When we think about LinkedIn groups, it is natural to focus on JOINING groups…Finding the most active professional organizations online, identifying large groups providing access to a lot of people in our fields and interacting with people we wouldn’t otherwise meet.

Maybe you have not thought about another aspect of group engagement — actually creating and growing a group!

Several LinkedIn group managers provided suggestions and insights for Social Networking for Career Success readers, suggesting why managing a LinkedIn group can be useful, offering tips for a successful group and noting some challenges to maintaining a useful and thriving community.

Timothy Puyleart, one of these contributors, is an environmental, health and safety professional who is committed to mentoring and giving back to his profession. He manages a very successful group on LinkedIn, the MN Safety, Health and Environmental Professionals. (He also runs Hawkstone Solutions.) Since we connected about the book, Tim began a new job as Global HSE Director, Actuant Corporation — clearly an indication his group “ownership” continued to serve him well. His focused, niche group grew from around 350 members only a few months ago to over 540 members today.

Timothy shared tips for running a successful group with a local focus, including providing opportunities to meet in person. He emphasized how wonderful it was to have a network of people willing to connect with him during his own job hunt, including the recruiters in his industry contacting him to request access to his group! (Take a look at chapter 2 for more insights from Timothy Puyleart.)

Tim Tyrell-Smith, a colleague and friend from the career sphere, and author of two career/job search books: 30 Ideas and Headstrong, also generously offered his insights about managing a group. Since October 2008, he has run Tim’s Strategy— Ideas for Job Search, Career and Life, a group based on his blog, Tim’s Strategy. He focuses on helping job seekers, With close to 2,800 members, the group is a tremendous success. LinkedIn highlighted the group as a LinkedIn Success Story. Tim explained the group is:

“…A place for job seekers, career changers and anyone going through something big in life.  A place to meet new people, learn from them and teach them something you know.”

He notes a few things that make the Tim’s Strategy group special:

“…You can use the site to search for jobs, connect with old friends and grow your business.  You can also use it to help people. And that’s what our group is all about. New members write detailed intros. We share small wins. We seek to help as often as we can.”

This is a closed group, which gives members more freedom to have open dialogues and discussions — and to help each other. In my book, Tim shared some challenges of maintaining a successful group that is, by definition, transient. (The groups has grown from around 2000 members several months ago to almost 2800 today. In chapter 7, he advises readers about setting rules for the group (people appreciate it) and the value of personally welcoming every member, even though it takes precious time.

Thanks to Timothy Puyleart and Tim Tyrell-Smith for their generous and useful expertise about how to run a successful LinkedIn group! Learn more about these contributors below.

About Tim Tyrell-Smith

Tim Tyrell-Smith is an emerging thinker in careers, personal development and social networking. A veteran marketing executive, Tim is now helping people effectively market to new audiences. You can read his blog (http://timsstrategy.com) and follow him on Twitter (@TimsStrategy).

Timothy Puyleart

A hands on, accomplished, passionate Environmental Health and Safety professional with experience in global service, distribution and manufacturing environments, Timothy is the  Global HSE Director, Actuant Corporation. Experienced in dramatically improving and sustaining safety performance, reducing work compensation costs and improving overall profitability, with a demonstrated ability to collaborate with all levels of organizations to implement safety processes and improve overall performance, providing a positive impact on the overall business success. Learn more about his LinkedIn group, his company and Actuant.

photo by photogirl7.1