We wrote here about LinkedIn's groups, and how to network through them. An associate of mine told me that it didn't work for him. When I asked him why, I understood his that he came in too strong by putting a link immediately after joining. This was considered spamming, and he paid the price. Here's a lesson for all of us.
Spam- by David, on Flickr.
Joining a LinkedIn group gives you the opportunity to communicate with other members of the group and also to post your content there. My associate was thrilled to find another place to put links to his site.
While this can indeed be a nice platform for receiving quality traffic, from a well targeted group of professionals, this approach doesn't always satisfy the group administrators.
The big mistake that he did was not to read the rules. The group rules strictly stated no links! I believe that if you're a veteran member of such a group, and you make such a sin as leaving a link in the discussion board, you'll probably be forgiven.
Well, my associate was not only hasty not to read the rules, but posted the link within hours of joining the group. This behavior was considered spammy by the group's administrator, that used the strongest possible sanction: a ban from the group.
Not only did my associate lose his chance to post links there, he'll have a much harder time to network with the group's members, now that he's sitting in the corner.
The lesson to everybody is: Don't come too strong! This lesson is good for LinkedIn groups as well as for other social media sites and for face to face meetings. Take things gradually. Don't push your counterpart...
Further reading: Keith Swenson writes about a new kind of spam in LinkedIn groups.
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