Most Popular ArticlesOctober 20, 2009
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LinkedIn is an effective tool for connecting with existing contacts and facilitating introductions to new contacts. Moreover, the site offers opportunities for advisors to market to their target market and centers of influence through LinkedIn groups.
Participating in various groups is one way you can utilize LinkedIn as a marketing tool, but for the more ambitious marketers, having your own group offers even greater opportunities. Creating and administering your own group is a time-consuming tactic, but it increases your exposure to your target market and allows direct access to your group members via LinkedIn email.
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Which Social Media Tool is Right for You?
Before you start your own LinkedIn group, consider who your target market is. Is there a large enough pool of people in your niche on LinkedIn to warrant a specialized group? If not, don’t waste your time. This strategy is a numbers game, so if you don’t have a large enough pool to start with, it won’t work. But if you specialize in a large niche industry, this could be a very productive way to spend your time. In other words, use this strategy to reach employees in the oil and energy industry. Don’t use it to find air conditioning repair people in Nome, Alaska.
Create a group
To start a group, go to the Groups page and “Create a Group.” Fill out all of the profile information requested. When creating a summary and description, make sure you include keywords that your target market would likely search when looking for groups to join. For example, if you work with employees in the healthcare industry, you may want your summary to say, “This group is specifically created for past and present employees in the healthcare industry looking for information about their retirement benefits including employees of HCA, UHS and Kaiser Permanente” (keywords have been underlined). After all of the information has been submitted, you group is live and ready for content and members.
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