by Jean Ban
After almost a decade into the social media revolution, most folks are familiar with the four main social media platforms: Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and LinkedIn. Even those who are not personally engaged on all of them know they exist and—generally—how they are used.
One, in particular, stands out in the business realm. With more than 100 million users, LinkedIn has proven to be the most popular social media network for professionals. It’s easy to see why. It was built specifically with business and business people in mind, and it just keeps getting better.
Unfortunately, some people still think of LinkedIn strictly within the context of managing their personal brand—building their profile and online resume, including collecting recommendations. As important as that may be, especially in these challenging economic times, it only scratches the surface of one of the most powerful tools available to build connections to industry colleagues, and to the people and organizational entities that are influential—LinkedIn Groups.
A LinkedIn Group collects people around a topic, subject or interest. There are benefits to connecting via LinkedIn Groups for every professional: food scientists and developers, sales, marketing, customer service, human resources (HR), procurement, supply chain, executive management and more.
There are more than 750,000 groups on LinkedIn. Within the huge food, ingredient, functional foods and supplement arenas, virtually every major organization, professional group, media entity, conference and special interest has one. Below are examples, by search term:
- CPG: 194 groups, including the CPG Supergroup with more than 35,000 individual members representing every vertical CPG industry segment
- Functional Foods: 24 groups
- Supplements: 240 groups
- Nutraceuticals: 35 groups
- Food Ingredients: 93 groups
- Food Science: 136 groups
- Natural Products: 327 groups
Whatever the specialty or industry sector, there is a LinkedIn Group—or many—designed to connect interested professionals. Exploring those groups to find the most targeted involves reviewing information about the group, its mission statement and other information on its group profile page. Ask to become a member if it’s a fit.
Some groups are sponsored and managed by an organization, some by a publisher or a magazine, some by trade groups and others by conferences and events. And some are started by individuals who just have an interest in connecting around a topic, subject or career-focused area. There’s a wide diversity and breadth of relevant groups available to join.
Because most groups have to approve new members, it is best to request to join only those where there is an obvious and legitimate connection to your career interests and professional status as identified on your profile. A watchful group administrator will go to your profile to see if you really meet the group’s criteria for joining before approving the “join” request.
LinkedIn Groups exist to connect professionals with like interests and career tracks for conversations, advice, insights and sharing. Expect conversations to run the gamut, from a request as mundane as “I need a supplier who can provide XYZ ingredient to a testing lab in India” to “ I need advice around formulating with gluten-free starches for a coating application” and “I’ve never been to the Anuga conference in Europe—can anyone tell me what to expect?”
Conversations are connectors, and connections lead to relationships, and relationships can lead to business and more. Just remember blatant “selling” and promotion of yourself or your company is like posting spam—a complete turn-off within the group environment and a poor reflection on you, and the manager of that group. Groups are meant for sharing useful info and insights—other benefits come only as a result of that dynamic.
