Social selling is all the rage these days — and for good reason. Used the right way, social channels can introduce new touch points, intent signals, prospect data and more.

But how do you go beyond personalized connection requests and comments with (not so subtle) value props? We’ve touched on how to get the most out of LinkedIn Sales Navigator before. But there’s an even more organic way to leverage your LinkedIn network for a better sales process: LinkedIn groups. If you’re looking for how to extract emails from LinkedIn groups for outreach, you’re in the right spot.

LinkedIn groups are a fantastic way to both learn from other sales reps and connect with prospects in a genuinely organic way. The better news? You can still extract emails from LinkedIn groups for your sales process.

First up: What are LinkedIn Groups?

LinkedIn groups are another way for professionals to connect on the network: from industry-specific groups to role-based groups, these ‘micro-communities’ on the platform can often provide deeper insights and more robust engagement.

According to the Microsoft-owned platform, LinkedIn groups “provide a place for professionals in the same industry or with similar interests to share their insights and experiences, ask for guidance, and build valuable connections.”

Individual salespeople can join LinkedIn groups to interact with their prospects more organically. It takes time, but it also means sharing industry content and learning more about the persona they are selling to. Businesses can also create LinkedIn groups to build a community around their product or service.

Either way, LinkedIn groups can act as a miniature gold mine for sellers looking to go deep with social selling.

How to Find Groups on LinkedIn

Finding (and joining) a group on LinkedIn is straightforward — all it takes is a little time and honesty about what you’re looking for.

To search for LinkedIn groups, just tap into the Search bar either on your phone or laptop (heck, a desktop would work in a pinch). Enter your keyword(s), and on the results page click “Groups” on the filters across.

Presto!

You should have a long list of groups to join in your prospecting quest. The critical piece is to use the right keywords, then narrow in the most promising groups.

Here are a few tips for searching for the right LinkedIn groups:

• Join one or two sales-related LinkedIn groups, but don’t make that your focus. You’ll be able to learn from these groups, but unless you’re selling into the sales space, it won’t do much good from a prospecting standpoint.
• Instead, narrow in on a handful of groups oriented around the industry you are selling into. Don’t go overboard; you’ll want to be selective so you can actually engage with these groups instead of just selling to them. If you’re selling into healthcare, for example, look at the Healthcare IT/EHR group and the Healthcare Executives Network group.
• Most importantly, don’t dive right into selling. That’s not what these groups are for. Instead, take the time to share and engage with content within the group. You’ll both increase your knowledge of the industry and set yourself up for better responses down the line.

Extract Emails from LinkedIn Groups in 3 Steps

Even with the engaging threads on LinkedIn and insightful shared content, at some point you’ll want to take communication off the platform.

You can only send so many connection requests, InMail messages and comment replies, right?

If you’re looking for how to extract emails from LinkedIn groups, we have good news. It’s as easy as 1, 2, 3. Here’s how to do it.

Step 1: Find and participate in the right groups

No, this isn’t 100% necessary for exporting emails from LinkedIn groups. But we highly recommend it — otherwise your emails are just going to sound like spam.

Start with a handful of LinkedIn groups that encapsulate your buyer persona. Spend some time participating in the group: responding to posts, sharing your own content and asking questions. It’ll give you a much better idea for how to proceed.

Step 2: Pull out group members on LinkedIn Sales Navigator

We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again: Sales Nav is one of the most powerful prospecting tools on the planet.

Instead of manually sending connection requests, hoping somebody responds to your comment or resorting to InMail messages, you can just use Sales Nav to add group members to your lead list all at once.

1. Go to the search tab on Sales Nav.
2. From there, select “View all filters” at the bottom of the Filters column on the left.
3. On that screen, you’ll see the “Groups” filter. Enter the name of your group, and you’ll have a list of every member.
4. From there, you can further narrow your list by role, company, geography and more.

Don’t have a LinkedIn Sales Navigator account? Not to worry — you can get a month free trial when you sign up.

Step 3: How to export emails from LinkedIn groups with Wiza

Once you search is complete, you can use Wiza to export emails from the group members that you want to reach out to directly.

How? After you’ve installed the extension and signed up for a free account, you’ll see an “Export emails with Wiza” button pop up on the top right of the Sales Nav search page.

That will launch the Wiza app in a new tab, where you can select your criteria, name your list, and download your leads.

Need more detail on how to set up Wiza with LinkedIn Sales Navigator? Check out our article on how to export leads from Sales Nav — it’ll walk you through how to sign up, install the extension and hit ‘export’.

Finally: Proceed with caution

Don’t abuse this. It’s going to be a lot more effective if you take the time to participate in these groups instead of using the group name to “personalize” your very first cold email. How to extract emails from LinkedIn groups is just part of the puzzle.

If you join a group with 10,000 members, don’t spam every single member. Instead, use the group as a filter in your Sales Nav search as the starting point. Narrow it down further and personalize your email based on your prospect’s role, experience and the content that they share. Participating in the group should warm up your leads, not serve as an automatic introduction.

If you have any other ideas for social sharing using LinkedIn groups and exporting emails, we’re all ears!

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