Why Every LinkedIn Group Owner Should Consider Carrying Their Group Over To beBe

Jim Murray

7 years ago · 4 min. reading time · 0 ·

Blogging

Jim blog

Why Every LinkedIn Group Owner Should Consider Carrying Their Group Over To beBee.

Today I read an article on LinkedIn by Samantha Bailey.
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/signposts-imminent-diminution-linkedin-groups-wither-die-bailey
In case you don’t know who Sam is, she is one of the world’s top LI analysts, and someone who has kept me and a lot of other people up to speed on the changes that Microsoft is imposing on LinkedIn since its acquisition of the the site, several months ago now. (https://www.linkedin.com/in/samantha-bailey-00b4b142/)
I stopped posting on LinkedIn Pulse almost a year ago now, choosing instead to join beBee.com, publish my posts there are simply link them to my LI home page, where, if I was lucky, a certain number of my close to 2500 followers would see it.
This has actually worked out a lot better than I thought and though my LI numbers are still nothing to write home about vis a vis my beBee numbers, they are still a lot better than anything that was happening for the last 6 months I spent publishing on Pulse.

Back To Sam

Samantha has been tracking the slow and steady decline and fall of LinkedIn ever since I have known her, which is about 2 years now.
Her articles played a big part in my decision to leave LinkedIn, because they put real meat on the bones of what I was feeling intuitively about what was happening there.
The thing you have to realize about Sam and this will come across when you read her articles, is that she doesn’t really have an axe to grind here. She is, for the most part, just publishing the results of her research and informed observations and based on those findings, stating conclusions, sometimes objectively, other times with a little passion. But always rational and extremely informative.

You Don’t Have To Be An Analyst

000

“ln 5 months on beBee, (v2 built
a muh larger audience than ( was
able to ull in Y years on Linked (n.

beBee worts for’ me. And it wn

wort: for you too.

Jom Murray
~ THE BUZZ 1S GROWING @ BEBEE COM -

Anybody who has stuck with LinkedIn has come to realize that what’s going on here isn’t so much an implosion as it is a reversion to what it used to be in the beginning. This of course was what a few of us referred to as a headhunter’s paradise and a job seekers online cathedral.
Like any ambitious site these got into other things (like publishing) that were outside their comfort zone and eventually became unmanageable.
I remember that I became mildly excited when I got an email from LinkedIn inviting me to post on their new publishing platform.The carrot they dangled in front of us was notifications. Build your following by posting good work and we will make sure that your followers are notified every time you publish.
It sounded too good to be true on the surface, but once you thought about it a little you realized that all they were doing was setting their algorithm and taking your content to fatten up their offering.
Literally thousands of us bought in, signed up and started posting. For the first year it was great, conversations abounded and numbers grew. Hell, I even picked up some business, which was the icing on the cake.

The Beginning Of The End?

This all lasted about a year. And then the walls started closing in.
About this time very late in December of 2015. Phil Friedman and I had started our He Said He Said series. In the early stages it was a thinly veiled protest tool, because we both saw the writing on the wall, so to speak, and we were both connected to Sam Bailey so we also has a pretty good idea of how and sort of why this was all happening too.
One day, I got a call from a gentlemen who was the owner of the largest independent group on LinkedIn. He gave me an hour or so on just what kind of hell LinkedIn was putting him through. What came across loud and clear was his sense of discouragement and mystification about why LinkedIn would persist in shooting itself in the foot and making life completely miserable for both bloggers, group owners and group contributors.Subsequently we did a He Said He Said article on this, (https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/groups-linkedinthe-beginning-end-jim-murray) and frankly that was the beginning of the end for me. Between Sam Bailey’s analysis and the opinions of countless individuals and group owners who commented on our anti-LinkedIn posts, that pretty much made up my mind for me.

Along Came beBee

If you follow me, you already know the story of how John White became the Pied Piper of beBee and recruited dozens of the better independent writers who had become disheartened from watching their numbers drop off the cliff like so many lemmings.
Now the thing that you need to remember about leaving anywhere and going somewhere else is that you are essentially starting over.
But you have the advantage of having built your following on LinkedIn and you know the ropes.
One of the things I discovered is that, in addition to becoming one of the highest ranked writers here on beBee (a function of starting very early and building my following diligently), is that posting to LinkedIn as opposed to posting on the woefully neglected Pulse platform, is actually starting to bring my numbers on LinkedIn back up again.
I believe that the same it true for group (or hive) activity here on beBee. It is possible to set up a hive that has the same mandate as your LinkedIn group. And if you market it diligently (like you have to do now), you will attract membership from both LinkedIn and beBee.
In short, it’s a win/win situation that gets you away from all the distraction and bullshit you have to put up with to manage your group on LinkedIn.
I’m not an expert on this, but if you want to talk to someone who is, I would contact John White and he can steer you in the right direction.

beBee Wants To Grow

All the promotional mechanisms are in place for beBee to grow its individual member population. But in order to make that growth healthy and really fulfill its mandate beBee wants to have strong, thriving business groups in the hive.

So if you are pretty much at the end of your rope with the draconian bullshit that LinkedIn is pulling these days, why not come over to beBee, and have a look around. You might be surprised at just how much constructive buzzing is going on here.

PS: Thanks to Sam Bailey for all her efforts to keep us all up to speed on LinkedIn matters. She’s a pip.

If you liked this post, let me know. If you liked it enough to share it, please feel free.

If your business has reached the point where talking to an experienced communication professional would be the preferred option to banging your head against the wall or whatever, lets talk.
Download my free ebook Small Business Communication For The Real Worlhere:  https://onwordsandupwords.wordpress.com/2013/11/24/small-business-communications-for-the-real-world/
All my profile and contact information can be accessed here:
 https://www.bebee.com/producer/@jim-murray/this-post-is-my-about-page  

""""

#LinkedIn #LI #LinkedIn Group Owner #Sam #Sam Bailey

Comments

Phil Friedman

7 years ago #34

#38
Lada, just don't wear your Prada shoes. ;-)

Lada 🏡 Prkic

7 years ago #33

#37
Maybe it seems futile but that's me, the female Sisyphus. :-)

Phil Friedman

7 years ago #32

#36
Your discerning efforts are admirable, but like those of Sisyphus, tantamount to urinating into the wind, in the absence of infrastructure that enforces "the rules" on all user's.

Lada 🏡 Prkic

7 years ago #31

#35
Phil, I agree with you on many things. Although, when it comes to posting and sharing, I try as much as possible to respect the main topic of the hive. Otherwise, what is the purpose of so many groups / hives based on the specific interests?

Phil Friedman

7 years ago #30

#34
You are, of course, correct. And for the record, I am one of those authors who advocates complete moderation for professional and industry specific hives, indeed for all hives, except those established by beBee for "general" content in a particular language. And I am one of those authors who continues to share into those very groups which I argue should be moderated -- because I believe strongly in structuring the system to perform properly for all, and not relying on voluntary compliance, which only leaves the field more open for abuse by spammers and others who don't give a damn. Cheers!

Lada 🏡 Prkic

7 years ago #29

I think that Jim suggested a good idea that should be seriously considered by beBee management. I also agree with Milos about LI professional group model of complete moderation. On the LI Project Management Community group you cannot find any articles that are not related to project, program & portfolio management. On the contrary, on the beBee professional (supposed to be) hives related to engineering and project management you can find stuff that shouldn't belong to these hives, from politics to recipes. Even those who advocate the moderation tools publish and share their posts regardless of the hive theme. In order to have strong and thriving professional groups on beBee it is necessary to set up the hives in accordance with the LI model.

Lada 🏡 Prkic

7 years ago #28

I think that Jim suggested a good idea that should be seriously considered by beBee management. I also agree with Milos about LI professional group model of complete moderation. On the LI Project Management Community group you cannot find any articles that are not related to project, program & portfolio management. On the contrary, on the beBee professional (supposed to be) hives related to engineering and project management you can find stuff that shouldn't belong to these hives, from politics to recipes. And even those who advocate the moderation tools publish and share their posts regardless of the hive theme. In order to have strong and thriving profession groups on beBee it is necessary to set up the hives in accordance with the LI model.

Jim Murray

7 years ago #27

#28
Bali Fiji...the jealousy factor is still high Paul Walters :)

don kerr

7 years ago #26

You are correct sir. Jim Murray

Paul Walters

7 years ago #25

#24
Jim Murray Its actually Bali, but Ill take Fiji anytime , both are tropical paradises. However, next winter, escape the winter and treat yourself to a little SE Asian culture its fabulous and we have plenty of room!

Jim Murray

7 years ago #24

For those who are curious, the idea for this post is something Phil Friedman have discussed and believe is essential to the future health and well being of beBee. It's not emulating LI, but doing what needs to be done for beBee to actualize its strategy going forward.

Jim Murray

7 years ago #23

#21
Gerald Hecht...I have alwasy believed that the majority of people will always be able to spot the minority of (expletive deleteds). So bring it on. If anybody wants to debate marketing with me, bring it on. I have a secret sauce called Phil.

Jim Murray

7 years ago #22

#22
Thanks David. I will post it in your LI group tomorrow as well as a bunch of other groups.

Jim Murray

7 years ago #21

#23
Thanks Paul Walters but flattery will get you nowhere. I still hate that you live in Fiji and I don't. :)

Paul Walters

7 years ago #20

Jim Murray What would one do without the Friday files. Thanks once again !!

David B. Grinberg

7 years ago #19

Bravo, Jim. You make so many excellent points I don't know where to begin. That Samantha Bailey is sure helpful, bless her heart. As Pamela \ud83d\udc1d Williams might say: okay bees, let's swarm!

Jim Murray

7 years ago #18

Thanks everybody for all the great comments.

Milos Djukic

7 years ago #17

Ivan Campos, Thank you for your continued support.

Phil Friedman

7 years ago #16

#15
So as not to allow my reputation to slide, Robert, I disagree with you heartily when it comes to profession- and industry-specific groups. When owners and managers had a full array of moderation tools, when members could be screened, when members could sign up for email notices of new comments in discussions in which they had a strong interest, when... well, I saw very strong results. Many, many great conversations and a lot of professional and industry sharing. Very strong view numbers, as well. That was before the introduction of the long-post publishing platform. I think Milos is spot on in his comment #9. IMHO.

Milos Djukic

7 years ago #15

cc. Lada \ud83c\udfe1 Prkic,

Milos Djukic

7 years ago #14

cc. Javier \ud83d\udc1d beBee

Robert Cormack

7 years ago #13

Good post, @Jim Murray. I think we've all been through the LinkedIn cathedral, hearing the bells but not seeing the parishioners. The numbers are much better here (LinkedIn practically dropped off entirely). I still post there on occasion, but I essentially stick to beeBee, Medium and Quora. The rest feel like I'm at the wrong party (Tumblr, particularly). I also see a greater sense of decency here; meaning people aren't here with an axe to grind (like WriterBeat) or a site trying to encourage argument and bad manners (WriterBeat). We don't have to agree on everything (thinking Phil here), but at least we do it in a (hopefully) constructive fashion. If you really want to tussle, Phil is happy to accommodate. Thanks for posting.

🐝 Fatima G. Williams

7 years ago #12

Jim Murray Constructive buzzing at beBee and deconstruction at LinkedIn. Great buzz 🤗 beBee is the place to be but I'm not gonna put all my eggs in one basket as Javier suggests. The professional groups will be a fantastic if established well.

Milos Djukic

7 years ago #11

#4
I agree with you Phil Friedman!

Milos Djukic

7 years ago #10

John White, MBA, Any thoughts on this?

Milos Djukic

7 years ago #9

#8
Very true Jim Murray and not only Samatha.

Milos Djukic

7 years ago #8

From the beginning I proposed that the LI professional group model should be applied in the case of beBee. Designing of professional groups with the complete moderation in accordance with the LI professional group model (which is still great, even now) on beBee is the one of a major driving forces for the further and unstoppable success of this platform (and many new members). Thanks Jim Murray.

Jim Murray

7 years ago #7

#2
Thanks Wayne Yoshida. I'm sure Samatha will come once she knows she can build a formidable group and manage it without interference. A lot of people will. We just have to keep hitting on it.

Jim Murray

7 years ago #6

#3
Thanks Franci\ud83d\udc1dEugenia Hoffman

Jim Murray

7 years ago #5

#4
Right on as usual Phil Friedman. Thnaks, man.

Jim Murray

7 years ago #4

#1
Thanks Javier \ud83d\udc1d beBee. I quite enjoy doing this stuff.

Phil Friedman

7 years ago #3

I concur completely, Jim. Both about Sam's qualifications and insights. As you well know, I have, for some time now, been advocating for beBee to provide tools for managing hives that are similar to what LI group owners had when they first started building groups years ago. And I believe with you that, with those tools available, the smart marketing move would be to go after the owners of the large, strong groups. For many of those owners put in thousands of hours building their groups, only to have the legs knocked out from under them. Since LI obviously set out consciously to destroy those groups, it's not at this point in time a matter of poaching. Only a matter of smart marketing. But it would have to be done right. And if Javier \ud83d\udc1d beBee are smart about it, they will engage the help and counsel of some of us who operated substantial groups on LI and who still have ties to serious group owners there. Man, what a way it would be to build business- and industry-specific hives here on beBee, not to mention boost general membership. Great piece, Jim. Thanks.

Wayne Yoshida

7 years ago #2

Thanks Jim Murray for this buzz, and for bringing @Samantha Bailey's work to our attention. Great time for beBee, but we have to suggest and guide the platform to make it as good as it can be. And all of already know how beBee Hq supports us. We will get there.

Javier Cámara-Rica 🐝🇪🇸

7 years ago #1

Thanks Jim Murray. Your support is very important for our community !

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