Undoubtedly, groups on LinkedIn can serve as a goldmine for employers.

It will help them take note of prospects who actively partake in vital conversations and answer questions thoughtfully for possible employment.

As an employer, you can make a list of these people, reach out to them, build a connection, and screen them to see who best fits the job.

BUILD YOUR BRAND
  • LinkedIn groups will help you build your brand as a thought leader:

By remaining patient and putting in the hard work, you can establish yourself as a thought leader in your industry on LinkedIn.

Thoughtfully answering questions in the group will also position you as an expert in your industry.

Try to post timely and relevant news in your group. It doesn’t matter if it’s from your website or another verifiable source.

All that matters is that it is useful to your target audience.

GET FEEDBACKS, UNDERSTAND YOUR AUDIENCE, IMPROVE & BUILD SOCIAL PROOF
  • They can serve as a superb feedback channel:

If you manage your group very well, you will have people whose thoughts or opinions will add value to your brand.

Take advantage of this and use it to know the areas that need improvement.

It is rare for people to give an honest opinion concerning a topic these days, so before you run off asking people for feedback, be sure you actively participate in the group for a while.

Once done, you can then proceed by asking for feedback, professional advice, or review concerning a product, service, or something that you are offering.

But please note, do not leverage this to promote or market something to your members.

It is tempting, but you should avoid this. Else, they may feel you are trying to play a trick on them.

Instead, learn to ask them clear and direct questions, then thank them for their answers afterward.

PROBLEM-SOLVING TOOL
  • LinkedIn groups can serve as a powerful problem-solving tool:

Feedback from your group is not the only thing you stand to gain, as you can get solutions to challenging business problems that you and your members are experiencing.

You are also bound to get an unbiased perception concerning the challenges you are encountering.

You will also get professional opinions that can help your group shine and grow.

BUSINESS OPPORTUNITIES
  • Better business opportunities 

Most LinkedIn groups have different sections that allow members to share available positions in companies that they think will be vital to your group.

Some of your group members can also share business opportunities and deals that are not advertised in the media to benefit everyone in the group.

MEASURE THE PROGRESS WITH ENGAGEMENT
  • It helps you measure your progress

The secret to keeping most LinkedIn professionals glued to your group is by creating a sense that their needs are being met.

Once they continually have this feeling within, they will continue to stay active in your group.

So, ensure you keep them updated with quality information and topics in the group.

To measure or gauge their level of interest, you can create a poll or survey concerning a popular topic that they find interesting.

It will help them feel their concerns are taken into consideration.

It will also help your brand create contents that are more effective and engaging.

STEP 7

INVITE MEMBERS FROM SIMILAR GROUPS TO JOIN YOUR GROUP

Now let's talk about a very particular technique, a technique used by the masters of marketing.

It's about inviting members of groups with similar themes to yours, those groups where you find your perfect audience that follows

exactly those topics, that is, yours.

In fact you just have to become a member of a group that best suits your topic of interest, so once you become a member go to the

"View members" section and send them messages like:

Hi [firstname], I would like to invite you to join my social media marketing group (your topic). I post helpful content almost daily and also look for like-minded people posting their content in my group. You can participate by visiting this URL: https://www.linkedin.com/groups/9057795/

Of course, you'd normally have to do this one by one and manually, saving the message to a text file and copying and pasting the

text on each message you want to send to a group member, right?

Actually no!

Because today I want to share my secret weapon with you!

The weapon that allowed me to grow my LinkedIn Group and my network at the speed of light.

This tool is called Linked Assist, a unique LinkedIn marketing automation tool that will not only help you grow your network, but

you will also reach people by inviting them to automatically join your LinkedIn Group, your network, by sending messages to

your connections by even using a CSV containing the Profile URLs of those you want to message to.

Simply upload the CSV to your Linked Assist (like a mailing list) and it will do the rest for you! This tool is the most flexible,

secure, and powerful tool on the market! Supported since 2017 and has reached its 2000 happy users! and I would suggest you

check it out and test it (for free).

CONCLUSION

Learn to be strategic in the content you share, how you share it, and how you carry yourself in the group as admin.

By taking full consideration of the tips shared in this article, you will grow your influence and get to reap all of its benefits. 

Create Your LinkedIn Group

 

SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER

You will never miss an article

Enter your email address:

Delivered by FeedBurner

 

Blog Search