Are you involved in groups on LinkedIn? If not, I highly recommend that you join and become active in at least a handful. The other members can be a great source of information. They may help you get ready for an interview, find a job, research a topic, prepare a proposal, or discuss issues of interest. The information in this post is drawn from the section on groups in the LinkedIn help center.

Purpose of LinkedIn Groups

Among the main purposes of LinkedIn groups is to provide a place for professionals in the same industry or with similar interests to share content, ask questions and offer answers, post and view jobs, make business contacts, and establish themselves as industry experts.

LinkedIn offers many ways to promote your business, yourself, and your ideas to whatever audience you want to target. Groups are not one of them. Groups exist to help members build relationships through direct communication about topics and ideas.

 

Become Part of the Conversation

• Explore the latest discussions on the conversation page and see which ones you might like to participate in – then add your thoughts or add a related question to spark further interaction.
• Don’t see anything that triggers your interest? Start your own conversation.
• Share information from other sites as part of an ongoing discussion or as a way to begin your own. Just remember, you can’t put the URL into the title of your conversation.

 

Message a Group Member Directly

You can send a message to a group member without being connected to that person on LinkedIn. However, there are limits:

• You can send 15 free 1:1 messages to fellow group members each month. This limit is set for all the groups you belong to and not for each group individually, so that’s 15 messages per month, not per group. If you try to send a 16th, you’ll see an error message that will remain until the new month begins.
  • Save your unsent messages as you may want to send them the following month and LinkedIn doesn’t automatically do that. You have to do it yourself.
• Only the original message is counted towards the limit. Once you receive a reply, no matter how many messages you exchange with that person as part of the conversation connected with your initial message, do not count toward your 15 message allotment.
• You must be a member of a group for at least four days and a member of LinkedIn for at least 30 days take advantage of this feature.

 

How to Send a Direct Message to a Fellow Group Member

• Move your cursor over Interests at the top of your homepage, select Groups, and then click on My Groups.
• Click on the name of the group in the My Groups dropdown.
• Click on the number of members in the group (right under the group name).
• Under the words Member List, you will see a search box where it says “find a member.” Just type the name of group member you want to message into this box.
• Notice that there is an envelope icon that appears to the right of the box with this person’s name and number.
• Click that envelope icon to send a message to this member.

• This link will appear only if the member you want to contact permits the receipt of messages from group members.

• Your inbox will appear.
• Create your message and click on the send button.

 

How About You?

What has been your experience with LinkedIn groups? Have you expanded your business network by being a member? Have you gained more knowledge in your field of expertise from fellow members?

 

About Joyce

Joyce Feustel helps people, especially those age 50 and up, become more effective using social media, especially Facebook, LinkedIn, Pinterest, and Twitter. She provides social media tutoring and training to business owners, business development professionals, authors, speakers, coaches, business consultants, job seekers, and many others. Find her at www.boomerssocialmediatutor.com.