LinkedIn is great for promoting brands using a company page or finding the right job candidates for open positions. But those are not the only benefits of using LinkedIn. Even as a blogger, only a fraction of the time I spend on LinkedIn is used to directly promote my content. More often than not, when I use LinkedIn I am looking for inspiration and information so that I can be more effective at my job.
LinkedIn calls itself the world’s largest professional network. But the greatness of LinkedIn is not it’s sheer number of users – Facebook and Twitter have more – it’s the fact that you can easily find a hub of engaged users who share your professional concerns. Nowhere is this is more true than in the LinkedIn Group discussions.
Why You Should Start Visiting LinkedIn Groups
In general, you want to keep your fingertips on the pulse of your industry, especially in ecommerce where the landscape is constantly changing. “No man is an island / Entire of itself” said John Donne, meaning that no single person knows everything there is to know about any given subject, no matter how extensive their knowledge. Learning is a lifelong process and the technology of today makes learning new skills and tools easier than it has ever been in history.
The first time I ventured into a LinkedIn Group discussion was to find information on a subject. Until then, I had been talking to individuals about this subject face to face one at a time, reading tons of market reports and blog posts all of which only led to further confusion. By the time I landed in the relevant LinkedIn Group, I was exhausted from my research and asked a simple question to a bunch of professionals who had all struggled with my issue at one point or another in their career. Turns out you can learn a lot from reading, but you can also learn by asking questions.
What ensued could only be called an argument, and even though it was relatively heated and different people stood their ground and supported their position, the tone was respectful and thoughtful. For me, the lesson was that LinkedIn Group discussions were a great way to gain insight and provide context for my professional questions. As the official LinkedIn video on YouTube states, “You can join LinkedIn Groups where professionals in your field discuss issues and solve problems related to your industry.” My peers in these groups led me to relevant articles which helped me clarify my position even further.
When it comes to participating in LinkedIn Groups, you should also be asking, “What can I teach?” Participating in other people’s discussions helps you express what you know more clearly and helps you test your position against other people’s. It’s a useful way to understand the difficulties people in your industry are experiencing and how they solve them.
One word of caution: Beware of spam. A lot of the topics of discussion in these groups are link bait in an attempt to increase hits to the poster’s site. Nevertheless, there are nuggets of gold to be found if you are willing to look for them.
So Which Ecommerce LinkedIn Groups Should You Follow?
All in all, participating in relevant LinkedIn Groups has many benefits. You can:
- Clarify your position on important industry topics.
- Promote yourself or your brand as an authority and thought leader.
- Find opportunities to ask questions unashamedly – LinkedIn group members tend to be a congenial lot even when they disagree with each other.
- Create and nurture relationships with potential customers and partners.
- Drive traffic to your site.
The following is a list of ecommerce related LinkedIn groups that can help you improve your ecommerce capabilities. Make sure to check out each Group’s profile, rules and statistics to make sure you are in the right place. Some of these groups are private and require a simple request to join followed by approval from the group’s administrator.
Software as a Service (SaaS)
More and more businesses are adopting SaaS solutions to help solve business problems. This group can help you navigate everything from cloud infrastructure to pricing strategies for SaaS products.
Google Analytics
Ecommerce success is entirely dependent on the careful monitoring of visitors. This group offers a lot of insight and helpful advice about properly administrating a Google Analytics account. Many discussions offer customer reports that are easy to implement into your own dashboard.
Digital Marketing
This is a very active group with many professionals from all over the world interested in figuring out the best way to market to online consumers. People focus on everything from SEO to email marketing and is also a great resource for the “latest whitepapers and industry reports.”
Ecommerce Network
Like the Digital Marketing group, the Ecommerce Network provides information on improving website sales and ecommerce capabilities. It is a good resource for information about ecommerce infrastructure and also has a lot of senior level executives as members.
Affiliate Program Management
One of the most important parts of ecommerce is your channel strategy, of which affiliate marketing should play a big role. This group was created by Geno Prussakov, one of the more influential names in affiliate marketing. It’s smaller than the other groups mentioned in this list, but that doesn’t stop it’s engaged user base from contributing valuable ideas about improving affiliate sales.
Email Marketing, Email Reputation and Email Deliverability Network
Another important channel for driving revenue through your ecommerce store is email. This group will help you navigate the treacherous waters of email marketing and steer clear of dangers presented by the need for “permission based email marketing.”
Customer Service Professionals
Another key component of your ecommerce success is your customer service offering, so if you need to improve this aspect of your business definitely pay a visit to this group. It features discussions ranging from how to improve customer service KPIs to setting up call centers.
Ecommerce and B2B
Anyone in the ecommerce industry who sells to businesses understands that it requires a different set of assumptions and expectations. Visit this subgroup of the Retail Industry Professionals to learn more about the unique challenges of B2B ecommerce.
Market Research Professionals
There are many points in your business career where you will have to perform market research. Whether that is when you are just beginning an ecommerce venture or looking to expand your presence into a new region, this group provides useful perspectives on how to properly research new markets.
Harvard Business Review
This last group doesn’t focus specifically on ecommerce related topics, though they pop-up regularly. I like this group for its discussion of business principles which tend to apply to daily office life no matter what industry one works in.
Keystone
While Facebook is good for staying current on my friends’ and family’s major life cycle events and Twitter is useful for real time comments at trade shows, LinkedIn Groups are where I go to find the latest information to help me succeed in my career.
Share your favorite LinkedIn Groups in the comment section below!
This is a brilliant post, and well presented, thank you.
Even though its nearly a year old (this is 31st Mar 2015), I’ve still gained a ton of value from it, and I’ll plan to look into the suggested groups.
Thanks again.