I have a love-hate relationship with LinkedIn Groups. I love them because I've gotten a lot of business from being active in them, but I highly dislike them at times, because there's a lot of activity that's likely not generating an ounce of business for anyone.
So let's imagine for a moment, a world where every LinkedIn Group is filled with active, intelligent, valuable conversations. Well, the reality is, that's never going to happen, because it doesn't happen in real life.
But what we can do, is make an effort to focus on finding the good, and leaving the bad behind.
You must be clear about your objectives for spending time in LinkedIn Groups. And to that point, you need criteria for knowing when a Group is likely to help you meet the objectives you've set forth.
Three of the most common objectives / criteria are the following.
ONE: TO LEARN
There are three primary categories of things to learn.
1. Learn About Your Client's Challenges
If the questions being asked, the dialogue taking place or the articles being shared are helping you better understand the types of challenges your typical client is facing, that is a good group. This intel is going to help you position your solution better.
2. Learn about solutions to your own challenges
If you're in a Group of peers who have the same problems you face, you can learn a lot about how others are handling situations. In a collaborative environment, everyone can learn faster by learning from other's experience.
3. Learn answers to questions you didn't know to ask
A good group is one where people are talking about new ideas and concepts you never thought of before that stimulate new business ideas, technology solutions and relationships.
TWO: LEAD GENERATION
If after interacting in a Group, people are contacting you who are interested in learning more about you, then that's a good Group to continue spending time in.
THREE: PROXIMITY
If you join a Group, you become part of the Network of everyone in that Group. If you want your name to rank higher in a search by your ideal client, be in a Group they are in. Your ideal client will also see that you belong to the same Group by looking on your Profile, which builds immediately familiarity.
If the Groups you participate in meet these three criteria: You're learning, you're attracting leads, and you're in the same Groups as your ideal client or prospects, then those are the Groups to spend more time in.
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