How to Use LinkedIn to Benefit Your Blog

When LinkedIn was launched in 2003, the average person probably didn’t give it a second thought. Today, the social networking platform in the main venue where professionals want their profile to be found. It has become the de facto tool for professional networking.

Of course, there are still people who do not use LinkedIn to their advantage and see it as merely another social network. If you are in the market for a job, though, or you simply want to highlight your professional life, LinkedIn is an indispensable tool. But have you ever thought of using the platform to send some love your blog’s way?

Before we proceed, let’s be clear about one thing: this is about taking advantage of what LinkedIn can offer without being spammy or playing in the shadows.

LinkedIn Groups

The secret sauce is LinkedIn Groups.

LinkedIn Groups is a feature not unlike Facebook Groups, which some of you may be more familiar with. The driving force behind this feature is to connect likeminded professionals directly and provide a venue for them to interact. LinkedIn highlights these three points about Groups:

• Connect with like-minded professionals related to your industry in over a million groups.
• Join discussions by sharing insights, posting articles or creating polls.
• Showcase your affiliation with organizations by displaying group icons in your profile.

Why use LinkedIn Groups

At this point, I hope that it is pretty obvious that the benefits of using LinkedIn Groups can be reaped only if you use the feature wisely, selectively. Personally, I am very selective when adding contacts on the platform, mainly because I want to highlight quality contacts and make sure that I maintain my network so that I can also be considered a good contact for others. Having said that, it is important to make sure that using LinkedIn Groups follows the same concept.

So, why use LinkedIn Groups? How can it benefit your blog?

It all boils down to one thing: You can share your blog content to the Groups that you belong to.

Conclusion

Stats have shown that LinkedIn Groups can drive traffic to your blog, but while the idea is simple, there are things you need to pay attention to.

• Make sure that you join the right Groups. It’s a no brainer, yes?
• Be selective with what you share. Remember, this is not dropping links wherever and whenever. It’s about sharing content that will provide value to the Group’s members. It’s about giving them something that will not waste their time.
• Do more than share your links. Share other articles/resources that are useful but may not be from your blog. Comment on others’ posts. Discuss. Engage. Interact. That’s what Groups are for.

If you do these things with the main intent of actually interacting with people in your niche, then other things will follow. You will build a name for yourself – good or bad, depending on how you interact, of course – and your blog can reap the benefits as well.

Jason Bayless is a professional blogger that gives small business and entrepreneurs SEO advice. He writes for BestSEOCompanies.com, a nationally recognized comparison website of the best SEO companies in the United States.

Image via Kissmetrics