Should I post into LinkedIn Groups?

The short and simple answer to the question is ‘Yes!’ You should definitely post in LinkedIn groups. However, there are a few important things to remember. You need to provide value and not just see a group as an opportunity to post glorified sales pitches all the time.

Here are a few tips to get the most out of LinkedIn groups…

Post engaging and relevant content

Of course, this is an absolute non-negotiable and a no-brainer. The message is the same as it would be for posting on any social media platform, or for any aspect of any content marketing strategy.  At the end of the day, it all comes down to content: it needs to be relevant and engaging, ideally new; and always providing value for your audience.

Quality not quantity

Again, this is pretty obvious and another point that really applies to all social channels. You should never just aim to clutter up people’s news feeds. They might see your name a lot – but you want your name to be associated with quality content; not with endless, pointless posting.

It’s also worth keeping tabs on the level of engagement your posts are getting. Take a step back and have a rethink if there is no engagement at all.

Be humble and stay professional

By all means you should engage with posts when you believe that you can bring something to the table and have something useful to contribute to the conversation. Just be mindful that nobody likes anyone who comes across as a know-it-all or somebody who always has to have their say.

Being friendly and informal is fine. Nobody wants a LinkedIn Group that is overly stuffy and formal, after all. Having said that, you need to be professional at all times. To this end, it makes sense to avoid posting content/comments that are controversial or particularly contentious. Negativity is a definite turn-off too. Stay positive instead.

Be natural and genuine

You need to come across as genuine in a LinkedIn group. Your posts and contributions need to appear to be natural and not forced in any way. Keep things varied and mix things up from time to time.

Ultimately, you should always ask yourself what value you will be adding to the group by posting content or commenting on someone else’s posts. If you are not adding value, don’t do it. You should never just post for the sake of it – and if you feel the need to post any content that is even vaguely ‘salesy’ or promotional, it should be done so very sparingly indeed.

It’s worth remembering the method made famous by entrepreneur/social media guru, Gary Vaynerchuk: ‘Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook.’ In his book of the same name, Vaynerchuk explains that the ‘jabs’ are the value that you add – in this case, the content and posts you share in a LinkedIn group. The ‘right hook’ is the ‘ask’ – the moment you go in for a sale.

But, as Vaynerchuk says, ‘You gotta throw some jabs before you throw your right hook.’