Use LinkedIn and Facebook Groups for Professional Networking

If you are not already participating in LinkedIn Groups and Facebook Groups you might want to start hanging out here from time to time. Identify a number of groups that are relevant to your niche or which are full of potential customers as they resonate with your target audience and start engaging.

By engaging in relevant groups you can start interacting by joining the conversation, posting and sharing relevant content and valuable information as you would do in any networking environment. By spending time in relevant (and active) groups you can start making new connections and developing relationships with them. If you haven’t identified a good group or you think there a gap in the market you might want to even launch your own professional group.

Here are some quick tips for getting the most out of using groups:

01 Engage

Engage in active conversations and contribute to the community. This allows you to get to know the audience within the group. It helps you understand their needs and how you might be able to answer their questions and help them out. As always it is important to be authentic and work on building relationships through engagement and communication.

02 Share Content

Use Groups to share content and find ideas for new content. Keep an eye on what content gets the most engagement from the group community what they like and comment on. This can help you identify what you should be talking about to reach your audience and how you can help people more.

03 Share Events and Announcements

While you will want to keep overly salesy messages to a minimum (check group rules). You should still share valuable information. This might include promoting and sharing events and annoucements in an authentic and informative way.

04 Cross Promote

If it is your own group or group participants are encouraged to share blog posts and content, make sure you are cross-promoting content that you are producing elsewhere to help share with your audience/network. As groups are more about the discussion also be prepared to discuss your content further.

Further Reading:

• G is for… Groups (LinkedIn Groups)
• Use Social Media Groups to Increase Your Visibility
• F is for… Facebook