LinkedIn may not be your first thought when thinking about the marketing moves that are going to launch your business, but maybe you should. In every business, the idea of meeting the right people that open the right doors is hugely important.

1. Social Media Courses
LinkedIn Groups Training Article
Meet New Partners, Prospects And Other Connected People In
LinkedIn Groups
LinkedIn may not be your first thought when thinking about the marketing moves that are going
to launch your business, but maybe you should. In every business, the idea of meeting the right
people that open the right doors is hugely important.
When I opened my designer jeans company online, I joined a retail fashion group. It had over
6,500 members at the time, including all the big fashion editors and writers. The gentleman who
started and owned that group contacted me and wanted to talk about my business. After a brief
conversation, he had agreed to take my launch press release and put it out to every member of
the group along with my summary of the company. From there, I found new connections who
provided tremendous advice for making decision in the retail world. I was getting help in
running my business, connections to fashion editors, contacts with big time bloggers and all I
had done is sign up for the group and take a few calls.
The bottom line to this story is that you should be open to making connections that make
connections. If you are a local massage therapist, making connections to local hotels to service
their clientele could be powerful. If you sell health and wellness products, then relationships
with doctors, nutritionists, and pharmacists could really help your networking, reputation and
trust. Think about who could help you grow your business. And if you are in a business that
offers a business-to-business solution, then you can even find clients directly. LinkedIn groups
are pretty amazing tools, as long as you know to use them efficiently.
Getting Started
If you have not created a profile on LinkedIn, then it is time to do so. Just go
to http://www.linkedin.com/home and you will be presented with an opportunity to join as
shown below.

2. This article is not about creating a profile, but there are tips in the other articles in this LinkedIn
Training Curriculm. The best bet is to make sure that you use all the opportunities to add links,
get recommendations and spend the right amount of time on the description of what you do for
a living right now. This is what everyone else on LinkedIn is going to see, and therefore how they
will know you during first introductions
Joining a LinkedIn Group
You can either join a LinkedIn group or create one yourself. This article is going to be about
joining a LinkedIn group. Starting your own group is an advanced concept that doesn’t always
work out very well.
There are two types of groups, “member only” and “open groups” on LinkedIn. In open groups,
you can see and join discussions without first becoming a member.
To join a group, first click on the groups link in the main navigation, then on the groups directory
tab.

3. After conducting a search, click into one of displayed groups, you are instantly greeted with an
opportunity to connect with others in that group that are one or two connections on LinkedIn
way from you.
This is a great way to meet new people in groups that are important to you, through people who
are already in your network. It really starts to take the barriers out of meeting relevant new
people (see the images below). If you see group members that you would like to connect with,
then click on their name. From their profiles you can then click on the “Get introduced through a
connection” link.
That link will bring up a form for you to fill out that contains the person that you are already
connected to at the bottom. You can send that person a special message requesting this new
connection. They have to approve making that new connection.
By the way, this can all be done without actually joining any group. In other words, this is a great
strategy for finding prospects in certain niches, who you are interested in meeting, who you also
have a significant opportunity to be introduced to. Just follow steps one through three below.

4. Jo
ining A Group
From the directory listings, you can join any group by clicking the title of that group and then on
the big yellow “Join Group” button on the following page. From there you will be given options
to select the settings for how you want to receive information from the group and its members.

5. Once you click on the blue “Join Group” button above, you will be taken to a screen that has a
list of your groups. The group that you just joined will have your membership pending based on
approval by the group’s owner or managers.
Interacting Within Groups
So lets take a quick look at the group interface. Once you have joined your group, you will see
the group’s overview page. You will notice six tabs, of which we will discuss the three main tabs
(below.)
Discussions – Interact with other members and get involved in group discussions! Just find a
discussion that you’d like to participate in or start a new one on your own. Starting a discussion
with the right topic can be a great way to find prospects based on who is interested in the
discussion and responds.

6. Members – Start browsing and get connected! Click the members tab and you have the ability to
search the member base or just start browsing. Anyone you see in the list you can scroll over
and choose to send a message.

7. Search – Find the keywords that are most meaningful to targeting great prospects from within
the group, and use them to search for discussions and people that are even more targeted as
prospects for your business.
You can get consumed in working in LinkedIn Groups. Have a strategy going in. Perhaps choose
to get daily digests by email when you join the group. That will keep you up to speed. And if
there is an interesting article or discussion, join in.
Limit your time, use the email digests, ask pointed questions and you will gain knowledge
wisdom and new contacts.
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