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Why You Should Create Your Own LinkedIn Group
Why You Should Create Your Own LinkedIn Group
Recently we’ve partnered with LinkedIn trainers, Marshall Walker to widen our social media offering. As part of this relationship, we have co-created our own LinkedIn Group. One main reason is because of the change in the way social media is being used. Referral traffic and organic reach have dropped due to algorithm changes, particularly with Facebook. Small businesses are now looking for alternative ways to market their brand, one such way is closed communities such as Facebook and LinkedIn groups.We are in the very early stages of our group but here are our findings so far:
Unlisted Group
In order for us to control who joins the group, we’ve set it up for the time-being as an unlisted group. It will stop spammers from taking over and we can keep an eye on who might be a competitor.
Content
We will be sharing content, tips, info on new features on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn. Our aim is to share our expertise and we are hoping that we establish ourselves as the go-to people.
Before we start inviting people to our group, we will be building the content up over a couple of weeks. This is so that there is enough content to keep the invitees engaged.
As the content needs to spark conversation, we will try a number of posting format ideas including:
- Asking members’ experience of something
- Survey questions
- Sharing our own content (blogs) and highlighting the key points
- Inviting members to ask questions that we can answer
- Utilise LinkedIn live (live broadcasting)
- Share recordings of webinars or “how to” videos
Time
It doesn’t have to take a huge chunk of your time administering a LinkedIn group. However you will probably need to work out a rota on which days you will monitor and engage with the posts. Preparation is key. We will be working through our existing content (blogs most likely) to pull out nuggets of wisdom that we can then share with the group. This can be prepared in advance and scheduled in a social media dashboard.
Invites
A group is only going to work if you have members. We will be inviting our LinkedIn connections to join our group and then when we make new connections we can include an invitation in our message to them too.
Other inventive ways to grow the group can include:
- Put a message on your email footer
- Put a post out on your other social media channels to see who might be interested
- When networking, mention the group and then when you follow up with them, send an invite
We particularly like this article by Buffer that gives a good step-by-step guide into setting up a LinkedIn group and some good examples of what a successful LinkedIn group looks like. Remember it’s not about the numbers but good content and interaction.
We’ll be updating you on our progress but we are interested to hear if you’ve set up a LinkedIn group. Did it work for you?
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Why are more people than ever choosing to work for themselves? We know why!
Why are more people than ever choosing to work for themselves? We know why!
It has been predicted that freelancers and those working for themselves will outnumber traditional nine to five employees within the next decade. The freedom and control gained from a freelance lifestyle are major factors that motivate people to leave traditional employment to start their own business.
Red Desk Virtual has now been operating for over 10 years, started in 2008 as a solo venture and now a team of four, with Lindsay and Mel as Company Directors. Our company has changed and developed over the last 10 years, with the advancement of technology and the digital world the needs of small business owners has changed dramatically. We now spend the bulk of our time managing our clients’ online presence from their websites and social media to their digital marketing campaigns.
This transition in our business has been one of the joys of working for ourselves, we have naturally diversified our skills and experience, as a freelancer you are constantly learning and widening your skill-set and never governed by a job description.
For us the control over our time and energy has a direct impact on our quality of life and the quality of our working day. Being your own boss means exactly that; you don’t have a boss, you have clients and therefore you can concentrate on the types of clients and work that interests you.
Although many would think becoming a freelancer means your income is likely to be more precarious, actually if you build up a number of clients, as we have, then if you lose one contract you will still have the several more, meaning you only lose a small portion of your income rather than the possibility of redundancy in a larger company.
Starting your own business may seem like a giant step, but think about taking small steps to begin with, building your own business while still working full-time can be a smart move. It means an increased work load but the long-term gains are worth the added hours.
With the wealth of online tools available to help you, a business can be set up on a very small amount of budget. Many aspects of building a business can be achieved for free, for example Google Sites allows you to create a website for free, a brilliant option for a start-up. The traditional risk associated with creating a business really is a thing of the past.
Yes the reality of starting your own business is you will have to fulfil a lot of roles and learn fast, perhaps working long hours when you first start, but for us the rewards have far exceeded the negatives and we’ve enjoyed the steep learning curve.
If you need any help with your start-up do get in touch.
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