Social Media Marketing for Dummies by Shiv Singh & Stephanie Diamond

Author:Shiv Singh & Stephanie Diamond [Singh, Shiv]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Internet, Computers, General, Lang:en
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Published: 2012-11-10T11:54:36+00:00

Figure 11-5: Choosing an open or closed group.

If you choose to have an open group, anyone can join. You should be aware that the discussions generated in an open group can be seen by anyone on LinkedIn, not just group members. In addition, the content can be shared on Facebook and Twitter.

Leaders of open groups can decide whether everyone on LinkedIn can participate in discussions or just be able to view them.

The group leader can allow members to invite people to join the group.

As the group leader, you can allow members to seek out new members for the group by sending them invitations. If they accept an invitation from another member, they are instantly accepted.

Leading a successful group

What constitutes a successful group on LinkedIn? It’s one that has value for both you and your members. You may hope to build a personal empire from your LinkedIn group, but the real success comes when your members act like a community. The value of the group comes from the power of the network. As members bring in others from their own network, the power grows. Here are some tactics that will help your group be a success:

Use your weekly e-mail. You are allowed to send only one e-mail a week, so make it count. Think of it as the newsletter you might send to your website mailing list. Provide value and help members discover each other.

Hold the line on promotions. As the leader, you are responsible for making sure that other members aren’t overpromoting and ruining the experience. Nothing is worse that feeling like you are being taken advantage of by other group members.

Encourage comments and discussions. The shared discussions are part of the valuable content your group builds. If you choose an open group, it can be shared on Facebook and LinkedIn. Monitor the groups and stir up some lively discussions.

Use events. As we mentioned previously, LinkedIn has a great event tool. Create some virtual events and have members speak. Get everyone talking about new events. If enough people are interested in the idea, you can hold an in-person conference.

Interest the media. One of your goals for the group should be to help the media find you. Publicity benefits the entire group. Think about having your members create an e-book or manifesto about your topic and let the media know about it. Some social media press releases could also do the trick.

Using LinkedIn Answers

To become a stand-out thought leader on LinkedIn, you’ll want to share your advice. One of the best ways to do that is to use LinkedIn Answers. It can be found in the main navigation on the home page when you click the More tab, as shown in Figure 11-6. LinkedIn users post questions that require a level of expertise to answer. If you provide that answer, you can be perceived as an expert. Demonstrating your expertise is a great way to provide value and get noticed.

Answers also has additional value to a social media marketer.

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