Marketing to SMEs in LinkedIn groups

Know which LinkedIn groups are best for marketing to SMEs? Here’s our list and a guide to getting it right.

Earlier this week we told you how SMEs use LinkedIn and how to find relevant groups without having to trawl through LinkedIn’s not-so-great directory.

If you went ahead and used the directory anyway, you probably have a list of top ranking groups earmarked for your marketing campaign because you thought that our suggested method would be too time-consuming. A second look at some of your groups’ newsfeeds however will probably reveal that the ‘very active’ statuses and huge memberships have been earned as a result of prolific recruiter and marketing spam.

So where are the good groups and where can you find them?

We’ve done our research and the best groups have the following attributes:

Statistics that measure up

Scroll down to find the “Group Statistics” button on the right hand side of a group page and examine which users make up the group and how they’re using it. If you’re targeting SME owners in a specific industry, then keep an eye out for stats that reveal the group is not high quality.

Demographics

Seniority: What percentage of members are decision makers and business owners? Beware of a high proportion of entry-level members.

SME Business Professionals UK has 1,095 members, but the majority of the group members fall into the decision maker category. It’s a fraction of the size of some of the largest business-related groups but packs a real punch.

Function and Industry: Is this your audience? Make sure at least half of the members are in the correct industry and at least 25 per cent are in the role you’re targeting. Beware of high scores for members in Sales, Advertising, and Professional Training and Coaching.

Here’s an example of a group in the US called Small Business Loans – Help for Small Businesses which has the ideal mix of users in a specific industry.

The stats don’t lie

Activity

Jobs and Promotions: If there are more than a handful of jobs and promotions posted on the site every week, tread carefully.

Comments vs. Discussions: If the discussions outstrip the comments by leaps and bounds, then chances are the majority of the posts are promotional, rather than regular call-outs for help and advice. It’s rare to find a group where comments outnumber discussions, so look for one that’s more or less evenly matched. Beware when evaluating larger groups with this method. Small Business Online Community has 23,855 members and recorded over 800 comments last week, but we struggled to find a single quality discussion and comment thread.

The elusive quality thread

The fact that there are lots of genuine LinkedIn users offering their advice to SMEs doesn’t mean the advice is any good. They’re not all diamonds.

For example, a LinkedIn member asking for advice on how to promote his book got the following response: “A good way is to hold a talk about a book and create a buzz.” Groundbreaking stuff.

Here’s our list of groups for marketing to SMEs in the UK (and some really good ones from the US) who have the right mix of useful marketing content and genuine forum activity.