Last week, I provided the steps for joining a LinkedIn group, the "rules of the road" and how to maximize their marketing power. (See Part 1 here)
This week. I'll discuss how to create a group, and the ways you can use it to market your business or organization.
A LinkedIn Groups Owner's Guide: Research, Create, Attract, Encourage Discussions!
Step 1: Research Before You Act (sound familiar?)
Whenever you set out to create a group on LinkedIn, you need to do some research first. Decide if you want a corporate group - i.e. Spring Metrics Users Group - or a subject matter expert group such as Best Practices in Web Analytics.
Both have their merits, but unless you're a well-known organization, it's usually better to start with a subject matter expert group. This allows you to build brand equity while subtlety marketing your company or service.
If you do decide to create a corporate users group - consider naming it the Official Spring Metrics Users Group - in case others create a group with a similar name. This indicates that the group is run by the corporate entity and is sanctioned by the company.
Next, take some time searching through LinkedIn Groups database of more than 1 million groups to see if there are groups already out there that cover your subject matter. Don't worry if there are, but try to name your group in such a way so that there's no confusion when you start to promote the group.
You also need to decide who will be the owner, and if you will have any managers of the group as well. If you're small just an owner is fine, but if you can add one or two additional people as managers to help coordinate the group.
Occasionally I will create both types of groups for my clients, but only if they have the brand equity and the resources to do both.
Step 2 - Create Your Group
Once you've decided what type of group you want and researched other similar groups it's time to create your group. This is probably the easiest process available on LinkedIn.
Go to the Groups section of LinkedIn and select "Create a Group." Once there you can fill out the one page form to create the group.
Several things to keep in mind:
1. Include a clear and distinctive logo - probably the one you use for your website. You want to appear as professional as possible on LinkedIn.
2. Fill in the Group Name and Description - Here's where SEO terms come in handy. LinkedIn users search for groups just like they search for Jobs, Companies and Answers. Use SEO-friendly terms that will attract your potential customers. For instance, if you're target market is eCommerce - consider naming your group Best Practices in eCommerce Marketing and Sales.
3. Determine who has access to your group. You can set up your group so that people are automatically accepted as a member or need to be approved for membership. I recommend the latter, so that you have control over potential spammers (usually those with zero connections).
4. Make your group either an Open group - where anyone can post discussions and participate or a Members Only group - where only members can participate. Again I recommend the latter to avoid spammers and marketing abuses.
That's it! Click the button at the bottom and you have a group!
One caveat - this is an overview of the group creation process - and meant to cover the basics. I create and manage groups on LinkedIn for clients and we spend time working on a strategy for creating the right group and how to run it in much more detail.
Step 3 - Attract New Members and Promote the Group
Okay, you've created a group - now what? Unlike the baseball field in Field of Dreams, if you build a LinkedIn Group they won't necessary come and join, you must take time to attract new members.
If you've create a corporate or organizational group - request that employees who are on LinkedIn join the group. You can also "pre-approve" LinkedIn members who have a certain email domain. So, if you work for iContact you can list @icontact.com as a domain that is preapproved to join the group.
Include a link to your new group in all your marketing materials and customer-facing correspondence. This includes your contact page on your website, email signatures and press releases. Include it on your Twitter bio for your organization too. By the way, when creating the group you can check a box that will send out a Twitter announcement about the new group too!
If you are comfortable doing so, you can allow members of your group to invite their connections to join. This feature is available in the "Manage" section of the group's page. It's a great way to get your members to help you promote the group.
Finally (and again I'm just scratching the surface on this) as group owner (or manager) you can send personal invitations to your LinkedIn connections with a link to join the group. Called "Send Invitations" this is found on the Manage section as well.
One note - take some time to become familiar with the Manage section - it's the hub of Group ownership and important for everything from approving members to sending out announcements.
Step 4 - Create and Encourage Discussions
Now that you've researched and created the LinkedIn group and you've added new members, you need to make sure the community is active and members are posting, commenting on, and sharing discussions.
One quick and easy way to start discussions is by inviting members to introduce themselves. Post a discussion asking to tell the group about themselves and their business or organization. Include in the original post who you are and what your company is all about.
If you have a blog for your organization - you can add a news feed to the group that will set up each blog post as a discussion in your LinkedIn Group.
Monitor the group and look for key members who are influencers or have blogs of interest. Encourage them to post a discussion and include links to their blogs.
As owner of the group, you have control of the discussions. If you're uncomfortable with a subject, don't approve it for posting. I would encourage you to set up discussions so that they have to be approved - at least for the first month or so - to avoid random or spam posts.
If you are successful, within a month or so the group should be posting on their own without a lot of heavy lifting on your part. LinkedIn Groups are really communities - and if you encourage discussions the community will step up and participate.
Final Thoughts
Successful groups on LinkedIn have membership numbers in the tens of thousands, with a marketing reach far beyond that number. Set goals for group membership and the number of discussions posted.
Being a group owner is a serious responsibility. You need to insure that members respect the group and its rules. Be sure to monitor activity and keep the conversations positive.
As I mentioned last week, I truly believe that Groups is one of the most powerful marketing tools you can use on LinkedIn. You have the opportunity to target potential customers, build brand equity and promote your organization in a dynamic and very effective way.
If you have questions on LinkedIn, send them to me and I'll endeavor to answer them in future columns. Want to connect on LinkedIn? Send me an invite and I'll gladly accept your invitation!