Every business owner wants a business that will bloom in the industry that they know too well.
Today, most business-to-business (B2B) owners have turned this dream into a reality.
LinkedIn groups have become a boon for businesses willing to engage in meaningful interactions between peers in an industry and their potential customers.
By gathering a fraction of like-minded professionals and experts that care about a particular topic, you can create a golden opportunity to showcase your expertise, gather customers, get feedback, and establish genuine connections.
The LinkedIn group will also provide you with an incredible and free opportunity to market your products and services to thousands of users.
If managed well, LinkedIn groups can be a potential business lead generator.
But the problem that most people face is that they tend to misuse this opportunity by only selling their products rather than using the group to uplift, educate, and empower its participants.
In this article, you will get input on using your LinkedIn group to grow your business.
STEP 1
Learn from the Masters
In life, before a toddler learns to jump, he or she must learn to crawl, walk, and run.
The same is similar in business. Before you can successfully lead, you must learn to follow.
Whether you have enough business ideas or not, before you rush into creating a group and inviting people, learn to join active groups in your industry.
In these groups, you will know the common challenges that customers face periodically.
You will also get to know different ways that you can overcome them.
Build Connections
While you are in the group, you will also learn to build connections with people you can invite to your group, get solutions to problems, and feedback on your products and services.
By joining various LinkedIn groups, you will learn how group admins handle conflicts, and so on.
In every industry, there are thousands of groups on LinkedIn that you can join.
To find the groups you are already a member of, use the LinkedIn group search tool.
Move your cursor or pointer to the right side of the screen and select the work icon followed to groups.
After doing this, LinkedIn will then display a list of the current groups that you have joined.
To discover new groups, select 'search other trusted communities that share and support your goals'.
Based on the data on your profile, job title, and other group affiliations, LinkedIn will suggest groups that you may find interesting.
If you do not see a group you like at the end of the search, choose a specific keyword related to your target in the search bar and select the group icon to find more.
Follow other Groups
LinkedIn groups will also allow you to follow other groups managed by other competitors.
That way, you can monitor what they are doing at every point in time and make changes to make your business better.
It will give you an insight into keywords that you will use to expand your search.
When you find a LinkedIn group that matches your persona and marketing objectives, carefully review its rules.
Many groups on LinkedIn maintain a high standard of professionalism by clearly stating what you should do and what you should not do as a member.
Note:
All LinkedIn groups are now private, so you will have to request access to join before becoming a member of any group.
STEP 2
Create your Linkedin Group
Now that you have gathered some experiences from being a member of different groups in your industry, it is time to create your LinkedIn Group and start networking.
Below are some things you need to do to optimize your group for lead generation.
Polish and prioritize well-crafted messages:
To get your prospective clients interested in joining your group and staying a member, you will need to create compelling, concise, and valuable content.
Remember to do this with caution in the beginning because it will give either give your prospects a good or bad first impression of your brand.
So, do not start on the wrong foot by making sloppy and lazy mistakes.
Do not spam, and let your topics be educational:
I don't think there is a much better way of saying this to understand if you want to grow your business.
One way to lose credibility fast is to try and sneak in your promos without thinking your members will not know when you are trying to sell something to them.
Doing this will be you shooting yourself in the foot.
Not only will your members disassociate with your brand, but you can also get a ban from LinkedIn.
Instead, you should share relevant information that will be helpful to members of your group.
Try to incite genuine engagement with your members:
Posting content on your group is not enough reason to sit back, relax, and expect your sales to skyrocket on their own.
No! It is a time that you have to be on top of your game if you want those numbers to add up.
One way to do this is by consistently interacting with participants or members of your group by answering questions, asking questions, and triggering meaningful discussions.
That is how you will get the job done.
Do not provoke your target audience:
Are you wondering if this is possible? Absolutely!
Members of each group are most likely going to be members of other groups.
So, most of them already have background knowledge of what is obtainable in groups.
As the administrator, never try to boss your members around (they are not your employees).
Under no circumstance should you rub this in their face.
Remember that a lot of them are there to expand their knowledge in the industry.
The moment they feel your group is no longer giving them what they need to increase their knowledge, that is the end of the road.
How do you think that would reflect on your sales?
Another way to lose credibility is by copying content from other groups and pasting it in your group.
It is the quickest way of bundling your credibility and throwing it in the garbage.
Refrain from this because members of your group may also be part of these groups.
Pay attention to the results:
24/7, you need to keep your eyes on the prize by paying attention to what works and what does not.
As soon as you identify what is not working, modify your strategy to get the best results.
For instance, if you are getting more engagement from some topics in your area of expertise, allocate more time to create original content similar to them.
If you must repeat content after a long while, take it from a different angle altogether.
The key is to ensure the content is fresh and informative in the minds of your group members.
That way, you will have engagements that will fetch you the desired leads.
Share your thoughts on the relevant and appropriate topic:
As the group admin, what you say matters.
It could also contribute to the success of the group in so many ways.
Find time to research relevant topics in your industry, as this will put you in a good light before the professionals in your circle.
It will equally make you a go-to source when people need advice.
There will also be an increased word of mouth and shares concerning your business.
To solve some of your members' problems, you can directly share blog links to answers their questions either to your site or other sites.
Another way to draw attention to business is by sharing blog links once or twice a week with your group members to visit your website if they are having some challenges in the industry.
If what you share is really of value to your group members, you will not need to remind them to visit your site as they will anticipate your blog posts over time.
It will drive the desired traffic to your website, generate leads, and grow your business.
Do not forget that LinkedIn groups tend to send email alerts for posts, so you should stick to at least one or two posts a week that will redirect your members to your website.
The takeaway point here is not to avoid overdoing this, as it will go against everything that we have been saying and can reduce your credibility over time.
Post questions
Post questions in your group to know the pain, challenges, and issues that those in your community are undergoing.
The feedback you will receive will give you an insight concerning the ideas and topics you can write about to help them pull through the situation.
These questions will also help you create a stronger bond with your members, and the more you bond with them, the faster your group and business grow.
Take note of your target audience:
Be cautious of the age of your group members.
Again, try to find if they are mostly salesmen people whether there are more women than men in the group, their age-grades, title, etc.
It would help if you did this because it will give you clues to draft the messages, topics, and tone to spark their interest.
Request for feedback on your new ideas:
As your group's admin, you will frequently need to generate ideas and topics to share with your members to keep them interested.
While searching for topics, some of them may sound appropriate to you but may either turn people off or reduce your level of engagement.
If you are not sure of how well your ideas will sit with your audience, you can ask a few group members to validate them for you.
With their level of experience, they can share some ideas with you that will make it better.
Topics like job security will always leave people feeling anxious.
You can also seek counsel from other members on how you can present it to the rest of the group without making them feel skeptical about it.
LinkedIn Applications
If you are not currently using LinkedIn's features, then you need to start doing so.
LinkedIn's features and applications will allow your business to share information, establish a stronger connection with your customers, and gather useful marketing insights.
You can also use powerful features like polls to gain insights on which topics have the most attention and ways to improve them if they get the desired attention.
These insights will also help you adjust your marketing strategies accordingly.
Build trust:
In this article, we talk about the essence of building trust on the surface level.
But this is one area that you need to look out for if you want to grow your business.
Let us make this clear! No one will give you a dime of their hard-earned money if they do not trust you or your brand.
That's the reason you need to guard your brand reputation at all costs.
If you have a new LinkedIn group that you want to grow, you need to pay close attention to this vital point.
Be patient and consistent with your content.
Keep always in mind that Rome was not built in a day.
Do not get discouraged or abandon your group if you have low engagement in the early stages.
Give it time to grow, establish those connections, and never stop inviting professionals to the group.
In due time, the numbers will add up.
CONCLUSION
To get the best of using LinkedIn groups for your business, you need to take advantage of its growing numbers by creating one for your business and following all the tips we have listed in this article.
Again, having an active LinkedIn group will not only increase your brand reputation but will also help you establish a strong connection with like-minded experts, customers, and more.
The LinkedIn group is a great way to keep in touch with people outside your circle of business associates, customers, colleagues, friends, and more.
