How to Share a Linkedin Discussion

How to Share a Linkedin Discussion:

A new buzzword you may hear is “engagement” and that it’s the “next big thing”. But, quite frankly, “engagement” isn’t new, in fact we do it every day through listening and conversation.

In business you must connect with people in order to create and have conversations of mutual interest. These conversations, over time, can result in a business relationship. Whether you want to call this engagement or not doesn’t matter. What matters is that you do it.

What is new, however, is how we can engage. For example, a new way to “engage” is to share Linkedin discussions with people to help them learn and discover. Here’s how you do it.

Step One: Find a Discussion Worth Sharing

The discussion below by Andy Solty is about his presenting at a Silicon Halton meetup. Group members are commenting on it so the discussion has some “meat” and you’ve decided that you want to share it with your network. To do that, you click on the “More” button and select “Share Link”.

Step Two: Select Sharing Options

Next, you’ll have three sharing options. Each one serves a different purpose:

• Post to Updates: this will go on your main Linkedin profile and be shared with all your Linkedin connections on their profiles under “All Updates”. There is also an option to share on Twitter.
• Post to Groups: you can select other Linkedin public and private groups that you want to share the discussion with. Be careful about doing this. I explain why below.
• Send to Individuals: you can select specific individuals you are connected to on Linkedin (just type in their name and it will come up) AND people who you are not connected to (just enter their email address).

And “voila” click “Share” and you’ve shared the discussion!

Some Thoughts

• Try sharing safely first! Select people you know and try it out on them. Once you’ve seen how it works, you’ll be good to go. Get their feedback too.
• See in the shot above the “optional” fields? Fill them out! Add your thoughts about the discussion. Why is it important? Why does someone what to read it? Why should they comment? What’s in it for them?
• Think before you share! Is the discussion worth sharing to your entire social network? Things that might be worthy of a “network wide share” are trends, major developments in your/their industry, a key problem trying to be solved etc. Some discussions are so narrowly focused that only a few individuals in your Linkedin network will be interested. In this case a network wide share wouldn’t make sense.
• Is the discussion in a public or private group? If it’s a private group tell them that they need to join the group to read and comment.
• Be selective with what you share and to whom. Choose a discussion that you think is of value to your connection(s). Explain why it benefits them. Consider adding your own comments to the discussion.
• Don’t “game” Linkedin because you’ll be “gaming your network”. Don’t do “blast shares” to everyone and every group under the sun. There is NO place for blatant self promotion. Don’t flood groups with the same discussion share because you’ll be the one who drowns.

Conclusion

Sharing discussions shows that you’re looking out for your customers, prospects and network connections. You’re exposing them to insights, thought leadership and people who have common interests, needs and problems. Try to add you own comments to the discussions when you can, in order to demonstrate your knowledge of the topic. Sharing discussions should help you connect, create conversation and yes “engage”.

Feel free to share with our readers how you are you using Linkedin groups for B2B marketing, selling and engagement.