30 Day Linking Blitz

Webinar 4

How LinkedIn Groups Can Help Your Business

Des Walsh

Business Coach, Social Media Strategist, LinkedIn SpecialistFounder, 30 Day Linking Blitz

LinkedIn profile: http://linkedin.com/in/deswalsh Social web links: http://xeeme.com/deswalsh

Copyright © Des Walsh & The Webarts Company Pty Ltd 2012-2013

Disclaimer

This presentation is for information only, should not be taken as representing the official views of LinkedIn and should not be construed as constituting business or financial advice.

Logos are copyright of the respective companies.

In This Webinar

Overview of LinkedIn Groups

Joining and Participating in Groups

Setting up and Managing Your Own Group

Millions of Conversations

Benefits of Groups - GeneralResearch – current issues: what's hot, what's not

Thought leadership – find leaders, be a leader

Networking – build relationships through sharing

Group members can invite one another to connect

Lead generation

Find jobs

Benefits of Groups – Own Group

Build professional reputation

Demonstrate leadership

Make a contribution

Build a stronger network

Build lists

It's Not All Rosy

Since groups offer the ability to reach a wide audience

without so easily falling foul of anti-spam solutions,

there is a constant stream of spam postings, and

there now exist a range of firms who offer a

spamming service for this very purpose.

Wikipedia

Expanding Universe of Groups

Just over 1.6 million groups

A new group every 1 to 2 minutes*

Many are useless or worse – e.g. no spam control

Some are well run and worth joining

LinkedIn measure of “activity level” of limited value

Whether for joining or starting a group, do your research!

* from monitoring increases over a 24 hour period, Nov 27-28/2012

A Group for Every Need

JOINING GROUPS

50 Groups maximum – go for gold

All You Can Join? or Selective?

“Groups you may like feature”

Read the Group Rules

Check discussions if you can before joining

Your settings adjustable for each group

Members of groups can invite one another directly to connect

Groups You May Like

Check Your Settings

CREATING YOUR OWN GROUP

Purpose

Research

Setup

Rules

Leading

Purpose

Your own purpose

Thought leadership | Brand promotion | Lead generation

List building | Professional community building

A compelling reason or reasons for others to join

Research | Thought leadership | Networking | Lead generation |

Find jobs | Professional community support

How Will Your Group Stand Out? Some suggestions

A subject you know better than others

Promise of a professional, sharing community - Rules

Spam free zone

Part of a wider network/community you lead

Geographic/location focus

Demographic focus – gender, age, economic

Role focus – CEOs, sales managers, solopreneurs

Interest focus – history, travel, SEO, astronomy

Research

For Purpose and Name of your group

Keywords

Existing industry or topic groups

If subject already there, can you do it better, differently?

For how it's done

Join groups

Observe what works and what doesn't

Use that to write your manifesto

Researching Groups

Vary Search Parameters

Drill Down

Keep Drilling

Group Details

Does Local Work for You?

Setup Form Group

Open or Closed

Rules

Templates

Logo – 100px x 50 px

Invitations

Leaders/influencers (be daring, aim up!)

LinkedIn connections

People not on LinkedIn

Note: List building – see Denise Wakeman post on this**

Open or Closed Group

Or

Start Closed, get group into a smooth operation, then go Open

Create Group

Setup Details - 1

Setup Details - 2

LeadingSpam free zone

Set moderation controls

Commit to holding the space for the community

Recruit moderators – (not clones)

Start discussions, ask questions

Comment (no dog in the fight)

Moderate actively

Polls

Send updates (maximum allowed 1 per week)

“LinkedIn Groups is the EASIEST way to expand your

LinkedIn network.”

Donna Serdula +

“LinkedIn Groups are a great way to find and network with

professionals. I've created several groups over the years and

really enjoyed learning from others.”

Mike Delgado ++

Admin Stuff -1Notes

* Rate of growth of LinkedIn Groups numbers. This rough estimate of 1-2 new groups a minute is drawn from a 24 hour observation November 27-28 2012, from 2.04 am UTC to 2.03 am UTC: number of groups grew from 1,497,136 to 1,498,476 = 1,340 or 55.83 ave per hour (slightly smoothed to allow for a couple of minutes difference in the actual reading).

** Denise Wakeman post: List Building Tip – Most LinkedIn Group Owners Miss This http://denisewakeman.com/list-building-tips/list-building-tip-linkedin-groups/

+Donna Serdula quote: http://www.linkedin-makeover.com/2011/09/12/an-easy-way-to-expand-your-linkedin-network/

++Mike Delgado quote: http://www.linkedin.com/company/linkedin/linkedin-groups-533541/product

Image credit

Gold panning, Australia 1900 – via Wikimedia Commons: Powerhouse Museum: CC BY-SA 3.0 http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Gold_panning,_Australia,_1900.jpg

Admin Stuff -1

Admin Stuff - 2Crowd image: Besucher der Friedenskundgebung am 22. Juni 1950 22. Juni 1950 (tr.

“Visitors to the Peace Rally”) – Leipzig, via Wikimedia Commons CC BY-SA 3.0

Group management nuts 'n bolts

http://learn.linkedin.com/group-management/

Webinar recording

Video version to be uploaded to YouTube

Audio version also to be available

Watch email for access details

See/download this slide deck at my Slideshare page http://slideshare.net/des

Coming Attraction!

Project Wrapup Webinar

Highlights of 30DLB2 and Building on the Experience

Thank you

30 Day Linking Blitz is an online collaborative project where participants are helped to create and implement their own plans for a 30 day “blitz” to amplify their presence, reach and influence on and via the professional networking platform, LinkedIn. Information at http://deswalsh.com/30-day-linking-blitz

Des WalshBusiness Coach, Social Media Strategist, LinkedIn Specialist

LinkedIn profile: http://linkedin.com/in/deswalsh

Social web links: http://xeeme.com/deswalsh

Copyright © Des Walsh & The Webarts Company Pty Ltd 2012