LinkedIn groups can be a great benefit to you company and the industry at large. So, how do you grow them and increase the numbers and engagement in the group?

It’s quite common for LinkedIn groups to slow down and even stop growing with time. Keeping your LinkedIn group at the top of its game can be challenging and ensuring people want to join the discussion and participate can be a constant effort. However, we’ve come up with a number of ways to keep those groups growing.

Emails that Convert

LinkedIn offers you a blank area to send out emails to convert people to followers of your group. The default form is quite uninspiring and offers you a smidgen of a chance of success. Essentially, sending out this email is merely noise. So, if you want to get people to join your group, you’re going to have to change it from the standard email by giving them a good reason. Use your email savvies to help here and encourage people to join your group.

People need reasons that they should join the group and providing them with a USP and providing them with information on what’s in it for them really helps. This should all be placed in a clear and neat email with a clear call to action at the end. This elegant, clear and well written email should see your conversion rates skyrocket and more people joining your group.

LinkedIn Groups

Encourage Engagement

When people join the group, the next step is to encourage engagement and the best way to do this is to send them an email asking them to quickly introduce themselves to the group. This can be done by going to the group page and clicking on ‘Manage’ at the top. Click on the ‘Templates’ option in the left side bar and then the ‘Edit Templates’ area. Create a simple, easy to read message that drives them to engage with the group. This can be automated and leads to proven success.

Email Plan

Setting up a regular email plan and sending it once a week allows you the chance to send announcements and keep your group up to date and engaged. Once again offer them something, so perhaps include links to seminars or content downloads that are industry apt?

If your group is public, then asking people to help spread the news is a good way to help it grow. A click to tweet option is also a good one and encourages followers to share your group by other means.

Discuss

Discussions are the best way to create an engaged, dynamic and ultimately growing group on LinkedIn. LinkedIn is used more in office hours than any other social site and so is seen as work more than entertainment – something Facebook and Twitter aren’t.

At My Social Agency we find that one of the best ways to encourage a dynamic audience is to create and curate content that is intriguing, interesting and valuable and then discusses it. This should resonate with your group. Topical subjects are often best as they create an emotional attachment that resonates with people and encourages them to comment and engage.

Niche

By going for a small group when building a LinkedIn group, you may create a niche group that is not well accounted for online. This can allow you to create a position as an industry leader in a certain area. Going niche allows birds of a feather to flock together and means that your group is far more likely to succeed.

Jacob Byrnes is a writer and a lover of social media and writes on all the different niche and popular social media sites. He enjoys walking his dog and trekking.