How intentional is your LinkedIn activity? To gain some insight, ask yourself questions such as: How big is your LinkedIn network? Do you accept every connection invitation you receive? Is your profile a carbon copy of your resume? When you first set up your LinkedIn profile, you likely started building your network with current and previous coworkers. Over the years, your network has probably grown significantly, and many of your connections are probably strangers. If you have 500+ connections, you are labeled as a networker/influencer on the social networking site. While more connections mean your posts and information have the potential to reach more people, the question is, are your connections and activities helping you achieve your career goals? An effective network is full of prospective clients, business opportunities, and even competitors. But how do you find these people? One of LinkedIn’s best tools to help you build a relevant network is LinkedIn Groups. You can join up to 100 groups that range in size from ~5 members to hundreds of thousands and are capped out at 2.5M.* With those numbers—of relevant professionals, not just random members—LinkedIn Groups is far too valuable to ignore. Here’s how to make the most of LinkedIn Groups:

• Complete your LinkedIn Profile. Anybody you contact on LinkedIn will view your profile, so make sure it provides information that you want to communicate. Use keywords strategically to show other members that you are on the same page.
• Search for and join groups. If you’re unsure where to start, pick some of the keywords from your profile and enter those in LinkedIn’s search bar. It can be as simple as “C-Suite, CEO, CCO, CIO, CXO,” and you can narrow the choices by location and industry.
• Actively engage in discussions. Like or react to posts. Read and write comments to get or keep a conversation going. Create your own post if you have a specific question or topic and want to gather some thoughts.
• Browse the member list. Members will be labeled as 1st-, 2nd-, and 3rd-degree connections, but—here’s the magic behind groups—you can directly message any of the group members. Consider connecting with frequent contributors, other c-suite professionals, presidents, SVPs, human resources representatives, and recruiters.
• Invite group members to your network. It’s always a good idea to send even a short note with a connection request. Luckily, you already have something in common with people in the group. You can start with something like, “Hi ___. We are both members of the Executive Talent: Insights for the C-Suite group, and I want to invite you to join my network.” If you want to be more personal, let them know that you found one of their recent posts helpful.

To see how we can help you use LinkedIn to fast-forward your C-Suite job transition, book a complimentary and confidential call with us here. *https://www.linkedin.com/help/linkedin/answer/190