LinkedIn, as you must already know, is a social media platform meant strictly for professional connections. It offers ample opportunities to connect with potential customers or clients for your business - all the more reason why you should have a LinkedIn group strategy in place.
To be more specific, you can get the most out of this social media platform by joining a LinkedIn group.
This blog post explains what a LinkedIn group is, how it can help your business, some of the best groups to join, and how to join one. Keep reading to find out more!
What Is a LinkedIn Group?
A LinkedIn group is a dedicated community of like-minded professionals for meaningful networking and seeking advice. They offer a place to meet new people, exchange knowledge, and discover opportunities for your business.
How can LinkedIn Groups Help Your Business?
LinkedIn groups provide a venue for small business owners to connect with other entrepreneurs. These entrepreneurs may be able to help you achieve your business goals.
As a LinkedIn group member, you can gain insights into what is working and what is not, for other businesses. The groups also offer an opportunity for you to learn ideas and solutions to problems faced by others within your industry.
Secondly, interacting with group members can help you find new clients, customers, or even business partners. Being active in relevant groups in your industry allows you to connect with people who may need your services.
Turning it the other way around, you can also use a LinkedIn group to find candidates for a job at your company.
Finally, you can use LinkedIn groups to drive traffic to your blog or website. Once your latest blog post is published, sharing it in groups can help increase the blog’s reach.
Of course, the website or blog link you share must be relevant to the group and its members. For example, promoting a digital marketing website on a finance group page is not a good idea.
How to Find LinkedIn Groups to Join
- Enter a group’s name directly in the search bar.
2. Tap the “Groups” filter option on the LinkedIn search results page.
3. From the list of LinkedIn Groups appearing on the screen, click on the one you want to join.
How to Join a LinkedIn Group
If you want to leverage LinkedIn for business marketing, follow these steps to join a group:
- Go to a LinkedIn group’s profile or home page.
- Click on the “Join” button.
You may also find a “Request to join” button, instead of “Join”. In this case, your joining request goes to the Group Admins after you click on that button.
If they find that you are a good fit for their group, they will accept your request to make you a group member.
Another way of joining a group on LinkedIn is to get someone to invite you to their group. When you get a notification to that effect on your “My Network” page, simply click the “Accept” button.
The Best LinkedIn Groups for Business
Here are some of the best LinkedIn groups to join for business discussions:
1. Harvard Business Review Discussion Group 
This is one of the best groups you can join on LinkedIn, with over 2.4 million members. They feature thoughtful discussions on bettering productivity and decision-making.
Although posting on this group is limited to the staff of Harvard Business Review (HBR) and their contributors, any group member can comment on posts.
2. Small Business Network by Entrepreneurs HQ
A network for founders, small business owners, and entrepreneurs, it is one of the largest small business LinkedIn groups. Through this group, you can meet consultants, marketing agency owners, coaches, thought leaders, podcasters, and event hosts.
You can also find finance, legal, loans, accounting, and insurance software on joining this group. It is a platform where you can share advice and ideas on basically the entire digital marketing landscape.
3. Small Business Accelerator
Members of this group can share with each other marketing tools, best practices, training resources, grant sources, and other information.
The group also organizes online and offline events, such as free webinars, to help the members build successful small businesses.
In the past, they have conducted webinars on Facebook marketing, business website-building, Twitter marketing, and other relevant topics.
4. Marketing Pros
The Marketing Pros group is dedicated to discussing the best practices for using effective marketing to grow your business.
Members can share their ideas and opinions on different marketing areas, including inbound marketing, content marketing, advertising, Search Engine Optimization (SEO), brand management, email marketing, public relations, and growth hacking.
5. Startup Specialists Network
This LinkedIn group claims to be one of the largest communities catering to small businesses and startups. Members include venture capitalists, mentors, startup marketers, coaches, female founders, investors, recruiters, and the like.
As a member of this group, you can find out how to build your small business from the ground up. It gives you the chance to learn from other successful business owners and startup leaders who have already walked the path.
6. SME Finance Forum
Managed by the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the Forum’s goal is to extend financial access to small and medium-sized businesses.
Members share knowledge and promote the growth of SMEs by bringing together technology companies and development finance institutions.
However, the group bans direct sales pitches, such as self-promotional posts or paid product promotions.
7. Customer Service Champions
It is one of the most well-known LinkedIn groups for professionals who believe customer experience and service drive every organization toward success.
The group encourages members to share must-have skills, concepts, ideas, and principles every customer service professional needs to embody.
You can also discuss trends and innovations in the customer service industry.
Conclusion: Perfecting Your LinkedIn Group Strategy
If you want to get better at managing your small business, you need to create and implement a LinkedIn group strategy. Start by entering keywords or phrases to search for groups matching your interests and your industry. You can also join alumni groups to build more connections and expand your network.
Keep in mind, though, that simply joining a LinkedIn group is not enough. You cannot maximize the potential for social selling and building meaningful connections without being an engaged and active group member.
For that, you need time. However, if time is not on your side, no worries! Simply reach out to the Digital Marketing Experts at MyTasker. They can observe the LinkedIn group conversations and join in on your behalf to help you grow your business.
