1) If all you do is show up with an “Entertain me circus boy” attitude. Get involved, start a discussion, give someone an AMEN but stop looking at the groups like they owe you some entertainment. Its up to you to create the experience.
2) If your idea is to show up and throw up. People simply despise shameless self promotion. Plus you look like a tool. Seriously . . . you do!
3) If you start a discussion and then bail. Stick around and facilitate your discussions. Would you do that in real life? Walk in a room, ask a question and then poof, you leave? Psst . . . the more you facilitate, generally, the longer the shelf life of the discussion and get this . . . the longer your discussion stays up on page one and (drum roll) that equal mucho exposure for YOU! I know, awesome, isn’t it! I feel like Flo in those Progressive Car Insurance commercials getting all excited about this stuff!
4) If all you do is join is join your industry groups. How many widgets are other widget purveyors gonna buy from you genius? Branch out. Where is the money? Go there. What are some parallel industries? Example: If I sell sales training, perhaps I should know some HR People and Leadership dudes/dudettes. Then I need to go where they hang out. No? By all means join a few sales groups. Sales people are on the front line and offer insight on what’s going on right now in this crazy economy. Oh, sales people, other sales people can help you get in! Don’t forget to join local groups and even groups where you frequently travel to.
5) If the group manager is absentee. This one bothers me to no end. I run a very successful group on Linkedin Sales Playbook and I love tilting my gun sideways and bustin caps in the asses of spammers, combatives and just a holes in general. If you belong to a group and it resembles Dodge City . . . voice your opinion and if that doesn’t work . . . go reward one of the more than 250,000 other groups with your participation.
6) If you have unrealistic expectations. You are building relationships, trust and all that good stuff . . . not a quicky in the alley. Don’t ever forget that!
7) If you are inconsistent with your efforts. Farming is a daily activity my friend and showing up today, chilling for two weeks, then going hot and heavy and chilling again, doesn’t work.
The best part of all of this, is that you are in control. Linkedin is simply what you choose to put into it. Nothing more brochocho!
Here’s a Free (as in no strings attached) E-Book with 21 Ways For You to Master Linkedin You’re welcome 🙂
Come join us on Linkedin. We have 20,000 + very cool people, with pure discussions . . . no spam! http://linkd.in/bLb2H5
Paul Castain is the Vice President of Jedi Mastery for Castain Training Systems where he works with organizations and individuals to achieve higher levels of performance. For more information on how Paul can help you and your company click here dude.
Paul with the gun tilted sideways bustin’ caps…Love the visual!
Always an inspiration and informative, Paul! Value-added. In fact, you are the one that inspired me to where I am today with LinkedIn. I Thank you, sir!
As for the groups, well, difficult. Engaging, and then waiting, checking, still no, two days by and then a response? Don’t we all have other obligations and duties…and then, frequently, in the same regard, one has to go to bed sometimes…
Well done
Gotta admit I am sitting here with guilt written all over my face on a couple of these. Thanks for the reminder that our experiences are only as good as we make them.
Shawn
I agree, there are to many farmers and not enough hunters. Everyone wants something for nothing, you want it go earn it!!!!
@ Jeanine: 🙂
@ Leonardo: You made my day and yes we have other obligations. This can all fit nicely in the “make some time to build your brand daily” department.
@ Pete: Thank you!
@ Shawn: I’ve really learned a lot about Linkedin over the last few years. Not because I’m smart, but because I’ve made numerous mistakes. We are all a work in progress my friend!
@ Tov: We certainly do need to give before we get.
Thank you all for stopping by to contribute!
Much appreciation!
Paul
Paul,
As always another great rant! I admire the way you go after something and not stopping until you get it like any Sales Rock Star should!
Here’s to your daily inspiration Paul!
Cheers!
Instruments suck just according to how you use them. Sometimes however if you use them wrong, you have the perception they suck per se, no matter what. It’s the kind of mistakes we have to avoid at all costs.
I am SO guilty of the “show up for a few days on LinkedIn, then disappear for a few weeks” syndrome. Totally recognized myself in this situation – I’ve been blog-spanked. Will not continue with this bad behaiour!
Thanks Paul – super blog.
LA
Regarding #5, I’ve got a few tips that are gospel. I know you, Paul. You manage well, as I do. My group grew so fast, but more notably had dialogue so engaging that more than a few discussions had hundreds of comments (one had 700+). The group became too large and engaged to manage alone but it does still exist although hidden for now. The group was also contacted directly by LinkedIn to test the beta version of the new format we see and use today. We don’t love all of it, but at least we had a say (and I’m still in that group discussion).
It annoys me to see so many groups boasting large memberships but with thousands of posts and not even one comment. A lazy manager can ruin what could be a good group but I genuinely believe most don’t realize that it is a serious task to undertake. Co-managers can be great and I still lend myself to other groups that want my assistance growing and engaging their groups.
A few more tips are outlined in a blog post of mine (http://bit.ly/gI2JED LinkedIn Groups 101: Design Your Group *BEFORE* Sending Invitations) but I’ll share a few here. Feel free to read and share a comment there if you’d like.
Outline your group rules. While you will want to post them within the group, include them in the automated welcome message template, too. People who are going to spam your group won’t stop to read rules. If you’re very explicit in your rules in your welcome message template, they’ll at least review that first as they’ll receive it in email as soon as they’re accepted.
Once you’ve got your group all set and members are joining, keep your content fresh by culling discussions with minimal comments. For CWC we decided discussions with less than 5 comments after a month would be deleted. This is good for your group. First, when new members join, they aren’t left to dig through old posts that generated no interest. Secondly, all members get to see what subjects work and don’t and can follow suit to keep the conversations going.
There are other secrets that I didn’t share in the article but groups such as Forbes Woman are using today. Make your group sticky by engaging members and be sure that YOU, as the owner, comment on just about every post, too. It lets members know you’re not just promoting what it is you are, but that you’re also listening. A good debate is healthy for a group.One other quick tip. Group owners often try to be diplomatic and democratic about how they run their groups. They ask questions in discussions and want opinions about what other members want, would like to see, etc.Better to use LinkedIn Polls. There is no way in the world to easily poll results, especially for larger groups. Polls give you enough options to slice up your results and see what’s popular with whom. Age, profession, etc. Use them to your advantage. Why do you think magazines often have surveys and polls? Because people enjoy the voting and seeing the results live. So entertain your members and get useful information, too!