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How to Make the Most Out of Your LinkedIn Groups

January 15, 2009
By: Randi Bussin-Career Coach, Personal Branding Specialist

How to Make the Most Out of Your LinkedIn Groups

When LinkedIn launched its new Groups Directory last year, the business-oriented social networking Web site opened up a wealth of possibilities for new professional connections for you. Would you believe more than 90,000 possibilities? Well, that’s how many groups LinkedIn has available.

Through an easy search function (by keyword or category), you can quickly access information about many groups that might interest you. And, many that you might want to join. This can enhance your networking capabilities and improve your professional contacts for your job search or career reinvention.

If you’re interested in professional advancement, promotion, investigating a new field, or just keeping up on your career, networking is always considered one of the most important factors—if not the most important factor—to use to achieve your goals. And, one of the best ways to do this is through a variety of professional associations and alumni organizations, or attending conferences related to your career.

LinkedIn can improve your professional contacts through the directory function. However, with 90,000 possibilities, how do you make the most of this feature? First, you must get organized to take the best advantage of these opportunities. You don’t want to request to join a bunch of groups without investigating whether they can truly help your professional development.

Here are a couple of steps to take initially:

1.      Consider what groups (size, type) would benefit you the most

2.      Decide on which type to join—professional, networking, corporate, alumni, etc.

3.      Search the Groups Directory by keyword or category

4.      Review the overview of groups you might be interested in

5.      Be selective, don’t join any group without thinking it through

And, that is the key. You’ll be wasting your time if you join 25 groups, but don’t have time to work with any of them. You would be much better off joining three to five groups to start—perhaps one of each of the following: professional, conferencing, networking, corporate, and alumni—and become involved with them.

You can make new professionals contacts, join different discussion groups, exchange messages and queries, and sign up for a professional conference or seminar. These activities will help you grow your personal professional brand, extend your professional network, and not spread yourself out too thin.

Joining some LinkedIn groups will help you establish your professional network, stay in touch with your group associates more easily, and help you discover additional business contacts inside and outside your groups. If you start joining groups in a deliberate, organized fashion, you will eventually be able to expand the number of groups you’re involved with, and, thus, continue to expand your professional network.

©2010, Randi Bussin, Aspire!

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