The official purpose of LinkedIn Groups is to make networking between professionals easier. However, they are also a fantastic medium for both crowdsourcing and syndicating content.
There are two ways to go about this: creating your own group or engaging an existing group.
Creating a Group
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Advantages: Creating a group gives you many advantages in content distribution. You can use your ability as moderator to give priority to posts and contents linking to your blog or relating to your content. People will also pay more attention to your posts if you are the group founder than if you were engaging an existing group.
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Disadvantages: If you create a group from scratch, you will have to do a lot more work. First off, you will have to work to attract and engage group members. Second, you will have to spend time moderating and managing your group.
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How-to: Read up on group creation and roles on LinkedIn. Choose friends or employees to take on some of the group roles. When you launch your group, promote it by sending messages to your LinkedIn friends. If you can, post messages about your new group through related groups.
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It all comes together. Groups on the Internet usually reach a “critical mass” around the six month mark, when there are enough enthusiastic members to sustain organic growth. At this point, your group will be a syndication platform for your content. By posting content that adds value, you will gain clients. Even better, your group becomes a platform for recruiting guest posters, who can add value and content to your site for free.
Joining a Group
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Make an informed choice. Spend a lot of time deciding which group to join. You should pick groups where your blog will legitimately add value. You want groups that are niche enough to be interested in what you’re saying, but broad enough that your voice will be unique.
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Engage. Engaging is a very different thing from telling. Read before you write. Post content that is on-topic, adds value, and above all, allows for further engagement. Try to start debates about your topic, and preface your posts with “What does everything think about…”
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Discuss. Respond to responses. Notice what kind of content people like. Accept it when you’re wrong. Stubbornness breeds contempt, but humility breeds empathy.
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Keep focused. Only attempt to engage with ten or fewer groups at a time. If one group isn’t working out, give it up and move on. You need the time to do this right.
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It all comes together. Once you develop a reputation as someone who adds value to the discussion, your content will be read and shared by many group members. You can even use the group to recruit guest posters or network with potential brand ambassadors.
