Have you been utilizing the Groups feature on LinkedIn? Groups is a powerful way to make connections and network with people, but is often an overlooked feature. You see, networking on LinkedIn can be a little tricky. LinkedIn is like the professional big brother of Facebook. It’s all business, a little play, but strictly no horsing around. Remember when you tried to add someone you didn’t know? That’s right, LinkedIn said “Oh heck no, you can’t do that ish on our turf!” and denied you. It’s nice to have features that prevent spammers from bothering you on LinkedIn, but how are you supposed to add new people when all you genuinely want is to connect with them?
Joining groups allows you to connect with people in your industry or with people who share similar interests as you. In groups, you can join in on discussions and play an active role in conversation. Groups is a great platform for you to be able to express your opinions and share interesting content that you’ve found or read about. Or even better, share your own content! Whatever you are posting on your Facebook and Twitter can also go into groups. That blog post you wrote last week? Why not start a discussion about it? Joining and actively using Groups on LinkedIn gets your name out there.
Using Groups is also beneficial because it gives you a legitimate reason to connect with your fellow members away from the Groups. LinkedIn won’t allow you to add people you don’t know personally, but it will allow you to add people with whom you share groups.
Groups is a great basis for initializing networking on LinkedIn, and a fantastic way to establish a name for yourself and even your business. Who knows, if you participate enough in a group, LinkedIn might even rank you as a “Top Influencer”!
