Chris Brogan recently said he was thinking about deleting his LinkedIn account.

I was shocked when I first read this, but I also understand that he must be getting overwhelmed by the amount of people reaching out and asking for favors.

Since Chris has given me amazing advice, and I consider him to be a mentor of mine,  I decided to create a video to show you (and Chris) why I think it would be a mistake if he deleted his LinkedIn account.

The message in this video is not only for Chris, but for everyone who isn’t using LinkedIn to its fullest potential yet.  I urge you to start using it more aggressively, as you will see what the benefits are in this video.

Staying On LinkedIn

Here are my 8 main reasons I feel Chris Brogan should stay on LinkedIn:

1.    Google Juice: LinkedIn is one of the top search results for Chris (and most of us)

2.    Recommendations: With 145+ recommendations you create more authority and social proof

3.    Build and Manage a Powerful Database: More powerful than with Facebook and Twitter

4.    Exporting Contacts: No other *top* social networking site does this

5.    Driving Traffic: Your status updates, links, and WP blog app drives organic traffic to your site

6.    More Followers: People will follow you on Twitter, join your newsletter, and subscribe to your blog

7.    Sells Books:  Need I say more?

8.    Decision Makers: Higher net worth of people are on LinkedIn over the other traditional business sites

Do you think Chris should delete his LinkedIn profile?  Are my points compelling enough to keep him (and YOU) on LinkedIn?  I hope Chris decides to give it another chance and think about it differently from here on out, and I hope the rest of you understand how powerful LinkedIn can be for your business.

LinkedIn groups are by far the most powerful aspect of LinkedIn.  Hands down.

I have seen people build their entire business, market a number of products and services, sell out their paid events, and become thought leaders in their niche all around a single LinkedIn group.

Most people who have created groups on LinkedIn know the benefits. However, for those who have not created one yet, or don’t think it is valuable to do so, here are my top 10 reasons that you must start one today (before someone else beats you to it).

1.  Builds Thought Leadership

I have several LinkedIn groups.  One has more than 20,000 members, and around five of them have 5,000+ members.  Each group has (one of) my websites as the featured site for the group.  This is one of the first things people see when they join the group.  My name is also featured as the owner of the group.  Based off of perception alone, the owner is a thought leader for that groups niche (until proven otherwise).  The more you back this up with quality content, and positive group management, your community will support you and anoint you a leader in that niche.

2.  Connects A Thriving Community

People love to belong to a community, or a Tribe as Seth Godin puts it.  The more you are able to connect like-minded people together, the more they will appreciate you for doing so.  Create an opportunity for passionate people to come together because the leader that does this *usually* reaps the benefits.

3.  Drives Traffic To Your Site

Looking to drive traffic to your blog or company website?  Look no further, a LinkedIn group is a great way to do this.  Here are a few ways you can drive traffic to your site from your group:

• Put your website link in the group profile
• Add the site RSS feed to the News Section
• Send a weekly message to you group, and include a niche related article from your site
• Add your site in the group welcome message (more on this below)
• Create a discussion and include your link

4.  Builds Personal Network

I get roughly 15-20 new invites to connect (as a 1st degree connection) every day.  Most of them come from my groups.  Why?  People love to connect with the community leader.  Since I run a number of “communities” within my LinkedIn groups, I am looked at as someone to connect with.  This is almost true for all group owners, they seem to rack up bonus points from starting the group, therefore having more connections than the average LinkedIn user.

5.  Sending Weekly Messages

This may be the most powerful feature within the groups.  A great example is Robert Flemming, who runs the eMarketing Association group on LinkedIn.  It has almost 200,000 members.  Instead of having to spend thousands of dollars each year on email marketing you could simply create a group, and send them a weekly message for free.

The downside to this is you can’t brand your emails they way you could from a custom email marketing provider (affiliate link), but you can still do some damage in terms of getting your message out there to your members.

The upside, Robert has events with ticket prices of over $1,000 and he sells a ton of them because of his group.  His LinkedIn group helps him achieve his event marketing goals, and it doesn’t cost a dime.  Tough sell, eh?

6.  Create Auto-Responder Email

This is a no-brainer.  Who wants to send a message one-by-one to someone every time they join a group?  Not me, that would take hours of management time every week.  LinkedIn was wise enough to make this easy for the group managers by enabling a welcome message.  Every time someone joins, you can send your own automatic message that delivers to their email account (not their LinkedIn account, but their actual email provider).

This means that you can create a decent sales funnel by first welcoming people to the group, telling them a little about how the group can benefit them and where they can go to get more information.  Hopefully you have them sign up for your newsletter, or connect with you on other social networking sites.  This will help you generate sales in the long run… if you set it up correctly.

7.  Lead Generator

The more you give, the more you will receive.  Dr. Robert Cialdini talks to us about the proven power of reciprocity in his best selling book Influence, and it holds true within a LinkedIn group as well (on LinkedIn, or any other social networking site for that matter).

Connecting people, providing job leads, referrals, valuable content to help them achieve their goals: these are things that you can give to people, and by doing so they will give you an abundance of leads (or whatever it is you need in your business) in return.  It has happened to me, and a number of other group owners who are “doing it right”, and it will also happen for you.

8.  Creating Sub Groups

Want to target people in various locations around the world, or sub niches within a niche?  LinkedIn allows you to create up to 10 subgroups.  It’s a great way to throw events all around the country and only have to send a message out to the subgroup, as opposed to the entire group about a regional event.  Make sure you take advantage of this feature (in an ethical manner of course).

9.  Managing Content

If people are posting MLM type content, or someone is using foul language or attacking others in an unproductive way, you have the ability to remove individuals or delete inappropriate content.  Simple as that.  If it isn’t helping the community, you have the power to make it better.

10.  Helping Others

Ultimately, every good leader helps his team or community rise to the top.  I’m sure 99% of group owners have their own agenda when creating a group, but the more they focus on helping it’s members achieve their goals, that group owner will achieve their goals as well.  It feels good to have the opportunity to help others.  LinkedIn helps us everyday by letting us see how we are connected to one another, and allows us to build stronger, more meaningful relationships.  Let’s face it, business (and life) is about all about the relationships we have, right?

In closing, LinkedIn is a powerful platform to help you achieve your business goals, and the groups aspect is a vital part to helping you achieve those goals faster and in a more meaningful way.  Be willing to take some time to better understand them, as you may find a new way to help yourself, or others, by using them each day.

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Image by LinkedIn Blog

LinkedIn is better than Twitter.  Isn’t it? In my mind LinkedIn is one of the most powerful business networking resources on the planet.  However, my good friend Sean Malarkey believes Twitter is more powerful.  Who is right and who is wrong?  It’s like saying which team is better in the Michigan vs. Ohio State rivalry.  Both teams have great tradition and are two of the most successful college football teams of all time.  Luckily, Sean and I both agree that Ohio State is much better, and since they won 8 our out of the last 9 meetings with “the school up north”, there isn’t much to debate about which team is better (Go Bucks!).

Seeing that we could not come to an agreement as to which site is better (Twitter and LinkedIn), I thought I would duke it out with Sean to show you that LinkedIn is more powerful for your business.  Sean, being the competitive guy that he is, accepted my challenge.  Make sure you watch this brief video below to see how YOU will decide who is the winner.

Sean and I will be giving away our best content, and sharing with you how you can maximize some of the latest tools that both Twitter and LinkedIn have recently released.  Register Here for this content packed web show, take notes, and get ready to choose your winner in the Twitter vs. LinkedIn rivalry game!

LinkedIn and Twitter finally join forces and connect via their “status updates”.  I have a number of questions on Twitter if I like it, and how others should be utilizing it.  In short, I think it’s great they did this, however, I don’t think the average LinkedIn user is ready to be bombarded by 50 tweets a day from the same person on their LinkedIn home page.

LinkedIn users are different than Twitter users, and they use LinkedIn for a completely different reason.  I still think it is great the two sites have joined forces in a sense, but I think the LinkedIn users will need a little time to get used to things until they fully adapt.  Check out how I think you should be using the new LinkedIn and Twitter status update feature in my brief video below.

What are your thoughts?  Should people be updating all of their random Tweets to their LinkedIn connections?  Or should they separate the two?