LinkedIn is a social media site aimed primarily at business and professional people. LinkedIn allows members to connect with each other and then grow their networks. For example, a contact-center professional may build his network by connecting with contact-center managers, consultants and companies that recruit in the industry.
Members use LinkedIn for many different reasons. Some members wish to keep up-to-date with trends and events in their industry. Other members wish to attract business through LinkedIn or find a new job opportunity.
LinkedIn allows members to start groups. Groups may be started for a number of reasons; typically they will consist of members of the same profession who wish to communicate with each other, join in debates and advertise new jobs.
In the case of our contact-center professional, for example, there may be a number of relevant groups formed to discuss issues such as people management in contact centers, technological developments and general contact-center issues.
Here are some tips for anyone thinking about starting a LinkedIn group to make it grow successfully:
1. Think very carefully about the name of the group. The name of the group should be short but it also needs to describe its purpose to someone who may only look at it for a few seconds. The name is also important as directories are produced of LinkedIn groups that members search
2. Consider if membership of the group will be open to anyone or restricted to members with certain characteristics. LinkedIn gives the ability for the leader of the group to admit or refuse membership of the group
3. Devise a comprehensive welcome email to new members. When members join they should receive a welcome email giving details of the purpose of the group and how it works. The email should identify what is not allowed in the group; for example, blatant advertising of a members' product or services may be discouraged. Also, it helps to be able to add a personal touch in the email; for example, by identifying how members of the group will benefit by being an active participant
4. Promote the group as widely as possible. There are a number of ways that the group can be promoted. These include on Web sites, in trade publications and, if the group belongs to one company, on the business cards and email signatories of employees. Other ways of building membership of the group include sending emails to business contacts
5. Promote debates and interesting content. In the early stages the owners of the group may need to promote debates and add links to interesting articles and blogs to get the group up and running. As new members see the worth of the group, they will start adding content and the group will then build of its own accord
6. Add polls to stimulate interest. A poll can be added on a topic that is of interest to group members to encourage further participation
7. Issue regular updates on what has been happening in the group to members. The group leader has the ability to send an email to group members at regular intervals highlighting interesting debates and activities that are currently taking place in the group.
The popularity of LinkedIn continues to grow and many organizations and individuals are seeing that there are benefits to having a successful LinkedIn group. By spending time getting the group up and running effectively at the start, the benefits will be even greater as membership and participation grow.
