This is a project I worked on while I consulted at LinkedIn. The LinkedIn Groups Guide is a resource for marketers on how to create and manage successful groups on LinkedIn. Tips for getting started, building engagement and group moderation are all included.

1. LINKEDIN GROUPS
Guide to Creating Successful Communities
Sandip
My Groups: CIO Forum,
Forrester
Maria
My Groups: Apple Users,
Cornell Alumni
Steve
My Groups: Citi Network,
Social Media Mafia
Laura
My Groups: White House (Official),
KIVA, Green
Alex
My Groups: IBM, LegalNYC,
Harvard ALumni

2. CONTENTS
What is a LinkedIn Group
2
Why create a LinkedIn Group
3
Step 1. Make a Plan
4
Step 2. Set Up Your Group
How to create a LinkedIn Group
6
Step 3. Enhance Your Group
10
Step 4. Open the Doors
12
Step 5. Build Engagement
14
Step 6. Moderate Your Group
16
17
Conclusion
APPENDIX
1

3. WHAT IS A
LINKEDIN GROUP
L inkedIn Groups are communities of like-minded
professionals who share a common experience,
passion, interest, affiliation, or goal. Groups
provide members with a private and focused
space to discuss relevant topics, share news
stories, network, and collaborate with others.
WHAT IS A LINKEDIN GROUP
There are thousands of groups on LinkedIn
organized around a wide range of topics – from
virtualization to entrepreneurship to sustainable
design. Members frequently belong to multiple
groups that align with different aspects of their
professional life, such as university alumni groups,
trade groups, conference groups, and networking
groups.

4. WHY CREATE A
LINKEDIN GROUP
L inkedIn Groups enable marketers to establish
their own community within the larger LinkedIn
business network in a seamless and organic way.
Marketers can easily deliver relevant messages
and efficiently engage with their audience of
potential customers
LinkedIn Groups are a great tool for brands to:
Enable the conversation
Members join groups so they can engage with
like-minded professionals
Create long-term interaction with
customers and prospects
Ongoing discussions and collaboration produce a
vital and lasting community
Generate viral, sustainable growth
Groups are organically viral creating growth
opportunities for the long-run
WHY CREATE A LINKEDIN GROUP
3

5. MAKE A PLAN
B efore starting a group there are some key things
you’ll want to consider. Taking the time to think
through your short and long term strategy will go a
long way towards making your group successful.
HOW TO CREATE A LINKEDIN GROUP

6. What is your objective
Your objective will drive the rest of your decisions. What are
you trying to achieve with the group? What do you want to
communicate? Are you trying to build brand awareness? Do
you want a venue for customers to discuss your products?
Are you trying to expose non-customers to your product?
Who is your audience
Your audience will have a big impact on how you set up
your group. Who are you trying to reach? Customers,
prospects, potential partners, influencers, employees, etc.
What is your message
A topic-based group (e.g., “The IT Corner” by Acme
Computer) is a great way to build broader engagement with
your audience. Pick a topic related to your brand that will
allow for more diverse conversations and draw participation
from non-customers as well.
Who will manage the group
Managing a LinkedIn Group will require time to build
engagement and moderate. It is important to identify a
primary contact either in or affiliated with your company
who will coordinate all activities for your group. It is also
helpful to enlist others in your company to help build
engagement in the early phase. Plan to ensure people at
your company can make time to do this for at least six
months to nurture and grow the group.
TOP TIPS
e
STEP 1. MAKE A PLAN
5

7. 2
SET UP YOUR GROUP
Now that you have determined the purpose of the
Group and who will be managing it, you can move
on to the set up phase.
GROUP BRANDING
Logo
Name
Description
OPEN VS CLOSED GROUP
HOW TO CREATE A LINKEDIN GROUP

8. Open vs Closed Group
When creating a group, you will be asked to set access
controls. Open groups automatically accept any member
that wants to be part of the group. Closed groups require
the group owner to invite, pre-approve, or individually
approve members before they are allowed to participate.
Open groups are popular for brands because they remove
barriers to join and tend to grow faster. Closed groups give
you more control over who is in the group but take more
time to manage and as a result can ramp up slowly.
Group Branding
The name and description of your group will help people
identify and find you. To highlight your brand, include your
company name in the Group name. Choose a logo that
quickly conveys the topic of your group, and keep in mind
its small size on-screen. Avoid too much text and opt for
simple, large, images that can have instant impact.
Create a detailed description of your group outlining why
people should join. Include the focus area of the group, the
types of topics that will be discussed, and who will benefit
from joining.
Jobs Tab
The Jobs tab is an optional feature that creates a space for
members to post job openings. Managers and other
members can move job-related posts out of the general
area into the Jobs tab, helping keep your main discussion
focused on core topics.
STEP 2. SETUP YOUR GROUP
7

9. SUBGROUPS TAB
JOBS TAB
GROUP BRANDING
HOW TO CREATE A LINKEDIN GROUP
MANAGE TEMPLATES

10. S
Subgroups is a feature that enables you to break out a
broader group topic into more refined categories. For
example, a technology group might have subgroups for
laptops, desktops, and printers. One drawback to creating
subgroups when you are just starting out, however, is that
your conversations become spread across multiple sections
making it difficult to get critical mass. Subgroups are a great
feature to activate once your overall group has momentum.
Manage Templates
Before launching your group you will want to set up email
templates. This is a standard feature that allows you to
automatically send emails based on one of four actions:
acknowledge a request to join, welcome a new member,
decline a request to join, or block a request to join. The
content of the email is text-based and can be customized
by the group owner. Sending a welcome email is a great
opportunity to reinforce the purpose of the group and
outline posting guidelines.
TOP TIPS
s
STEP 2. SETUP YOUR GROUP
9

11. 3
ENHANCE YOUR GROUP
C
ustom Groups have unique messaging features that
You can also use your customized space to distribute
help you build and sustain a relationship with your
valuable information to your members by promoting white
customers.
paper assets. Relevant, free content will be greatly
A custom content module enables you to surface any
appreciated by members of your group.
content that can be distributed via an RSS feed. Typical
It is important to keep content in your Group fresh. Plan on
RSS content may include blog posts, Twitter feeds and
developing an editorial programming calendar and share
photography. You do not have to limit yourself to your own
your plan with members. They’ll be sure to check back
content, however. Include feeds from other sources that are
often to get new information, watch new videos and
relevant and of interest to your group.
download the latest white paper.
You can also add a stand-alone video module to your
Custom Group. This module pulls in specific videos that
you have posted to YouTube. Starting your group with a
video introduction is a great way to jump start engagement.
Be sure to regularly rotate in other videos, such as
interviews, presentations, and event coverage, to keep your
members engaged.
Want to source feedback from the crowd and spark healthy
debate? Custom Group owners can use one of their
messaging slots to run an interactive poll. Ask members
any variety of questions and receive real-time feedback and
insights.
TOP TIPS
HOW TO CREATE A LINKEDIN GROUP

12. POST VIDEO
ADD RSS FEEDS
11
STEP 3. ENHANCE YOUR GROUP

13. 4
OPEN THE DOORS
Now that your group is ready to go, it’s time to
get the word out. With hundreds of thousands of
groups in the LinkedIn Groups directory, it is
crucial for you to be proactive in making your
group more discoverable. Think about quality, not
quantity of members in the beginning to ensure
that you are building a valuable and focused
group.
The easiest way to build membership in your group is by
reaching out to those who already have a proven affinity for
using LinkedIn tools – that is, your target audience on
LinkedIn. With rich ad targeting capabilities, you can easily
and quickly raise awareness of your group.
Tap into your content team’s individual networks to start
spreading the word on LinkedIn. Use network status
messages on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook to broadcast
interesting discussions from your group. Include links to
your group in email signature lines, on your website, in
offline advertising and in collateral.
HOW TO CREATE A LINKEDIN GROUP

14. If you have set up a closed group, you will need to accept,
decline or block each request to join. Criteria for group
membership should be defined by readily available
information in the LinkedIn Profile. If it’s not, consider
making the group open or invite-only.
H
Don’t simply ignore a request if the applicant is not a good
fit. 1) Someone else on your team may not realize that the
request is being ignored and may inadvertently accept it,
and 2) It is bad for your brand image if a member feels like
you are ignoring them.
Blocking members is a last resort. You should block
members that have been declined several times, repeatedly
ignored the posting guidelines, or have been abusive to
other members or staff.
Ask group members to introduce themselves. Have them to
share their name, where they are from, their profession,
something interesting about themselves, and what they
hope to gain from the group. This is a great way to get them
used to posting and commenting in discussions.
TOP TIPS
13
STEP 4. OPEN THE DOORS

15. 5
BUILD ENGAGEMENT
There are many things you can do to help foster
engagement in your group. In the early days of
your group, staff participation will be key. As your
group grows, staff involvement can be reduced as
members pick up the ball and run with it.
CREATE DISCUSSIONS
FEATURED DISCUSSION
HOW TO CREATE A LINKEDIN GROUP

16. Post a Question
Start a “question of the week” campaign to drive new
discussions. Use different staff members to post the
questions so it doesn’t look like all content is coming from
one person. Pick topics that will provoke discussion, and
keep the question brief and to the point. You can always
provide more detail in the Additional Details section.
Acknowledge Contributors
Recognize both those that create discussions and those
that comment on them. Comment on posts and give out
prizes for the most active participants. The prizes don’t
need to be big to get the desired response – branded
t-shirts, hats, mugs, or even just simple recognition such as
announcing prize winners in a featured post. Comments are
crucial for creating an engaging forum, so give separate
awards and recognition to those that regularly comment.
Send Announcements
Use the announcement feature to keep your group
top-of-mind. You can send one announcement per week to
your group members. Use this announcement to
communicate the question of the week, list winners of
contests or alert members to related upcoming events.
Feature Discussions
Highlight announcements or interesting posts by tagging
those discussions “featured.” Featured discussions are
denoted by a small pin icon and always appear at the top of
the discussion board. Limit the number of featured
discussions to two or three at a time (ideally from different
authors).
TOP TIPS
• Feature interesting posts
• Acknowledge active contributors
• Pose a “question of the week”
• Send weekly announcements
15
STEP 5. BUILD ENGAGEMENT

17. 6
MODERATE YOUR GROUP
A
ctive moderation is important to maintaining a vibrant,
author asking them to adhere to the guidelines. If a member
welcoming group. It is crucial that you and your team set
repeats the offence, remove (and block) them from the
the tone for discussions by establishing and communicating
group. It is up to you to determine how many warnings you
posting guidelines. You can use the welcome email
want to give a member before removing them from the
template as well as featured discussions to inform new
group. If a discussion is spam or abuse, delete it and
members of your guidelines. In addition to the group
remove (and block) the member from the group.
guidelines, you should also have an internal enforcement
On the flip side, be sure to acknowledge members that post
guideline – what actions to take for different types of
quality content to the group. Moderating is not just about
infractions. This will ensure that all team members are on
removing bad content, but about encouraging and
the same page.
rewarding good behavior as well.
Moderation needs to be done on a daily basis, which is why
it is important to spread the work across a team of people.
The group owner and other group managers can take turns
reviewing requests to join, deleting spam and removing
inappropriate content. If a discussion is off topic, or violates
the user guidelines, delete the post and send a note to the
Moderating 101
HOW TO CREATE A LINKEDIN GROUP

18. CONCLUSION
L
inkedIn Groups provide a unique and powerful way for
brands to join the professional conversation on LinkedIn.
Over 50 million influential and motivated members are
actively looking to connect and network with others around
topics of mutual interest, and marketers have a great
opportunity to help them.
By following the basic roadmap outlined in this guide, you
demonstrate to your audience that you’re serious about
building a substantive, long-term relationship with them. Be
prepared to invest time and resources and strike the right
note from the beginning. Create a well-thought out
community, whose topic is targeted to the right audience
and whose discussions are well moderated and curated.
Your thoughtful planning up front and commitment to
adding value will go a long way towards attracting the right
audience on LinkedIn and help you lay a foundation for
deeper relationships with your customers.
17
CONCLUSION

19. Start a LinkedIn Group
http://learn.linkedin.com/group-management
Learn about Custom Groups
http://advertising.linkedin.com/customgroup
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