{3:40 minutes to read} Since LinkedIn’s recent “improvements,” certain group postings have been reassigned to the “Jobs” category – which may be a glitch in LinkedIn’s algorithms or an intentional feature.
LinkedIn has continually updated and adapted its moderation policy, including what moderators are allowed or prohibited from doing. In fact, we at phoneBlogger have witnessed, and adapted to, several significant changes as the volume of postings has increased.
The networking industry is not really where LinkedIn started out; LinkedIn makes its money in the job search industry. Dealing with the monumental amount of data that hits its server every minute was not in the original plan. Unpaid group moderators took on the burden of dealing with dozens, hundreds, or even thousands of posts each month depending on the activity of the group.
Here’s what we know:
If content being posted to one group is identical to other posts in other groups, the algorithm flags it;
This causes the post in question to be automatically moved to the “Jobs” or “Promotions” tabs of the group; and
The algorithm also flags content that is simply irrelevant to the group.
But there is an opportunity here. If you are actively engaged with a group, are in conversations and commenting on others’ posts and discussion threads, then it may be worthwhile to contact the group moderator and ask for a second chance.
Unlike the articles produced by our clients, many of the blog articles on LinkedIn are not educational or informational. Many are self-promotional. Most of our clients, and partially because we encourage this to be the case, are not self-promotional. In other words, their posts could be considered a public service.
LinkedIn groups are just one of the channels available to get out your message – and perhaps the least valuable to your bottom line. Although useful for finding potential referral sources, quality LinkedIn group postings are going unnoticed because of the sheer volume of posts. Furthermore, most of the people in LinkedIn discussion groups are not geographically situated to refer business to you in any case.
Instead, our clients’ most valuable marketing efforts are:
Their site content;
Putting out consistent and valuable blog posts;
Consistently sending newsletters with links to those articles; and
Finding, forming and cultivating relationships that can produce referrals.
Your articles and newsletters help to nurture & build those VIP relationships and keep you on the radar of your very important people. Withholding your content now might inadvertently stall your marketing efforts.
Stay the course! Publish articles, send newsletters, promote through other social media channels, and acknowledge that the LinkedIn groups issue is no big deal (NBD).
In the realm of online marketing, social media is only one component; don’t depend on it to be your only form of word-of-mouth marketing. Realize it’s all about your relationships with VIP COI.
Mark Bullock
Telephone: (631) 754-0800
Email: Mark@phoneBlogger.net
Website:phoneBlogger.net
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