Creating a Trade Association Or Professional Networking Group on LinkedIn in 30 Minutes

 About 15 years ago, I led the restructuring and re-launch of a small product division of a company in the heating, ventilation and air conditioning (that is, the "HVAC") industry. Talk about an industry steeped in tradition. It's the domain of plumbers, electrical contractors and a/c installers, many of whom who spend decades in the business - and many come from several generations of HVAC contractors.

I was the new guy to the industry, so I simply followed many of the traditional tactics to launch and introduce the new products we created: booth attendance and meetings at regional and industry trade associations, traveling to meet and train our wholesale product distributors, taking customers to pay golf, distributing product flyers at HVAC supply shops, and the like.

The main tradeshow was the ASHRAE Conference (sponsored by the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers, founded in 1894 with over 50,000 members). Held annually, Conference is a true behemoth, with thousands of attendees and the place to showcase new products. Its publications and newsletters (all print back then) were the key avenues to place print ads. ASHRAE wasn't a thought-leader and gatekeeper of the HVAC industry; it was THE leader.

Some Things Have Changed; Others Haven't

When I think back at that time (extremely fondly), I think how similar many aspects of the strategy development process remain the same today. When we created the re-launch strategy for the division, I first dug up my articles on the Porter "Five Forces" model, the Peters "Seven S Model," and the "7 Steps" of creating a marketing strategy taught at most business schools to create a framework to study the industry and mine its opportunities. These models are still taught at business schools and, indeed, our strategy teams at Growthink and many of our clients use them as a starting point to develop their business plans.

I also can't help but notice how things have radically changed. I had an AOL email account in the early 90's, but few websites existed. Since the launch of Netscape's Navigator web browser in the mid-90s, however, the Internet has changed countless aspects of virtually every business - even the old school HVAC industry. Within a couple seconds, one can "Google" new product information and read the press releases of competitors announcing their corporate focus. If one's competitors are public, meaning listed on a stock exchange, the firm's various financial statements and other documents can be found online. Competing products and their prices are also listed online. An HVAC product manager can quickly determine if another competitor has been bought, and imply what his company (or division) is worth based on the acquisition announcement. The Internet allows for almost instantaneous market research.

One of the Most Powerful Windows Opened by the Internet for Entrepreneurs - At Least For Now

The most recent change has happened so fast, on so many levels, that the shift on the Internet towards immediate communication and interconnectedness among people has surprised even those of us who follow technology trends and opportunities. It's called social networking.

Blogs. Wikis. Twitter. Facebook. YouTube. LinkedIn. MySpace. Classmates.com. They seemed to appear overnight. These networking sites allow someone with Internet access to connect with old friends, post videos of her prom (that occurred ten years ago), and create a professional description on a website and link up with industry colleagues. "Bloggers," or those who write about topics on a website, have risen from complete obscurity in a particular field or subject to the status of blogosphere rock stars with millions of followers.

If you have a business and you don't know about LinkedIn, it's time you figured it out. LinkedIn, as the site says, "is an interconnected network of experienced professionals from around the world, representing 170 industries and 200 countries. You can find, be introduced to, and collaborate with qualified professionals that you need to work with to accomplish your goals." In short, it's a bunch of online resumes and personal profiles - about 53 million as of today. Like FaceBook, it allows you to connect to various people in your network and meet others. You can find other people in your industry by search key words just like you would on Google. To post a basic profile, it's free.

Like a lot of people, I resisted joining LinkedIn at first. The thought of having a profile of my entire professional and educational background seemed, well, weird. But as more and more of my colleagues and friends joined, I finally caved. Several months later, I am now finding some of my clients through my account on LinkedIn, or they are finding me. (Suggestion: if you don't have an account on LinkedIn, stop reading now and create one. Then come back and finish the article.)

ASHRAE, What's ASHRAE?

I mentioned at the beginning of this column the sheer importance of the annual ASHRAE Conference and accessing its members 15 years ago when we were launching a new product. Why don't you create your own virtual ASHRAE to develop a professional network and build your brand? Simply use LinkedIn's "Group" function.

Anyone can create a Group on LinkedIn. Groups are collections of LinkedIn members who have joined them due to a common affiliation, such as an alumni group ("Ohio State Alumni"), or a company relationship ("Microsoft - Current and Former Employees"). As of several months ago, there were a few groups and the site had limited searching capability to find them. Now there are over 309,000. We're likely facing an inflection point on LinkedIn right now: there's a critical mass of members and existing groups, yet still opportunities to develop a strategic niche on the site.

Let's say you're a venture investor and want to build a presence on LinkedIn to access other professionals, possible deals, industry news, etc., you could think about starting a group related to venture capital. Unfortunately for you, these folks were some of the first to realize the power of LinkedIn - there are already 360 related groups with tens of thousands of members.

However, there are many, many other opportunities for those of you in niche business sectors. Here are a few with wide open potential:

o Vintage guitars

o Prosthetic products and technology

o Gastric bypass

o Oil drilling technology

These sectors offer a wide range of examples that have little LinkedIn Group presence. Even a topic such as "disease management," which is one of the hottest topics (and sectors) in healthcare, has existing LinkedIn groups, but few members, offering an opportunity to build a new, active and robust membership group.

Growthink's Summary "How To" Guide for Building a LinkedIn Group

Here are a few suggestions regarding building a popular group on LinkedIn.

Step 1. Determine whether your topic is already "done". Lots of groups with thousands of members? Your time may have already passed.

Step 2. If not, you can create a Group in about 30 minutes using the very simple LinkedIn instructions, and that time estimate includes drafting a description of the Group.