When HubSpot announced that it would be providing HubSpotters with the ability to post directly into LinkedIn Groups using the HubSpot Social Media tool back in 2012, it seemed as though everything was right with the world. Widely requested by HubSpot users worldwide, the feature enabled users to schedule posts directly to any number of groups and track engagement activity.
Sadly, however, on the 14th of June 2017, HubSpot announced that its users would no longer be able to post directly into LinkedIn Groups with its Social Publishing tool. This is due to LinkedIn updating its API (Application Programming Interface) and removing support for LinkedIn Groups – meaning that group posting is now only possible directly through the LinkedIn desktop interface. The sun officially set on HubSpot’s LinkedIn Group publishing capability on the 30th of June, 2017.
What does this mean for HubSpot users posting into LinkedIn Groups?
Well, firstly, if you're using HubSpot's Social Media Tool for LinkedIn Group Posting: you won't be able to anymore. Also, don’t think about jumping ship, the removal of the API means that other tools like Hootsuite have also lost the functionality.
Despite this, we would still urge you to continue to use LinkedIn as a channel for your business. LinkedIn remains one of the best ways to engage, share content and reach prospects interested in what your business does.
In fact, could the removal of automated LinkedIn Group posting be an opportunity for marketers to improve their engagement on the platform? We think so.
So, what can marketers do?
As automated distribution is no longer an option, those who post directly to LinkedIn will need to take a more measured approach to their LinkedIn Group posting. By this we mean that messages, content and engagement on LinkedIn needs to be more personalised and relevant. Of course, you should be doing this already, but with the removal of the feature, now is a good time to be thinking about how you can improve your content and its delivery.
The chances are, you will be posting significantly less as a result, but instead of posting a plethora of untargeted and irrelevant content into LinkedIn groups, you can begin to refine your efforts and engage your audience on a deeper level.
In addition, this change means that you will also need to improve your social media planning and management. This means developing a comprehensive social media matrix that enables you to see when and where you need to post. A social media matrix is essentially a document that contains of all the social media material you plan to post for that week, month or even year – and it could be something as simple as an Excel sheet that includes promotional Tweets.
Remember, consistency is key in developing a following online. If you’re not maintaining your social media presence, people will lose interest!
If maintaining consistency is an issue and you forget to post to your groups, you may want to consider acquiring some social media reminder tools that provide both a publishing schedule and alerts when you need to post. Some good tools to consider are: IFTTT, Pocket or Buffer.
We will keep a lookout for potential solutions that provide LinkedIn Group posting – and, as we come across them, we will update the list here.
