I’m a long-time fan of LinkedIn, and LinkedIn Groups, particularly for B2B marketing. I’ve used LinkedIn and groups for myself and for my clients whose goals generally include building credibility and establishing thought leadership status. A business contact recently asked me what my “top tips” would be for participating in LinkedIn and, particularly, for participation in LinkedIn Groups–one of the big benefits of this social media platform in my opinion.

The more Groups you join, the more broadly connected you will be. LinkedIn works like “pyramid marketing” in a way. Your search results and your ability to show up in others’ search results is dependent on how many 1st, 2nd and 3rd degree connections you have, and the number of Groups you’re a member of. You can join up to 50 Groups and you should. But, as you do, consider the following:

• Be strategic both in terms of the Groups you choose to participate in and the Groups you might establish on your own. If you’re creating a group, keep if narrow and focused to ensure that conversations will be relevant and result in engagement.
• Join the most populated Groups but consider “hiding” the Group logo on your profile (a setting you can choose). If you leave the search bar blank and do a Group search you’ll get a list of all LinkedIn Groups in descending order of number of participants. Joining these top groups can help expand your network significantly.
• Don’t be afraid of allowing your competitors to join any Groups you establish; it’s a great way to keep tabs on what they’re doing!
• Use your participation in Groups — yours or others — to conduct “research”; you can monitor trends and perspectives and elicit input on your own ideas and activities.
• Stay engaged. Monitor your Groups regularly. Prioritize those  Groups that are most important to you and adjust your LinkedIn settings so that you automatically received notifications of new posts.
• Be polite. Your online brand is impacted by everything you do online and that certainly includes your social media interactions. LinkedIn is a professional social media site and you should consider your interactions to be similar to the in-person interactions you might have at a local business event.

How have you used LinkedIn effectively to achieve your personal and professional business goals?