For me 2016 has been a year of invaluable connections. The professionals I’ve connected with, and the people I’ve collaborated with through LinkedIn, have brought me closer to reaching some of my goals much faster than I had anticipated. That said, a LinkedIn resource I have yet to use to it's full potential is LinkedIn groups.
I have received advice and have found great content in various group in the past, but, I couldn't help but wonder what would be possible with an active group of entrepreneurs dedicated to helping one another with advice, and in solving problems when they needed it?
I decided to ask other entrepreneurs about their experiences and I quickly realized how powerful LinkedIn groups can be and decided to start ENTRPRENEUR Life Line.
To prime your enthusiasm for 2017, and to align your thoughts with how you can use LinkedIn groups, I have some great ideas from some amazing entrepreneurs.
Support
"I am part of a private LinkedIn community of change makers who are all women.
Within the group are Fortune 500 execs, authors, and even speakers from The Makers. It is a community of support, inspiration and change making.
When I joined the group, I had about 60 clients and $15k in revenue. In less than 6 months with the support of my group we have connected with thousands of women, are on track to hit $200k, increased my pricing of my coaching by 300% and am now on a college speaking tour to 25 Universities.
The group shared press contacts with me, taught me how to market to parents (because many are fabulous moms), urged and helped me apply to be a Ted Speaker, offered input on my pricing structure etc. It has been life changing and has allowed me to change the lives of hundreds of other girls." -Rachael Bozsik, CEO and Founder of The Brand Girls
Insight
Audience insight. Join groups tailored to your target audience and get a glimpse into their interests, needs, and common questions.
"The biggest benefit I have experienced from being a LinkedIn group member as an entrepreneur is feedback from other like-minded entrepreneurs and successful business owners. As most entrepreneurs know, a lot of times you are on your own. This includes getting feedback on ideas and projects you’re looking to launch. Being a member of various LinkedIn groups, I’ve found that being in a group setting with other like-minded individuals has helped me to solve problems faster and move my business forward. At the same time, I’ve found that it is very empowering to be able to also give back and help answer questions other members might have as well." -Christian Karasiewicz, CEO and Founder of Social Chefs
"The biggest benefit I have experienced being a member of these industry LinkedIn groups is the great input I receive from group members when I am considering new features or capabilities to add to our software. We do ask our customers for feedback, but extending beyond our customer base for input is vital so that we are expanding our product to meet the growing needs of all event professionals and not just our customer base, which is a small sampling compared to the number of events professionals on LinkedIn." -Jeff Kear, Planning Pod
Advice
This is where the power comes in. Getting advice from professionals that can help when you need it.
"The advice I get from being in a LinkedIn group, has been amazing. This weekend another member asked the group for advice on ways to obtain new clients. I read all 35 responses and implemented them today, and by lunch time I had an appointment to meet with a possible new client." -GinaRiley Clearview Bookkeeping, Inc.
Collaboration
"In my experience, the best value of working in a LinkedIn group is the collaboration in brainstorming. As a start-up, I look for many ways to grow my company into new fields, and the LinkedIn groups are great inspirations." -AJ Saleem, Academic Director, Suprex Tutors Houston
Peers
Learn from your experienced peers. Group members share insights, and you can learn a lot by reading through fellow members’ posts.
"Our company, Scorely has learned about creative marketing tactics from participating in Linkedin group discussions. There was a post about using a feature on Facebook that we weren't previously using that helped our conversion rate triple. The groups on Linkedin have helped us grow much faster." -Shawn Porat, Co-CEO of Scorely
Validation
"I follow comments on groups avidly as it gives me an indication of whether what I am doing is right or if I need to change things. Additionally as many people of groups share my interest areas I get more honesty than from closer connections." -Armin Hierstetter, CEO of bodalgo
Extend your network
One of the great benefits of getting involved in Groups is the extended networking opportunities you are exposed to beyond just your inner circle of current colleagues and friends. By actively participating in discussions – sharing your thoughts on a new development in the industry, or about a new way you have managed to solve a particular problem – you’ll build yourself a reputation within that particular industry.
"LinkedIn has allowed me to quickly establish connections in areas, both geographical and corporate, I could never have before. Thanks to LinkedIn groups, I could connect and meet with influential people across multiple continents in specific industries. Something like this would have been impossible just 10 years ago." -Ron Ben-Zeev, entrepreneur, professor, and founder of World Housing Solution
"LinkedIn groups are invaluable, especially alumni groups for companies and organizations. That's how I've managed to establish a roster of talent at my company." - Mark Organ, CEO, Influitive
"A reporter, Jessica Silver-Greenberg with the Wall Street Journal found my LinkedIn profile. She was researching a piece on the role Native American Indian tribes play in the payday loan space by employing their sovereign nation status.
The result? A portion of my comments made to Jessica resulted in a quotation attributed to me and my consulting company. Following this, Allen Parker, a tribal consultant who read the Wall Street Journal front page article, reached out to me in order to collaborate on a tribal lending online company. I made tens of thousands of dollars in referral fees.
More? A lender received a letter of termination from their bank. Basically, they had 15 days to find a new bank willing to service their $150M online loan portfolio. Via LinkedIn, the lender found me, reached out and I secured a new bank for them. My fee? $40K; took less than an hour of my time! 2 phone calls." -Jer Trihouse, Trihouse Consulting
Establish yourself as an industry leader
By regularly posting insights and great content, you’ll be seen by your peers as an industry leader. If that is a little far off from now, you will at least boost exposure for your profile: according to LinkedIn, Group participants who comment on a discussion get four times the number of profile views.
"I belong to a number of small and mid-market business groups. As I've established an authoritative and objective voice (posting how to articles and trend pieces) about advertising and marketing for this niche, I have become that guy who know his stuff and understands our challenges. More importantly this had lead to new clients!" -StevenDubin, PR Works
Reach
Reach new audiences. Posting in groups can spread your company’s name and content to an audience who otherwise may be unfamiliar with you.
"Content marketing is a big part of SEO these days and getting your content in front of the right audience is key. LinkedIn groups provides an avenue to do that and also to see what others in your niche are writing and talking about.” - Matt Herrera CEO -Foiply
Networking
With professional groups, you’ll be exposed to a wide range of professionals you otherwise might not come into contact with. When they interact with your post, you can send them a friendly message to connect and discuss the topic further. It’s a more personable way to acquire new connections across cyberspace.
"Recently a LinkedIn group membership helped me obtain a speaking gig at last year's Global Big Data Conference in the Silicon Valley. It turns out that the conference organizers were browsing through various data science groups on LinkedIn looking for group members with impressive credentials in the local area who would be willing to speak." -Matt Bentley, Founder, CanIRank
"LinkedIn Groups have been extremely beneficial to me for networking purposes. For example, I'm a member of a group called Copywriters International, where I have both found writers to work on my sites, and found freelance writing jobs for myself." -Eric Brantner, founder of Scribblrs.com
If you are ready to maximize the groups you are part of, be active, bring value to the group, help those that ask for it when you can.
Remember -in the land of the blind, the one eyed man is king. One small piece of advice that may seem trivial to you may help others in a BIG WAY. On the other side of the coin, you will have a support when you need it most.