Over the next few weeks, LinkedIn  will be rolling out a complete overhaul to its Groups feature to make creating and following conversations easier and more engaging.

 When you visit a revamped LinkedIn Group, you will immediately notice that strong emphasis has been placed on starting conversations. In the past, you’d have to click either “Start a Discussion” or “Submit News” to add a conversation to a group. Now both of those functions have been combined via a publisher box that is prominently displayed at the top of the page.

LinkedIn’s follow system has also been expanded. You may not know this, but the business social network actually gives you the option to “follow” individuals if you want to see what they’re saying in different groups, but aren’t his or her connection. That feature is now prominent, not only for people but for conversations as well. If you stumble across a great debate in a group and want to keep tabs on it, all you have to do is click “follow discussion” and it’ll appear in your news feed and in your inbox.

There is also a new focus on surfacing quality conversations from influencers. A new feature allows you to scan different conversations and “Like,” “Pass” or “Comment” on a discussion within a group. This information then brings the best conversations to the top of the group. There is also now a “Top Influencers” feature, which highlights quality contributors based on how well they stimulate conversations from other members.

LinkedIn told me that they are trying to make the conversations you have on LinkedIn “a bit closer to the face-to-face interaction” you find at conferences or in-person meetings. To do that, they’ve focused their energy on not only increasing engagement (which should keep people coming back to LinkedIn), but on increasing quality engagement.

While groups have long been part of LinkedIn’s core structure, we’re willing to bet most users almost never post news or conversations in them — they’d rather place their thoughts on Facebook or Twitter, where they will get more engagement. We’re looking forward to seeing if this redesign changes things. Check out the video below that explains the new features, and let us know what you think of Groups 2.0 on our Facebook Page.

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At last year’s Buzz2009 Social Media for Association Leaders, we asked our panel of social-media experts for the No. 1, most powerful tip they would give about social media and developing a social strategy. Despite the many different approaches to social media, the experts came to one conclusion: Keep it simple.

Here’s a quick roundup of their top tips:

• Keep it real. Don’t try too hard — think about the personality of your brand and stick to it. Authenticity is paramount — Stephanie Miller, Return Path
• Make it easy. Encourage sharing of your content but don’t overwhelm your audience with choices. The less choices people have, the better — Guy Kawasaki, Alltop
• Encourage customer participation. Get your constituents involved to make them feel smart and “in the know” — it will make them feel more connected to your brand and get people talking — Stacy Kane, California Tortilla
• Ask for help. People want to help you and share your stuff, so allow them to do so using the tool, medium or technique of their choice. It makes people feel good that they can help your organization — Andy Sernovitz, Gaspedal

For more tips from social-media experts on open leadership, risk management and return on investment, check out SmartBrief and SocialFish’s summer breakfast series Buzz2010, starting this Wednesday.

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