Attract and Engage your Target Market in LinkedIn Groups

LinkedIn is one of the most incredible tools for getting your message out in front of people you didn’t know you didn’t know. Groups is a mass marketing opportunity to get seen but one of the biggest mistakes professionals can make is using the groups to advertise, solicit or market their products and services.

To make the most out of discussions within LinkedIn Groups is to educate; talk about what is interesting to your target audience – what do they care about? There are five great ways to do this:

1. Create Polls – Polls in groups let you to ask members in the group a question and list up to 5 answer choices for members to vote on.  We recommend that you ask the question and then write “in comments please tell us why you feel this way” this will allow you to engage individually with professionals interested in your topic. Here is  how to create a pole in a group – From the group’s Discussions tab: 

1. Click Poll next to the Start a Discussion section.
2. Type your question in the Ask a question box.
3. Specify up to 5 answer choices box. Additional boxes will appear after you enter your first choice.

2. Create a Discussion – be sure to ask an engage question or talk about a relevant topic that will interest your prospects. Think about this from their perspective not yours. You can start a discussion from your group’s Discussions page.
   1. Hover over Interests and Click Groups
   2. Click the group’s name
   3. Enter your topic or question in the “Start a discussion or share something with the group” box (required).
   4. Enter details in the “Add more details” box (required).
   5. Attach a link (optional).
   6. Click Share.
3. Share Your Blog – first it is important to have a blog that is educational and is not in any way promotional. It is also terrific to have calls to action at the bottom of each blog so that you can capture the information of your readers. You can share content first on your home page update: You can use the posting block near your photo towards the top of the page.
   1. Click into the text box that says Share an update and type in your remark.
   2. Limited to 600 characters maximum.
   3. To attach a link, type in the URL. Allow a few seconds for a summary to automatically display.
   4. Select an option under Share with:
   5. Select LinkedIn to show the update to everyone in your extended network including your 1st, 2nd, and 3rd degree connections.
   6. Select Connections to show the update to only your 1st degree connections.
   7. Select LinkedIn + Twitter to have your update visible on both your LinkedIn and Twitter accounts. Note: Only the first 140 characters will be visible on Twitter.
4. Post once to your Home Page and then Share to ALL of your groups. By clicking the Share link under your update you will be able to share it in groups. You’ll only be sharing the URL, so be sure to add a subject line and details. When you click the Share link under an update, you’ll have the following options:
   1. Click Share and then click post to groups
   2. Add you subject line and details
   3. Begin alphabetically and type “A” in Group(s) line
   4. Choose from the drop down under each letter. You may choose some or all of your groups – then hit share. You can send to individuals as well, just remember to unclick allow others to see each others’ names so that everyone is blind copied
5. Getting your poll, discussion or blog in the inbox of your prospects – This is key to attracting the right people to your message.  When you are in a group:
   1. Click on Members number at the top right of the group box
   2. Filter your location, prospect title and/or keywords in the search bar above the members i.e. “CEO” AND “Philadelphia”
   3. Then in the search list hover over the right side of each box and click send message:

Dear XXX,

Social Sales Link just posted a blog for Sales Leaders and I thought you might be interested. https://socialsaleslink.com/5-reasons-to-embrace-social-selling – Please let me know your feedback.

Thank you in advance.

Brynne Tillman

People thank us for our education and they are thrilled we have shared it with them. And I am thrilled they have visited our website, know what we do, joined our mailing list, see us as subject matter experts and will someday be our clients or refer us to folks that might need us!

CLICK HERE to watch 5 more LinkedIn tips via video to grow your business.