A couple days ago I spoke on LinkedIn’s Groups and Answers features to members of Business Women for Women, a Denver area networking and education group for women business owners. Since there were so many questions about Groups, I figured it was time to write a blog post on this topic.

Have you found your way to LinkedIn yet? I hope so, because this professionally oriented social media site truly has something for everyone.  Plus it is SO much more than simply a place to post your resume and ask for recommendations.

When you are a member of Group on LinkedIn, you can connect with anyone else in that group (depending on their settings for that group) even if you don’t have their email. Being part of a group is great “conversation starter” when you reach out to someone with whom you would like to connect.

One of the first groups I joined after I got active on LinkedIn was the Official Toastmasters International Members Group. Through this group I have both contributed my own perspective and experiences as well as learned from other members of this group.

Because of this group I am connected with hundreds of Toastmasters from all over the world, many of whom I would never have met if it hadn’t been for LinkedIn. These Toastmasters don’t only provide me with ideas for public speaking and leadership. They have shared business tips, networking ideas, and other practical information.

These people are my tribe, at least one of my tribes. Who are your tribes?

The next time you are on LinkedIn, go to the Groups tab on your Home page. Then click on “Groups Directory” and type in a key word or two. The most natural ones to use are the skill words you have listed, as well as the words you list as your specialties in the summary section of your profile.

But don’t limit yourself to the words associated with what you do for a living. Think of your equivalent to my Toastmasters group – maybe it is Rotary International, or perhaps a group relating to a hobby like golf. I just checked, and there is a group called “Linked Golfers” that currently has 19,247 members!

When you find a group that you might join, you will see the photo, name and headline of your connections who are in this group.  Unless you are sure you want to join the group, consider contacting your connections to see what they think about the group before you opt to join the group. Some groups allow you to join simply by clicking on the “Join Group” tab. Other groups have a group manager who must review your profile prior to allowing you to join the group.

LinkedIn allows you to join up to 50 groups. I currently belong to 48 groups, but I am active in just a handful of them. I adjust my settings for that group to avoid getting bombarded with emails from the group in terms of notices of group discussions, or emails from the group manager. If I don’t want to do anything other than allow members of the group to contact me, then in the settings for that group, I unclick everything other than:

  • Display the group logo on my profile, and
  • Allow members of this group to send me messages via LinkedIn.

There’s so much more to say about Groups, but I will save those thoughts for another post.

Readers, please share your experiences and questions regarding the Groups feature on LinkedIn, and I hope each of you finds a least one tribe!