Groups #4 – Where business meets pleasure

Having dealt primarily with group moderation in my last two posts, I’d now like to return to what group members are set to gain from active involvement in groups. In my first MaximiXING post on groups I already touched on a number of different aspects of group membership, some of which I’d like to tackle in more detail here.

At first it seems like group memberships are pretty clearly divided up into business-interest and private-interest groups – but this isn’t quite the case. This is where a key networking idea behind XING comes into play: Combining business and pleasure!

Whatever group you happen to be in – whether it’s a serious and specialist gathering of experts or a fan group with a broad mix of people all crazy about the same thing – you begin interacting with other members straight away. What’s more: these particularly members are like-minded, in at least one respect anyway.

What starts out as an innocent chat in a basketball forum, could turn out to be a new major new client contract for your business. Who knows?! Any two people meeting and getting to know one another at a group event will be far more likely to consider working together than, say, two people exchanging brief and relatively impersonal emails.

Having said this, there are literally thousands of XING groups dedicated to serious expert discussion, that can prove to be extremely useful resources. Be sure to take a look at the category “topics” for instance,  and I promise you will come across some groups that catch your eye.

While networking in a professional context is theoretically possible in all 26,000 groups on XING, your success rate is likely to be greater in some regional or socially-focused groups.

OK, so once you’ve identified some groups that take your fancy and you’ve joined them, how should you go about getting started as a group member? What should you bear in mind?

You can use Phrase Express to add your own signature under all your posts, for instance. You should keep this self-promotion within limits though, so be sparing with the number of words you use here! Don’t confuse groups with a place just to blow your own trumpet. Other members will quickly tell whether you’re only out to sell something, or if you are serious and genuine about engaging with other people in relation to the topic of the group.

Surviving in the group jungle …

It goes without saying that mutual respect and politeness are expected in group forums. You should avoid irony and sarcasm, as well as smileys – simply because these can often be misinterpreted and lead to misunderstandings without the benefits of subtle gestures.

You should always be aware too that there are many silent readers who’ll all be forming an opinion about you based on what you post! You can also edit all your entries up three days after posting them. After this point, only moderators are able to make changes.

The “About this group” page includes details about a group’s settings, such as whether group articles are visible to group members, XING members or indeed anyone. Please note though: Your own privacy settings will always override any group settings.

You can also choose whether or not you wish to receive newsletters and event invitations from the group on the start page. Replying to invitations and actually turning up to events makes moderators’ lives much easier. You can change your participation at any time.

You can subscribe to certain threads or an entire forum, which means you’ll receive email notifications of new posts. You can also set up RSS feeds if the moderator has selected the appropriate settings (”visible to all members”) for the group. You can also activate the info boxes “New articles in my groups” or “New articles in all groups”, and drag and drag these feeds to wherever you like on your start page.

Ideally, you’ll generate both valuable new contacts within groups and a great deal of new insights and knowledge through interaction.  Make the most of the wisdom of the crowd!

People are always pleased to receive positive feedback on their posts. So be sure publish honest, positive comments that are a good public reflection on you as well.

Don’t be shy about approaching moderators either if you have any new ideas or want to get involved more. Group-relevant content is always very welcome and may well get posted on the start page or find its way into newsletters. Any events you’re thinking of organizing could well be announced and publicized via a particular group too.

Time that’s worth investing

I’d like to close by touching on a question I’m often asked: What sort of time level do I need to spend in groups to make membership worthwhile? Well, clearly, someone who relies on client acquisition or works in a particular industry will potentially have more to gain and may therefore be willing to invest more of their time.

On the other hand, work and pleasure go hand in hand in many more groups than you perhaps might think. For any members without much time on their hands I would suggest:

• Searching for some really relevant groups
• Subscribing to the most important forums (or all forums in smaller groups)
• Introducing yourself once you have joined and
• Stopping by now and again whenever you have a moment

On this note: I hope you gain much business and pleasure from the groups you decide to join!

Kind regards,

Silke Schippmann