marketing
The Top 5 B2B Marketing LinkedIn Groups
As a B2B marketer, where do you get your industry news and insights?
Social media? Industry experts? Vendor blogs? It can be a challenge to wade through the content flooding through online channels every day in order to find those golden nuggets of good insight.
We have a recommendation for you: LinkedIn groups. Why? Because they combine social media, industry expert insight, and vendor communication into one easily digestible stream of content.
Earlier this year, we discussed the top 5 LinkedIn groups for Sales Enablement professionals. We received a lot of feedback about how helpful the topic was, so we decided to do one focused on the groups most pertinent to the types of news and insight that appeal to B2B marketers.
Our Assessment Methodology
We analyzed more than 40 different LinkedIn groups on B2B marketing. When assessing which ones were truly the cream of the crop, we made our choices based on 5 variables: frequency of activity, quality of content, focus of conversation and overall value the group offers.
- Frequency of activity: Is this a “dead” group or will you be able to continuously find fresh new content and conversations?
- Members: Are there a sufficient number of members in the group?
- Quality of conversation: Is there actual conversation or just links to articles? Is the conversation dominated by only a few individuals?
- Focus of Topics: Are the topics interesting, insightful and centered on issues specific to the industry?
- Overall value score: Would this group offer insight and content that would actually be valuable to B2B marketers on a regular basis?
Then the groups’ ratings on each of the criteria were combined to create a cumulative score:
- 5-9: Minimal Value
- 10-15: Moderate Value
- 16-20: Good Value
- 20-25: High Value
The Groups You Should Join
#5 Content Marketing Institute
The official LinkedIn group page for the Content Marketing Institute, this group has B2B marketing content from a wide variety of sources. Unlike the B2B Marketing group, this group’s value lies in the rapid progression of relevant industry articles. The 16,000+ members are very active, giving you a steady stream of great articles whenever you’d like.
The downside of having so many articles at once is that there’s no easy way to start in-depth conversations, but if you’re seeking an industry news and articles source, this is the right group for you.
#4 B2B Marketing
This group is ideal for anyone searching for a forum to discuss marketing ideas and get expert advice, as it focuses more on Q&A posts as opposed to links to outside articles. Because of this, the topics of the conversations may not be relevant to everyone, but it’s a great group to be a part of. The 60,000+ members may be overwhelming at first, but don’t hesitate to offer your own insight to questions in the forum and seek the input of others.
#3 B2B Marketing Excellence
Another great group for gaining marketing insight, B2B Marketing Excellence has a steady stream of relevant industry articles. With almost 4,000 members, you’re still within the realm of “large enough to offer varied insight” without being so huge that you get lost in the mix.
The group could benefit from more user involvement and discussion, but that’s the perfect opportunity for you to join in!
#2 B2B Content Marketing
At just over 14,000 members, this group offers a big pool of industry insight and varied content. You’ll get fresh content each day without being overwhelmed by too many posts at once. There’s some room for improvement on the amount of back-and-forth conversations that occur, but if you post a discussion topic that isn’t linked to a specific article, you’re pretty much guaranteed to get responses from industry professionals.
A close second behind The Social Effect, you’d be well served by joining this group.
#1 The Social Effect – The B2B Marketing Community
This group offers an excellent mix of varied content and conversation on all aspects of B2B marketing, targeting the actions and strategies that help B2B marketers do their jobs more effectively. The group is neither over-moderated or left to run rampant. Instead, their rules cover the basics: “if it’s interesting and unique it’s in; if it’s self-promotional, overdone or unoriginal, it’s out.” The 6,000+ members are more than enough to give you a good mix of perspectives while still having the opportunity to make your own splash in the group.
If you’re a B2B marketer, this is definitely a group you need to be a part of.
Honorable Mentions
Limiting ourselves to just 5 groups was hard. If you’d like to join more B2B LinkedIn groups, check these out: B2B Digital Marketing Insights, B2B Business Marketing, B2B Digital Marketing and B2B Marketer.