Running your own group on LinkedIn is a great way to make new connections, and put yourself forward as a leader of your field. But a group is a bit like a website, it’s easy to set up, but needs some time and effort to keep the momentum going and the group growing.

Here are some key things to consider when you decide to set your group up.

• What is the aim of the group?
• Who is going to moderate it?
• Who is going to add discussions and news stories?
• Who will send consistent announcements out periodically?
• What are the guidelines for group participants?

Running a successful group does take a bit of effort, but if you have a plan in place and are organized, it will run and grow smoothly.

Group Templates

• Personalize all of the templates you will be using to your own or brand’s personality
• Include links back to resources in the welcome message template and really maximize the use of the space with information, but not spam.
• When you set up your groups profile, give as much information about the group as possible, what you are trying to achieve, what is the purpose of the group.
• Include keywords in the group title and profile that you think people will be searching for when they are looking to join a group.

Announcements

• Send announcements consistently but don’t over do it. You are able to send a message weekly, but monthly is probably the maximum.
• Treat your announcement as a news letter and include resources and value, not just about your company, but include other company’s articles too.
• Add a poll and send the link included in the announcement to the group for their input.

Featured Discussion

If you have something important to discuss and would like to keep it to the top of the page for a while, make it featured. When you have finished with the topic, un-feature it to move it back down the page and allow something else to be featured.

General online networking

Encourage and thank those that take part in discussions, either publically or privately.
Let spammers know they are not welcome when they offend, but do this privately.

If someone has taken the time to respond to your question, take the time and check their profile out to find out more about them. Remember, the whole idea of being on LinkedIn is to network with others, people you would not ordinarily come in to contact with, and make your own personal brand more visible at the same time.

Good luck running your group!