Here is one of my favorite Socially Stephanie posts.
Dear Socially Stephanie,
I work for a community website that has a ton of potential. We have a lot of great content, guest blogs and other info that I want to get out into cyberspace. As a B2B company, we know that we should be sharing within groups, and I am doing that. But I am worried about coming off spammish when I select a lot of groups to share to at the same time. What’s the best way to do this? Also, is there a sweet spot to the amount of posts to share per day on LinkedIn?
Over-Sharing Anxiety in Anchorage
Dear Over-Sharing Anxiety,
Lucky you! You brought up one of my absolute favorite topics: LinkedIn. I could talk about LinkedIn all day, maybe even all week. Strike that – all month! I love LinkedIn, and you should too. Have a seat on my virtual couch; your social media therapist is here, and I’ll walk you through the steps to get past that anxiety and into a place where your confidence can soar.
LinkedIn is a very personal network, one that is so valuable to your business and your brand identity. But that having been said, let me set you straight. Don’t worry about posting too much at the same time to different groups. You want your content to get seen, and groups are the perfect way to do that. As long as you are providing valuable content and a 2-3 sentence summary and conversation starter, you’ll be good to go. Groups are a powerful vehicle for your content. And the other 200 million LinkedIn users know that. 81% of all LinkedIn users are in at least 1 group. That’s 162 million people who belong to at least one group.
Okay, I know what you are thinking. But won’t my network and other group members see that I am posting the same thing to 50 different groups? Isn’t that spammy? The answer is that it’s very unlikely and if they do notice, it’s only because they are analyzing (ahem, stalking) your profile. Again, that’s unlikely.
Yes, when you post to a group, it shows up on the newsfeed. But here’s the nice thing about your strategy. Most groups have a moderator who decides if the content is a go before it posts. That gives you the upper hand, because sometimes it takes a day or two before the post you shared even makes it to the leaderboard. So, while you might have shared something two days ago, it doesn’t show up on the newsfeed until it goes live in that group. By that time you’ll have filled your profile with new shared content and blog posts, which gives you a nice mix on your profile. And some of those shares will never even reach the group, providing a blog post buffer for you.
Now that takes me to my next point: social sharing in general. Social networks are heavy on the newsfeed. People are more likely to look at that than go to your profile to see your most recent activity. You can’t expect your whole network to be online when you are, so the more you share throughout the day, the more eyeballs you are going to reach. Plus, this is a network dedicated to business. That means you’ll be more likely to reach them during business hours, where Facebook and other more “lifestyle”-ish sites will have more reach outside of work hours.
If you add value to your LinkedIn network and give users articles they WANT to read, no one is going to complain that you post too much. Think more like a content curator, and you’ll be good. Not getting likes? Switch your content up, and that just might do the trick. The key with social sharing is reaching the right audience at the right time. You won’t know what that is without trying.
Well, my friend, the LinkedIn masses await! Go get ’em.
Socially,
Stephanie
Do you have a question for Socially Stephanie?
Please email SociallyStephanie@socialmediatoday.com and let Stephanie help you solve your social quandaries, queries, and boondoggles. (Questions may be edited for length and clarity.)
Illustration by Jesse Wells
